Hours spent watching video rose 33% in 2019 – Parks Associates

by

 Ben Munson |

Jan 27, 2020 12:52pm

Parks’ new study also found that more than one quarter of U.S. broadband households rank local broadcast channels as their most enjoyed type of channel. (Getty/FS-Stock)

 

Consumers spent more time watching video in 2019 than in 2018, according to Parks Associates, which reported a 33% increase in hours spent per week in video viewing.

The TV screen remains the primary point of focus. Parks said TV sets still account for more than half of all video consumed by U.S. broadband households each week. The firm’s new 360 View: Digital Media and Connected Consumers report also suggested that consumers spend on average nearly 20 hours per week watching video on a TV, compared to nearly four hours on a mobile phone.

"Understanding consumers is key to driving acquisition and minimizing churn among video services," said Steve Nason, senior analyst at Parks Associates, in statement. "Different demographics show markedly different attitudes and preferences. NPS scores for Netflix are higher among women, while NPS scores for premium OTT services such as Starz, Showtime, and HBO Now are higher among men. Younger video consumers represent the future of the industry, but their programming and platform preferences are distinct from older segments, which puts traditional pay-TV providers in a difficult position. Changing the traditional pay-TV service model could alienate older, high-ARPU customers, but not changing could doom future prospects."

RELATED: Parks Associates releases its top 10 U.S. streaming services list

Parks’ new study also found that more than one quarter of U.S. broadband households rank local broadcast channels as their most enjoyed type of channel.

The firm said adoption of over-the-top (OTT) video subscription services has plateaued at 71% of broadband households, consumers ages 18-24 watch as much video on a computer as they do on a TV set (about 16 hours per week) and half of U.S. broadband households subscribe to Netflix. Amazon Prime Video is second with a 38% adoption rate.

Fewer TV Ads Correlates With Program, Commercial Success

• by Wayne Friedman , 7 hours ago

While many factors still contribute to a TV commercial's success, less commercials in a particular pod -- a group of TV spots -- has the highest importance.

According to a new study from Comscore and Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, the relative importance of the number of commercials in a pod posted a “high” number -- 104.3 (the sum of weight attributes).

The second most important factor was the TV program's originality where a commercial is airing (which includes rerun factors) which had a 97.3 number. Somewhat lower importance went to “ad pod placement” (85.9) and “ad duration” (85.4).

Comscore says: “Ad pod placement or the placement position of the ad in the pod and ad duration are still important in influencing viewing declines, but less so. While these findings may not be new on their own, they demonstrate that in combination, these four attributes can accurately predict viewership declines of ads in linear TV.”

The study applies Syracuse University’s machine learning to Comscore’s second-by-second television viewing data, program ratings, and commercial ratings to identify key attributes and patterns that predict commercial viewership.

Comscore says one key analysis comes from “The Big Bang Theory” from September 2016 to February 2018, where a combination of program originality/rerun, ad duration, the number of ads in a pod, and number of pods in a program had more than 80% accuracy in predicting commercial viewership declines.

 

COMMENTARY

Will Ad Scarcity Impact OTT-CTV?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 9 hours ago

If you can’t sell all your TV inventory -- or premium video inventory -- where do you go for help? Hello, Amazon calling!

Freddie Godfrey, founder of Origin Media, in talking to The Wall Street Journal, said the obvious: “There is no publisher on planet Earth who has 100% fill all of [its advertising] time, so they are always trying to add a new demand partner.”

Amazon is looking to take on sales efforts outside the walled garden of its digital TV network bundle -- Amazon Fire TV. Reports suggest the ecommerce platform is promising a $40 cost-per-thousand-viewer (CPM) deal for publishers that commit.

But what publishers are we talking about? NBC, ViacomCBS, Disney, Discovery, CNN?  Think much smaller. And perhaps think about publishers without real premium video inventory.

Traditionally, in the TV world, the value of selling and controlling your own inventory is perhaps legacy TV companies most valued asset. There can be a big upside -- a fluid market price where a seller can adjust pricing on the fly.

