TV VIEWING TRENDS

How marketers are adjusting to changing TV viewing habits in US

By our News Team | 2022

Traditional television is still attracting significant ad spend, but this is slowly but surely moving to newer forms of TV viewing.

US marketers and their agencies are having to come to terms with significant changes in television viewing habits, a recent study emphasises.

Advertising dollars are shifting to streaming, the researchers found. And while linear/broadcast TV still draws substantial media spend – a third of marketers dedicate 25% or more of their budget to it – over the next 12 months, 52% of marketers plan to increase budget for connected TV (smart TVs, gaming consoles and connected devices).

In addition, 34% of marketers say they will be dedicating more dollars to addressable TV (cable and satellite providers), while 25% of marketers are looking to decrease their linear/broadcast TV budget going forward.

Television viewing trends

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

Titled “The Unstoppable Evolution of TV to Total Video: Everything You Wanted to Know About Next Gen TV, Video and Streaming, But Were Afraid to Ask,” the study/guide has been published by the CMO Club, is a community for marketing leaders, and Catalina, a specialist in shopper intelligence and personalising the shopper journey. 

The guide cites several statistics that underscore how Next-Gen TV is poised to overtake both linear broadcast and cable TV in the future. 

Enormous new opportunities for marketers

“In this aggressively evolving environment, the opportunities for marketers to find and target audiences based on when and how they are consuming video content is enormous, especially now that brands can expand beyond just demographic data to reach specific audiences and households who are more receptive to their products and services,” the research team says.

Adds Stacey Hawes, US Chief Revenue Office at Catalina: “Today’s marketers need to adopt an omni-channel strategy, and TV has only increased in value with more consumers cutting the cord and moving to streaming options during the pandemic. In fact, more than one in four households no longer have a cable box, so you cannot reach them with traditional linear TV [advertising] buys.”

Among the other key findings:

  • A slim majority of CMOs surveyed – 58% – say they are comfortable/very comfortable developing and executing their TV buying strategy in this increasingly complex environment.
  • CMOs are comfortable navigating TV, but 80% turn to their media buying agency or consultant to gain insights or guidance on effective TV buying strategies, while 42% say their agency strategy team is primarily responsible for developing TV strategy. To increase reach and effectiveness of TV dollars, 44% intend to hire external partners or agencies in the next year.
  • Developing internal talent is critical. CMOs look to their internal brand leaders to develop TV strategy (43%), handle the TV buying (36%), and gain insights or guidance on effective TV buying strategies (40%). Forty percent plan to hire in-house talent (digital/media/analytic) in the next 12 months
  • Targeting with demographics still leads, but behavioural insights are not far behind. While demographics are still largely utilised to target TV buys (78%), with the increasing popularity of advanced TV opportunities, behavioural targeting (e.g., pet owners, auto enthusiasts, social followers of a brand) is a strong second at 64%.
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