On October 11, 2022, Stephanie Scalice, Winner of the 2022 ARF Great Mind Awards Young Pro of the Year Award and Senior Market Research Manager at LinkedIn, led the ARF Young Pros through a deep dive into NPS, CSAT and CES—the three most used metrics by modern businesses to better measure and understand customer satisfaction. Attendees learned more about what each metric is, when and how to implement it, real life applications of these tools and more.
At Part I of our Insights Studio Series on November 2, 2022, we discussed key shifts in the ads landscape and insights on peoples’ thoughts and behaviors around privacy—based on the latest ARF Privacy Survey. Experts from Boston University, Meta, Nielsen and the ARF shared macro-level trends as well as frameworks to help make sense of the advertising ecosystem.
During Part 2 of our Insights Studio on Privacy experts from Neustar, Sallie Mae and the ARF examined what privacy changes mean for marketers. They discussed the importance of a mutually agreed upon value exchange between the consumer and the brand and the implications of the changing privacy frameworks for the targeting and measurement of advertising. Although there are challenges related to consumer privacy, regulatory issues and measurement, the panelists were optimistic about the potential for resolution.
An ARF event presented by the LA Media Research Council focused on insights from 2022 research and on 2023 priorities to meet business challenges. Issues addressed in research presentations and by an expert panel included the evolution of streaming during an economic downturn, how to manage subscriber churn, understanding Gen Z and the continued need for better measurement across the ecosystem.
Over the last six months, social media has received a lot of attention on numerous fronts, from economic challenges the platforms are facing to changing hands in ownership to the recent Congressional hearings. This event looked at consumers’ current relationships to social media and their perceptions of social media platforms and use cases. Experts from the Social Council reported on the results of a survey of 2,490 social media users that they had conducted in partnership with Dynata that took a deeper look at social media’s role and function in the daily lives and experiences of its users. The findings unveiled eye opening insights and opportunities to help marketers understand where and how they can engage their target audiences on social media.
Tony Marlow at LG Ad Solutions unveiled findings from The Big Shift Study, an online survey conducted in September 2022 of 733 adults from the general U.S. population. CTV in the living room is near saturation, with 93% having access to a CTV there. One-third of streaming content discovery also takes place there. But not all streaming remains ubiquitous. In the last twelve months, one-third of respondents removed a subscription from their CTV service and a quarter have added an AVOD or FAST service. The study found a similar trend taking place over the next twelve months. Fears of economic inflation and a looming recession are pushing people to opt for free, ad-supported streaming services.
Heidi Chung of Variety Intelligence Platform interviewed Barry Blyn of Walt Disney and Matthew Gottlieb of NBCUniversal about the biggest trends in sports streaming. Barry said sports are thriving, especially since the pandemic ended. Fans, however, are changing. Who fans are, how they fan and what they fan has changed. More women are watching sports and women’s sports are also appealing to both men and women, including the WNBA final and the NCAA women’s tournament. What people fan has also changed. A decade ago, no one heard of things like Drive to Survive or 30 for 30 Films. Now, there’s an explosion of original sport’s content.
Jon Giegengack of Hub Entertainment and Wayne Goldstein of Sony Pictures uncovered facets of streaming that display a potential pendulum shift toward more familiar aspects of linear TV. For instance, consumers now want content aggregation and a bundling option to help find content across different platforms. This need for simplicity of use extends to the rise of smart TVs, lessening the number of remotes to manage or buttons to push. TV advertising has entered streaming in a big way. In an age of bingeability, appointment TV has also cropped up. Another adoption from linear, FAST is featuring more programs that help us enjoy our downtime, where we can retreat from the day, lean back and unwind, as opposed to the immersive programming that’s been a stalwart of streaming.
In this fireside chat, L.A. Times’ Meg James interviewed CBS’s Radha Subramanyam about the journey of a TV show. The role of a researcher used to be about reporting; however, today, it’s looking at many different signals and making recommendations based on them. This has made researchers integral to the process, a leg of the table rather than a seat at the table. Now, the strongest shows originate with linear but make their way onto different OTT platforms, making audience measurement difficult. There’s also a pattern to OTT. When a popular show comes out, a certain platform will have a strong four weeks and die down, while shows like Criminal Minds, Friends and NCIS have a perennial presence. Rather than focus on different platforms, Radha believes that we gain a better understanding from studying popular content, their lifecycle, journey and sustaining power. In addition, she noted that death of linear is overblown as viewership for popular shows has changed little in the last few years.
Tania Missad of Warner Bros. Discovery introduced the audience to their Video Now study, a 10-year project investigating the evolution of the viewing landscape, which includes the growth of streaming and further erosion of linear TV. The study found that people are now less willing to spend on streaming apps and other options due to frustration with rising costs. They also feel overwhelmed by the number of services. This is causing low and no cost options such as AVOD and FAST to flourish. Besides cost savings, viewers like that AVOD and FAST have large libraries of content to explore. What consumers want now is bundling discounts, improved content discovery including aggregating desirable content across different apps and more personalized recommendations. There’s also a growing interest in more diverse stories and international content.