Giving away top TV inventory to other sellers has never been a thing for traditional TV companies -- save for small- to mid-size TV stations groups that employ third-party sales rep companies.

This comes as media industry analysts say there is a continued scarcity of advertising inventory on premium OTT/connected TV platforms. (Does that sound familiar?)

Last week, NBCUniversal announced its new Peacock, mostly free-ad supported streaming services -- which leans into this a bit.

Linda Yaccarino, chairman, advertising sales/client partnerships of NBCUniversal, touted the new service would have perhaps the lightest ad load of any premium streaming service -- just five minutes an hour or less.

All this raises scarcity issues traditional TV network advertising executives know well. For decades, scarcity of prime TV inventory has controlled regular price increases during TV’s big $20 billion upfront advertising market.

Will all modern premium video streaming businesses go the same route?

The good news, for consumers, is that five minutes an hour of advertising time versus traditional linear TV -- where viewers might see 14 minutes to 17 minutes of advertising/promotional non-program time a hour -- sounds like a deal.

Making advertising scarce and potentially more valuable at the same time, as well as not tiring out TV consumers with advertising messaging? What's not to like! That is, unless, pricing an

I found a couple of new ideas for commercial lengths that was very interesting and helpful in making ad dollars for local-direct clients and prospective clients to make results and their ROI much more realistic. Phiip JayLeNoble, Ph.D.

COMMENTARY

Programmatic Helping Advertisers To Create, Buy Longer, Interactive TV Ad Segments

• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, January 13, 2020

Centro’s ad platform, Basis, recently became certified on Hulu’s private marketplace, which means the company’s customers have the ability to gain cross-channel video advertising capabilities through programmatic ad buys that reach 72 million viewers watching on connected TVs and other devices.

Basis consolidates digital operations across programmatic, direct, search, and social campaigns, making access to Hulu’s PMP complements the connected TV advertising features and allows advertisers to automate upfront Hulu deals and direct ad buys on every major OTT and digital video platform.

Media buys on Hulu’s PMP allow Centro users to activate campaigns in real-time to reach millions of authenticated subscribers viewing premium content video-on-demand or live with brand safety.

Through a quality check, the ads deliver targeted messages to customers in ad units and leverage Hulu’s data-driven audience segments based on user demographics, interests, behaviors, location, and a variety of other factors.

Data & Programmatic Insider caught up with Centro’s CEO Shawn Riegsecker to talk about the benefits to advertisers and the future of connected TV. He said segments need to include one ad and need to run longer, rather than shorter as programming tries to stuff 10 or more ads in one segment break.

D&PI:  Why is this partnership important to advertisers?

Riegsecker:  We as an industry are moving in the wrong direction for television and targeting advertising. The lack of consumer attention and technology in traditional advertising has made us move from 60-second to 30-second -- and now some experiments with six-second -- ads.

It’s making it a worse experience for consumers, and it’s impossible for a brand to create a beautiful, emotional and impactful ad. The cost of traditional advertising, when including the waste, means I don’t have the money to run a longer 20-second or a 180-second spot.

With platforms like Hulu we can move the pendulum in the other direction. The ads can become more heartfelt and thought provoking.

D&PI:  Can you elaborate?

Riegsecker:  Rather than running a six-second ad, imagine running a three-minute segment. I think consumers will get back to enjoying the short break. It will become more of a story like a short film and bring a much higher return.

D&PI:  So you’re saying that one two-minute spot is better than four 30-second spots?

Riegsecker:   Absolutely. Brands are struggling to tell their story in shorter spots. I love to go onto YouTube and watch three-minute spots. In three minutes you can move someone to tears.

D&PI:  Does it interrupt their viewing experience with a two-minute spot?

Riegsecker:  Now all programs have two- or three-minute openings inside of the content. Rather than see six 30-minute spots you will see one longer spot. (As the industry moves toward addressability, being able to target a specific topic, it allows the advertiser to reach a specific person with a specific interest.)

This partnership opens new opportunities for the way we buy traditional media because of all the waste, generalized targeting, rather than one-to-one targeting. When I remove half of the audience waste into programmatic, I can afford to create a higher impact. 

