entertainment
- Past Event Highlights
- Article
Concurrent Track Panel Discussion: Audience-Driven Trends in Media
Mukta Chowdhardy – VP Cultural Insights, WarnerMedia Matt Ross – SoDA Product Manager, Digital I David Tice – Consultant, HUB Entertainment Research Michael Tscherwinski – Media Principal, IRI Britta Cleveland – SVP, Research Solutions, Dotdash Meredith Corporation MODERATOR
Key Takeaways
- Continue advertising through product supply constraints.
- Leverage a data-driven approach to connect with the highest value consumers.
- Advertise the portfolio to mitigate out-of-stock pressure on any one brand.
- Enrich CRM data, conduct agile “test & learn” now and glean insights to invest at scale when supply conditions improve.
Is Hollywood Losing its Influence Over Global Audiences?
Matt Ross – SoDA Product Manager, Digital I
Key Takeaways
- There has been increased viewership of non-English language content on streaming platforms, even in the U.S.
- English-language and U.S. content still dominate in the U.S.
- U.S. content remains critical to the global entertainment ecosystem.
- Based on the success of Squid Game, SVOD production budgets could increasingly be spent outside the U.S.
- However, financially, the U.S. is still in a prime position since the large streaming companies are predominantly from the U.S.
Welcome to the Age of Intentionalism
Mukta Chowdhary – VP, Cultural Insights, WarnerMedia
Key Takeaways
- Intentionalism motivates consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z. Millennials and Gen Z are rethinking their lives and making decisions with increased intention, including how they use their time and what brands they spend their money on: 71% of consumers are now more purposeful in all their decisions. Post-pandemic, consumers will continue to be more intentional.
- Brands can break through with “people-positive marketing,” providing collaboration, empowerment and additive experiences. Mukta offered a framework for brand’s advertising to these consumers involving reflection, restoring, building and inspiring. Consumer intention and attention levels are factors in this framework. When the framework is applied to streaming, audiences favor advertising that respects their time, creates a cohesive experience, experiments with storytelling and challenges conventions.
- There are four consumer streaming intentions: Boost mood, create time markers, explore identity and foster growth. These intentions are fluent and overlap. Mood (53%) is the factor most influencing streaming decisions. Viewers also seek growth and knowledge when streaming.
- Streaming fills basic consumer needs for comfort, connection and inspiration. The primary way consumers want to spend their free-time is with entertainment: 85% of Gen Z and Millennials agree that entertainment saved them during the pandemic. However, they are also intentional about what they watch: 83% of Gen Z and Millennials have become more selective with the entertainment they are streaming. Additionally, streaming is fully integrated into their lives all day.
Attention Everywhere
Marc Guldimann – Founder & CEO, Adelaide
Erik Nylen – Sr. Director, Data Science Lead, NBA
Key Takeaways
- AU is Adelaide’s quality-of-placement score for an ad that measures its ability to capture visual attention. AUs are based on a number of signals, including the channel, parsed through a machine-learning algorithm.
- Adelaide’s research has shown that AUs are correlated with lifts in awareness, and even more predictive of lower funnel metrics.
- The NBA found a strong relationship between the AU of the display, OLV, and CTV media they bought and the tune-in rates for the NBA Finals. In general, tune-in rates rose with increasing AU.
- Their highest AU placement in OLV and digital display was associated with a tune-in rate that was three times the tune-in rate of their lowest-AU placement. The tune-in rate from exposures to their highest AU placement on CTV was 38% higher than the tune-in rate from exposures to their lowest AU placement.
- Viewership of the NBA Finals increased 32% over 2020.
NYCU: A Different Perspective on the Super Bowl
From an international and global brands perspective, Super Bowl audience figures aren’t quite as impressive as they are to the U.S.
According to FIFA, the 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia reached an average live audience of 517 million viewers, with more than 1.1 billion people tuning in over for over 90 minutes. The 2021 Super Bowl pales in comparison, having had an average TV viewership of 91.6 million in the U.S., plus an estimated 30 to 50 million viewers around the world.
Source: Richter, F. (2022, February 11). Super Bowl Pales in Comparison to the Biggest Game in Soccer. Super Bowl: Topics, Statista.
