How to advertise effectively when TV viewer behavior keeps changing

In a fragmented world of new platforms, competing services, and fickle viewers demanding exciting new experiences, how do advertisers and media partners survive?

Television viewing habits are no longer habits. The traditional TV experience--where viewers sit glued to the tube and endure frequent commercial breaks--has all but disappeared.

Instead, people are watching videos, movies and TV shows in different formats on a variety of  platforms and devices. They’re subscribing to streaming services they can access on laptops, smart TVs, and mobile devices. And more and more of this content is offered for a fee but without advertisements.

In such a fragmented environment, it’s harder to get accurate ratings and measurements. Networks and advertisers are struggling to reach the right audiences with the appropriate messages, in the right channels, at the right times. Meanwhile, viewers have a lower tolerance for interruptions and are more likely to tune out the ads that aren’t relevant.

Because of this, media outfits, advertisers, and social media platform providers are frequently working together to create innovative customer experiences. They are crossing boundaries and forming partnerships that were previously unfathomable.

Exploring industry convergence

At Advertising Week, a recent conference in New York City, I wanted to explore industry convergence, so I hosted a panel featuring executives from Fox, NBCUniversal (NBCU), and Snapchat to learn how major players in the video advertising market are working together to improve the industry.

Our panel of executives shared what their companies are doing to improve consumer engagement with advertisements. Below are some of the highlights from our discussion.

Fox’s Executive vice president of strategy and operations, David Levy, emphasized the importance of creating ads that don’t interfere with great storytelling. With competition from commercial-free streamers, the television industry will have to cut back on the number of ads  placed in each show, while making sure the ads they do show are relevant and targeted to a particular show’s viewers. Levy said ads should evolve and become more interactive and engaging.

Fox has been experimenting with interactive formats on some television programs. It recently ran a pilot that gave viewers an option to either interact with an ad for 30 seconds or watch the normal program without the interactive ad. An Amazon campaign incorporated its Alexa smart speaker into the ad, allowing users to talk to and interact with it. Seventy percent chose the  interactive ad.

Fox is also a member of Open AP, a consortium of TV publishers that also includes Viacom, NBCU, and Turner. The objective is to make ads more relevant on a variety of platforms by forming audience segments based on sophisticated behavioral user data, while also respecting user privacy by anonymizing the data.

NBCUniversal’s Krishan Bhatia, Executive vice president of business operations and strategy, said the network is dedicated to making sure content from its various channels can be found where consumers want it--whether that’s on TV or another medium--provided it makes sense for the business.

Many viewers, especially younger ones, discover TV content on digital channels such as YouTube, which  may encourage them to tune in live when the show airs on the networks. So NBCU created partnerships, including a number with Snapchat. During the Olympics, NBCU used Snapchat to reach a younger audience than typically tunes into the live broadcasts of the games. Additionally, they use this social media channel to air bite-sized news segments  twice a day to millions of Gen Zers.

To make it easier for advertisers to reach their audiences, NBCU is giving them more accurate measurements, Bhatia reported. The company created CFlight to measure viewing across platforms. And NBCU isn’t keeping this technology to itself for competitive advantage; it’s encouraging other media companies to use the tool in order to raise measurement standards across the industry. NBCU wants to move beyond impressions to understand how people are viewing ads, which would help agencies place the ads.

Snapchat, in addition to hosting content from players like NBCUniversal, Vice and Hearst, is offering content providers insights on how consumers are using its platform. According to Brett Wein, Snap’s Head of global business solutions, the company has 19 measurement partners, ranging from the top of the funnel to last touch. Snapchat can offer advertisers tips based on their understanding of user behavior and how to best utilize the 30-second windows of content they’re allotted on the platform.

Wein said Snapchat is using external data to help brands make their ads more engaging. The  company is focusing on adding commerce into ads. A forthcoming update will allow retailers to upload pieces of inventory information to personalize their ads based on user profiles and online activity in sites such as the retailer’s website.

Also noteworthy is the fact that Snap is producing its own content. One show, “Phone Swap,” originated on Snapchat and later became an extended show on Fox.

These and other industry changes have made it difficult to categorize companies like the ones discussed here. Are they tech companies or media companies? And where do advertisers fit into the mix?

These “hybrid” companies are crossing into territories that were traditionally out of their spheres, and they’re taking on roles they couldn’t have imagined even a decade ago. But the increased collaboration in the industry gives them a collective advantage as they compete for fickle, ever-changing viewers, and search for innovative ways to sustain ad-supported business models.