D&PI:  In your opinion, what is the future of connected TV?

Riegsecker:  Consumers cutting the cord will only increase in the next few years and it will have a significant effect on traditional cable companies and traditional linear network TV providers. Secondly, for the first time, marketers can reach people with specific messages with a longer message.

This will help to improve interactivity. The commercials will become interactive. For example, I like the JCrew sweater I just saw, which means I can now stop and look around.

COMMENTARY

2020: Year Of The Gen Z Mom

• by Maria Bailey , Columnist, 2 hours ago

It’s official: Generation Z women are now entering motherhood.  This may shock some marketing professionals who are still perplexed over the behaviors of the Millennial Mom, and this is certainly not intended to make anyone feel old.  

The reality is that generations span 20 years — and yes, we’ve been discussing Millennials for two decades. Generation Z spans births from 1996 to 2010, making the oldest women 24 years old. This is just two years short of 26, the average age for first-time mothers in the United States. 

It’s time to speak to Gen Z moms, who are buying everything from cribs to bibs, and much more. 

To provide you with a jumpstart in understanding your new mom consumer, I’ve put together key characteristics that are likely to create trends, product changes and affect your marketing plans.
-- Thrifting is a desirable form of shopping for the Gen Z woman.  She enjoys repurposing and upcycling gently used items. Beech-Nut is right on target to connect with Gen Z Moms with its Pinterest ideas for turning empty baby food jars into succulent planters, for example.
-- Scents are as appealing as the color, shape and form of a product.  Raised on the smell of three-wick candles and essential oils, these moms find their noses will help select products.

-- “Harry Potter” filled their childhood, and their love for crystals and elements of a mystical world will influence home décor, apparel, and likely the nursery.

-- The Gen Z Mom is a super-multitasker.   As a technology native, she’s not afraid of using applications, artificial intelligence and social friends for help getting things done. 

-- Serving home-cooked meals doesn’t mean hours in the kitchen for a Gen Z Mom.  She’s okay with dudes — delivery dudes, that is — bringing dinner to her door. She finds no shame in the “store-bought and home-plated” approach to entertaining. Whole Foods and Wegmans are likely to see an increase in Gen Z traffic to their hot food bars with this new generation of mothers.

-- She used filters to create content as a teenager, now she applies filters to the marketing messages she sees online as she scrolls through social media. Marketers have eight seconds or less to grab her attention before she swipes away. 

The good news for brands is that the oldest Gen Z Moms will adopt the behaviors of the youngest Millennial Moms. However, it is a mistake to believe that Gen Z moms are simply young millennials.  Every generation is shaped by technology, historical events, and social issues, and Gen Z women will soon be challenging marketers in their own way for the next 20 years....

How-tos for Generational Marketing to Millennials vs. Gen Z

GEN Z DIRECT MARKETING ADVERTISING INSIGHTS BY THE GEN ZER

January 7, 2020

How-tos for Generational Marketing to Millennials vs. Gen Z

Credit: Getty Images by Thomas Barwick

By Hanna Anderson

 

Millennials and Generation Zers are both notorious for shaking up the status quo in more ways than one. They’ve both broken out of a shell that generations prior were determined to mold themselves to. This fact, along with their closeness in age, have led many to believe that they have a lot of commonalities that can accommodate similar generational marketing strategies.

While they are adjacent generations, the qualities in which they have gained notoriety differ, especially as consumers. The rise of the newest wave of consumers, who make up roughly 40% of all customers in the market, is certainly creating changes as Gen Z’s desires are not perfectly aligned with their older generational neighbors. The people who make up this group were born between 1997 and 2012.

At the same time, this does not imply that advertisers should stop pushing their marketing efforts toward Millennials. Simply put, Millennials largely contribute to the U.S. economic capital with a generational wealth estimated at $24 trillion. This group is made up of people born between 1981 and 1996.

With these statistics in mind, it is important that brands learn how to make the most of both unique generational consumer behaviors. Here are different elements advertisers should keep in mind when targeting a Millennial vs. a Gen Z demographic.