NYCU: Latest Viewing Trend Data: NFL Games
NFL games reached record ratings during the 2021 season. The 2021 NFL regular season averaged 17.1 million viewers (TV and Digital) – the highest regular-season average since 2015 and up more than 10% from 2020. The Dallas Cowboys accounted for five of the top 10 ratings. During the 2021 NFL regular season, NFL games ranked as the top 16, 48 of the top 50; and 91 of the top 100 telecasts on TV. Throughout the season, there were 370 billion total minutes consumed which is up +18% vs. 2020. That’s and the second-highest total on record behind only 2015. For the first time, each NFL team played 17 regular season games, providing fans with an extra week of regular season NFL action. The five most-watched NFL games during the 2021 regular season:
- Las Vegas Raiders vs. Dallas Cowboys (Week 12, CBS) – 40.8 million
- Dallas Cowboys vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Week 11, FOX) – 28.7 million
- Cleveland Browns vs. Green Bay Packers (Week 16, FOX+NFLN) – 28.6 million
- Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions (Week 12, FOX) – 28.2 million
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New England Patriots (Week 4, NBC) – 27.2 million
NYCU: In Brief
Major Magazine Publisher Meredith Purchased The digital media arm of Barry Diller's IAC, Dotdash, agreed to buy Meredith Corp. in a deal valued at about $2.7 billion. The combined company is to be called Dotdash Meredith. The deal will combine Meredith's more than 40 brands, including Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Living and InStyle magazines with Dotdash's digital labels such as The Spruce, Byrdie and Brides. It comes four years after Meredith, backed by conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, acquired Time Inc., the publisher of People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune magazines. The publisher (Meredith) has since sold some titles like Time, Fortune, Money and Sports Illustrated that primarily attracted male readership as it turned its focus toward its core, women's magazines.
Source: Patnaik, S. (2021, October 6). IAC's Dotdash To Buy Magazine Publisher Meredith In $2.7 Bln Deal. Reuters.
NFL Ratings Up 17% Games have drawn an average of 17.3 million viewers through the first four weeks of this season, boosted by fans back in the stands and close games.
Source: Rizzo, L. (2021 October 8). NFL Ratings Are Up 17%, Boosted By Fans Back In Stands And Close Games. The Wall Street Journal.
The Magic Number
Source: Ives, N. (2021, October 9). The Magic Number. CMO Today, The Wall Street Journal.
Member Only AccessNYCU: Updates from the NFL
Games are spread across five primary networks throughout the season: ESPN, NBC, Fox, CBS and the NFL Network. Here are some updates: Ratings for the First Game: The Dallas Cowboys’ showdown with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday ranked as the most-watched NFL Kickoff game in six years, garnering 26 million viewers, according to NBC Sports. It was also the most-streamed NBC NFL game to air on linear TV, Peacock and NBC Sports Digital, according to preliminary Nielsen estimates. The average minute audience score for last night’s live stream (via Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms, NFL Digital platforms, Cowboys and Buccaneers mobile properties, and Yahoo Sports mobile properties) was, approximately 1.6 million viewers, up 64% from last year’s NFL Kickoff game. Source: Zorrilla, M. (2021, September 10). TV Ratings: NBC’s NFL Kickoff Game Delivers TV’s Biggest Audience Since Super Bowl. Variety. Sports Betting: More than half of the states in the US now offers legal sports betting, just three years after it was allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Gamblers in 26 states plus the District of Columbia are expected be able to wager bets legally, according to the American Gaming Association, with as many as five additional states offering such betting before the season ends in February with the Super Bowl. That’s up from 18 states with legal sports betting at the start of last year’s football season. And some of the biggest markets in the US, including California and Florida, are moving toward legalization, with New York planning to adopt mobile sports betting at some point. More than 45 million Americans say they plan to bet during the NFL season this year, according to the American Gaming Association, the casino industry’s national trade group. That’s an increase of 36% from last year. Source: Parry, W. (2021, September 8). Half of US offers legal sports betting as NFL season begins. AP News., The Associated Press. Players’ Helmets: The NFL will allow six social justice decals on players’ helmets. The decals, with messages such as “Stop Hate” and “Black Lives Matter,” are part of the league’s efforts to show solidarity with players who have protested racism and police brutality. Source: Levenson, M. (2021, September 5). N.F.L. Will Allow Six Social Justice Messages on Players’ Helmets. Only subscribers of the New York Times can read the full article. 2021 N.F.L. Season, The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/05/sports/nfl-social-justice.html
Member Only AccessNYCU: Emotional Drivers of Animation Success
As animation in TV shows, streaming, movies and advertising is growing, Magid has analyzed the emotional drivers of animation. The study suggests that “Originality” has become an essential element of successful animation.
Animation used to be pretty much synonymous with Saturday Morning Cartoons and Disney. Today, animation styles and genres are much more diverse and its audience has widened way beyond children and their parents. Given these changes and the increased importance of animation, Magid has employed their EmotionalDNA database to explore the drivers of successful animation (The enclosed links have more information on eDNA).
Two key findings: Figure1 from their report shows the change in emotional drivers from 2014 to 2021. While “Edge”, usually driven by humor, remains a defining trait for animated programming, “originality” has become a much bigger component in popular animated content. This appears to be consistent with overarching eDNA data across genres which finds consumers are increasingly seeking content that feels original.
Further, the analysis showed that complex emotions drive performance in animation and that those differ for different kinds of animation. In fact, the research identified six separate groups, each defined by a unique mix of emotional characteristics.
Sources: Magid. (2021, June 2). Not Your Typical Saturday Morning Cartoon » Animation and Emotional Trends. Magid. (Note: this links to a short video)
Link to the PDF (no video).