Based on new analyses of Nielsen’s data, including their new “Gauge” measure which includes streaming, Brian Fuhrer’s presentation focused on a new trend in viewer behavior “STRIVE”–Streaming Live or Linear Streaming–through an app.
In this presentation James Lamberti, CMO of Conviva, discussed opportunities for streaming platforms because of their measurement capabilities, particularly behavioral segmentation. The speaker examined the features of streaming platforms and exemplified how data gleaned from these platforms can lead to deep audience understanding, providing a more personalized and customized experience for the consumer.
The researchers reported on new insights from their on-going series of surveys on trends in consumer’s viewing behaviors with regard to ad-supported versus ad-free content.
This presentation described the findings of a major ethnographic study (conducted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) that compared the impact of video advertising on various platforms: TV, BVOD (VOD provided by commercial broadcasters), YouTube and Facebook. The study used eye-tracking devices to assess attention to ads and unaided recall as impact measure.
Sharing his latest “Media Universe Map,” which describes the rapidly changing media landscape, Evan Shapiro conducted a discussion based on the map to exemplify the swiftly developing and competitive media ecosystem. Noting the “war for attention” in the new media landscape, he indicated that the largest media companies (“The Death Stars”), such as Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia, will play a direct or indirect role in what happens to smaller or emerging companies. Other drivers of the media ecosystem include the balance of single unit and subscription sales, generational effects, and the emergence of the creator content economy.
Since the onset of COVID-19, viewing patterns have changed dramatically. The biggest shift, however, has been an accelerated trend towards streaming. Shelter at home policies and health concerns about gathering in large public places, such as movie theaters, are the driving forces. The ARF’s OTT virtual event was dedicated to exploring recent trends as well as identifying the drivers of viewing behavior and the business of OTT in the “new normal”: How have viewing patterns and preferences evolved? What strategies have streaming companies employed to maintain and increase market share? How have studios evaluated and overcome production challenges? 2020 OTT landscape are vastly different from 2019 – how have advertisers taken advantage of the shifts? Spanning two days, for two hours each day, leading OTT providers, advertisers and research experts shared their perspectives and predictions about changing viewing behavior and where the market is heading.
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.
This expert panel of industry leaders, moderated by Jon Watts of CIMM, tried to get under the hood of cross-platform measurement. Are studios, content producers, broadcasters and programmer’s needs being met by today’s cross-platform solutions? Cross-platform measurement isn’t just adding it all up to see the total size of the audience. It’s also important to find how people are moving through platforms, how they are discovering content, but there has been progress towards this. While it’s hard to get granular, broad insights are possible. Deciding which questions you want answered, what data you use and how you look at the data are also crucial aspects. Content measurement hasn’t gotten the same type of “action” ad measurement has. This lack of focus on content measurement, the siloing of data and the continued use of legacy terms that are outdated are aspects that are hurting the ecosystem.
Greg Durkin of Enact Insight asked the audience why doesn’t every tracker use posters and videos instead of words on a page? And why can’t we do syndicated trailer testing? And what if testing could predict viewership? In his long career as an entertainment market researcher, he found five main things that drive viewership: creative positioning, product quality, media + publicity, competition and distribution. With so many choices today, content discovery is harder than ever. The vast majority of content is unheard of. The type of platform also affects viewership. The audience for Apple TV+ is different than Netflix’s. What’s more, content coming out is not being optimized. Releasing content at the proper time can drive viewership. Certain themes can do so as well and attract widely diverse audience segments. The most important thing for a platform is quality, both in content and in navigation and recommendations.
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.