Similarities

Before we break down the differences these two generations have as consumers, it’s important to acknowledge they do still have quite a bit in common. First, both groups are well-versed in social media and the amount of time they spend plugged in doesn’t vary too drastically.

Even at an average of 20 minutes less per day, Millennials were young and impressionable when the age of the Internet came to be and, as such, they are just about as savvy in social media as is Gen Z.

Second, both generations place importance on diversity, equality, and progressive social values. In contrast to generations prior, Millennials and Gen Zers have questioned many social norms that Boomers and Gen Xers have accepted as reality.

Though there are undoubtedly many similarities in the grand scheme of things, these generational differences must also be considered in order for marketers to successfully cater to both.

Attitude Toward Spending

Interestingly, the way Millennials’ and Gen Zers’ finances differ is quite great.

Many Millennials were young adults when the Great Recession hit the U.S. in 2007. Growing up with a poor economy at large taught this group to place value on quality over quantity, as they remain mostly optimistic about their personal finances.

With Gen Z being quite young at the start of the economic downturn, this generation adopted the notion of practicality and financial preparation from an early age.

How Can Brands Successfully Cater to Both Spending Behaviors?

For Millennials, quality over quantity means they are looking to invest their money in brands that create a unique product or experience that will noticeably enhance their quality of living. Millennials are inclined to do significant research before making a purchase, ensuring they’ve found the most beneficial product or experience for them. This is good news for marketers, as Millennials are constantly on the lookout for the next best thing to help them in their everyday lives. All brands need to do is prove they are the ones Millennials should be investing their time and money in, and they may have customers for life.

For Gen Z, it’s best to get right to it. Let the consumer know exactly why the product or experience is the best one for them and why it’s worth the money. As previously mentioned, this generation is very focused on responsible spending as a result of their early memories of the Great Recession. So, if you want to sell to Gen Z, make sure you keep your brand’s feet firmly planted on the ground. Approach selling in a practical manner and make sure your product has a clear purpose for its consumer.

Feeling Connected Through Social Media

It is apparent that both generations are avid social media users, and the feeling of connection that social media creates is well enjoyed by both. However, the ways they best receive those feelings of connection vary.

Millennials feel most connected through the more traditional sharing, pinning, and forwarding; predominantly on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Gen Zers have had social media at their fingertips for the majority of their lives and, as a result, they consume more media on fewer platforms. This group is very visual and prefers rapid consumption, mainly through Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and, most recently, TikTok.

How Can Brands Leverage Connection in Their Marketing Efforts?

Millennials prefer the more traditional social media platforms and sharing techniques, because they’re easy ways to feel seen and heard. Brands can leverage this in their customer journeys through interaction: asking consumers questions, encouraging them to communicate in comments sections, and more. This creates a space where Millennials feel valued and contributes to their attitude that a brand can better their lives on a deeply personal level.

Gen Z’s short attention span makes their marketing needs exclusively geared toward them. Cut to the chase and get down to benefits of the product — this is the best way to reach them on their preferred social platforms. Utilizing influencers for brand marketing is an effective way to connect to this audience. With 10-second Instagram stories and #sponsored posts, brands can use their preferred social platforms to connect in a unique way that feels authentic to Gen Z.

Embracing Generational Differences as Marketers and Advertisers

As two groups who came one after the other, it’s no surprise that Millennials and Generation Z are very similar. Both known for questioning common ideas the predecessing generations easily accepted, the two generations have redefined marketing in a new era for brands. They value authenticity, social responsibility, and inclusion. But both have different consumer behaviors when it comes to their finances and how they connect. For marketers, it is more important than ever to optimize and strategize based on their ever-changing habits as consumers

7 Customer Retention Predictions for 2020

By Guy Marion

The following article was originally published by Total Retail. To read more of their content, subscribe to their newsletter, Total Retail Report.

We’ve seen our fair share of shocking headlines recently: tenuous IPOs, the “retailpocalypse,” and a fickle market have served to reset the way we size up subscription businesses. Recurring revenue models have their pitfalls, and 2019 certainly taught the industry a few lessons.

In 2020, retention is set to be a top priority for companies looking to keep customers engaged and driving growth. From niche products to personalization, how companies deliver on and measure the success of their customer experience will separate successful subscription businesses from the next unflattering news story. These seven trends will emerge to shape the way companies delight and retain customers in 2020:

1. More Mainstream Brands Will Embrace the Subscription Model

We’ve all seen the articles detailing the financial fall of many brick-and-mortar stores. The “retailpocalypse” predicted years ago is coming to fruition as we’ve watched household names like Sears, Toys"R"Us, and Barneys New York consider bankruptcy or go up for sale. The shifting retail industry presents an opportunity for traditional companies to fully embrace recurring revenue models. We’ll see big brands like Nike and Ikea continue to experiment and expand innovative subscription offerings. For struggling brick-and-mortar businesses, subscription services could very well be a lifeline.

2. Niche Products Will Give Way to Subscription Fatigue

Because the proliferation of subscription offerings are so vast, specialized products and services will need to prove their worth. We’ve reached a point of max fragmentation in our subscriptions, so offerings must be far better than they’ve been in the past. Take media and entertainment. Exclusivity is the name of the game for streaming services from Apple and Disney as they go head to head with Netflix and Amazon.com. Deloitte found that the typical U.S. consumer subscribes to three streaming video services. With growing “subscription fatigue,” there isn’t room for more. Rising customer expectations and increased competition means we’ll see consolidation, partnerships and mergers for B-to-C (clothing, streaming, meal delivery) and B-to-B companies (project management, martech, e-commerce) alike in 2020.

Related story: Rockets of Awesome Founder Talks Subscription Commerce, Growth Strategy

3. Customer Retention Will Become the New Frontier for Marketers

It’s impossible to ignore the IPO press around WeWork, Blue Apron, Uber, Peloton and others. If 2020’s tech and consumer unicorns have poor unit economics and aren’t turning a profit, they need to prepare to be the next ugly headline. The days of spouting fast, easy growth backed up by vanity metrics are over. Retention will take its place as a top growth strategy for companies with subscription models. Should that have been the case much sooner? Sure. But organizations like Zoom, Datadog and PagerDuty are the new standard for success. These companies each had successful IPOs in 2019 thanks in part to their killer retention metrics. More will follow suit.

4. Metrics Will Shift to Reflect a Retention-First Mindset

To deliver on sustainable growth, changes must take place at an organizational level. The teams responsible for acquisition efforts will also be held to those acquired customers’ lifetime values more so than in years past. Of course, the acquisition-at-all-costs mentality isn’t a problem that originates solely within a marketing organization, but changing the focus of marketing teams to be retention-minded will be a common theme this year. This shift will also usher in a new partnership between marketers and product teams as they work together to onboard, activate and collect feedback from customers. A public and shared churn goal will help keep teams aligned on their retention efforts.

5. Personalization Will Mean More Than Creepy Ads and in an Email

Personalization has been a big buzzword this past decade. It’s time to go well beyond personalized variables delivered en masse. We need to look at interaction with our customers as a one-to-one event. That means taking more of the known factors of customers, segmenting them into groups, and personalizing their web and product experiences to the point where it's an entirely custom journey. This approach is going to be essential for success in the very near future. Salesforce Research found that customers are 2.1 times more likely to view personalized offers as important vs. unimportant. Furthermore, 84 percent say being treated like a person, not a number, is very important to winning their business. These numbers are only set to rise.

6. Customers Will Have Even More Control, and Companies Must Pay Attention

Some companies are going to rise to the occasion of changing customer expectations. They’ll personalize more experiences and offer better support. But are they willing to make it easier to cancel? They may not have a choice. California enacted legislation on July 1, 2018 that stipulated subscriptions that were entered into online must be available to cancel online. That means no customer support call queues. It’s a big win for consumers, and we may see more legislation like it in other states. Therefore, if you don’t have an easy online cancellation process, 2020 is your year to invest.

7. Multichannel Retention Strategies Will Wow Customers; Predictive Engagement Will Not

Our "2019 State of Customer Retention Survey" report shows that subscription business leaders are interested in developing predictive models to forecast customer churn. It’s understandable: predictive capabilities are a popular topic of discussion thanks to the increasing desire to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning. Let’s say you have a predictive model that shows you what accounts will churn. Not many leaders could confidently explain what happens then. When it comes to retention, most companies don’t have the systems in place to perform outreach at scale based on predictive data. In 2020, predictive models will remain a growth experiment that’s not quite ready for mainstream adoption.

COMMENTARY

Predictions For 2020: Something Old, Something New

• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, Yesterday

It is repetitive to note that we are an industry in transition but, perhaps, not as common to say there might be things that will stay exactly the same. After polling some executives and taking into account what I have seen, I’ll suggest these possible trends for 2020:

Going (Even More) Global
With the further advancement of datasets, ways to interpret trends and the perfect storm of privacy legislation from GDPR, CCPA and others, there should be a greater shift to more universal best business practices and global insights. I personally see a greater combination of hyper-local, regional, national and worldwide media confluence on a business, technological and creative side.

This could be accelerated by the move from GRPs to impressions measurement that should link all platforms onto a common metric, the increase in interest in international content consumption (Think: HBO Nordic) and maybe somewhat by ATSC 3.0 which will continue to roll out, albeit very slowly.

There will be expansion in OOH as well. “More ‘nontraditional’ out-of-home companies are tapping into the opportunities to monetize their screens and audiences,” noted Michael Provenzano, CEO, Vistar Media, who added, “From vending machines (Vengo) to EV charging stations (Volta) to kiosks of all sorts (KeyMe) to gym equipment (Life Fitness), new types of hardware and service providers are incorporating OOH into their operations, while new types of venues, from sports entertainment facilities (TopGolf) to cannabis dispensaries (Enlightened), are connecting advertisers with their unique audiences.”

For some, the many datasets available will lead to a more global measurement approach. “There has been a wide expansion of the number of research companies producing data and metrics for a wide range of media insights,” according to Paul Lindstrom, head of research and analytics, Tunity. “2020 will (bring) new ways of understanding consumers and viewers will be ingrained into the current system of media planning and buying in more holistic ways than ever before, where insights become a part of the advertising currency.”

Increasing Complexity and Simplification of Ad Markets
With more complex choices to reach consumers there will also be more unification. From business consolidations connecting various properties to measurement systems that automate and link various sources, media is at once converging and multiplying. As Tom Xenos, director, advanced TV, Omnicom Media Group, asserted, “Advanced TV advertising will grow as the analysis of data becomes more automated and plays a key role in decision-making.”

OTT will also expand, according to Hanna Gryncwajg, vice president of enterprise accounts for TVSquared, who stated, "In 2020, OTT will scale as it becomes a regular, trusted part of the video mix that can be consistently measured and optimized for performance, alongside linear.” She also sees that “Advertisers will bring OTT and linear measurement together in a single platform, evaluating performance across devices and breaking it down by days, dayparts, channels, genres, creatives, and then using those insights to consistently optimize."

For Jane Clarke, managing director/CEO, CIMM, the infrastructure of measurement will advance in 2020. She predicted, “Progress will be made on standardizing ad identifiers throughout the media ecosystem (that will) inch closer to real-time measurement,” while “pilot tests of DAI on smart TVs will begin to evolve into commercial offerings,” and “manufacturers will begin to incorporate DAI technology into television sets.”

Technological Change May Slow Down
As much as we anticipate great technological changes to continue, such changes may not occur as fast as we expect. Take for example cloud technology. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Amazon has reversed its long-time policy of only offering cloud software services and is now pushing hybrid cloud systems and hardware.  

Why? Because many businesses are not moving to the cloud as quickly as Amazon predicted -- and further, some never will. It is possible that business' capacity to incorporate new technology may reach a temporary saturation point this year and adoption will slow until business practices can catch up.

Some believe that social media may hit a brief wall. “Why? Because fewer people are using social and/or are likely to decrease their usage during the upcoming election year,” posited Mike Menkes, senior vice president, Analytic Partners. In addition, “Ad costs for social are going up. Brands should keep a close eye on their metrics and adjust spend based on where their users will be spending their time.”