TV Masters - Module 1 The changing viewing landscape

Module One – All about viewing

The first module reveals how the UK video landscape is evolving, what roles TV plays in viewers’ lives, and how video on demand has impacted viewing.

What you’ll get from this module:

• A comprehensive understanding of the UK video landscape
• Knowledge of the different roles TV plays in our lives
• An understanding of TV’s development and evolution
• Insight into the emotional needs that drive viewing choices

The changing viewing landscape

It's fair to say that we've seen more change in how we watch television over the last 5 years or so than we had in the previous 50, but as audience measurement lack behind behavioural change, this is the area of TV where we see the most confusion and hype.

You're not normal: the importance of being market orientated and customer focused in our media planning

People who work in Advertising are very different from the wider population. Relative to the average person, you are much more likely to live in urban areas, to commute, to work long hours, to have a hectic nightlife and to live in shared houses without a living room. These differences impact on your media consumption, which means that you are very different from the average person. You're even different from people of a similar age or lifestyle of yourself. Because of this there's a very simple rule that you must operate by which sounds easy but in practice is incredibly hard to do and we're wired to do quite the opposite.

"When it comes to making media planning decisions on what's best for your current Brand's campaign objectives, you cannot be influenced by your own behaviour."

Book – The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton – a look at 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy

Study – False consensus effect study by Prof Lee Ross, Stanford University is the tendency to assume others will behave in the same way as you

"The person who feeds squirrels, votes Republican or drinks Drambuie for breakfast will see such behaviour as relatively common." Prof. Lee Ross, Stanford University

This is a problem because the habits of media agency staff are out of sync with the population. Most people in media agency read the Guardian and the Sun, more shopped at Waitrose than Asda and more drunk Peroni than Carling. That's in contrast with the population as a whole. We're far more likely to read the Sun than the Guardian by 10 fold, more likely to shop at Asda than Waitrose by 3 fold, and far more likely to drink Carling than Peroni. So what can you do?

The Experiments: What can do you do?

Suggestion 1: don't rely on a sample of one – yourself, this can be misleading

Suggestion 2: Immerse yourself in all available industry data for an unbiased perspective

Suggestion 3: carry out your own research – a quick Google survey or a simple field experiment can offer valuable insights

Research – IPA's Touch Points (broad media consumption) – valuable insights into the daily habits and media moments of your target market

Research – BARB Establishment Survey – a regularly updated report that looks at the UK's TV viewing habits

Key Take Outs

• People who work in advertising are very different to the rest of the population
• We are wired to presume that others think, feel and act as we do
• It's vital to base planning decision on hard data rather than gut instinct

The Age of TV: why it's never been a better time for viewers

Viewers have got more choice and control than they've ever had before. Video on demand and Video recorders mean that we have absolute control of what we watch and when we want to watch it. And the tech that we get to watch our favorite shows on gets better and better with our screens that keeps getting bigger.

66% of main TV screen are 40 inches + (x3 higher than 2009)

80% now have broadcaster VOD on TV set

UK content broadcaster spend ￡7.7bn in 2019 (+15% in a decade)

Source BARB, Ofcom, TouchPoints

Key Take Outs

• Technology has constantly enhanced our viewing experience
• We have more choice and control of what we watch than ever before
• The quality of content on our screens is at an all time high
• TV makes a cultural impact on society

The facts about TV viewing: an overview of the industry data available revealing our viewing habits

There is no like for like form of measurement across different forms of video.

Platforms such as Facebook and YouTube tend to operate on a view or a video stop basis using their own data as a means of reporting viewing levels rather than the joint third party industry committee such as BARB or RAJAR.

Netflix who make their money from subscription revenue don't have to release any data on how people are using their platform, how long are they watching for or what their most popular shows are.

However using a number of industry data sources (BARB, UKOM, Touch Points, Comscore, and the Broadcasters own studies of stream data, here is what we can observe:

Source 2010-2019, BARB /Broadcaster stream data/ IPA TouchPoints 2019, Individuals

There isn't a universal means of measuring video consumption.

YouTube and Facebook: views or impressions, video starts only, global level

TV: average audiences, average time spent per person, per day

Key Take Outs

• We are watching as much TV as we always have, but the way we watch is changing.
• We watch different types of programs in different ways.
• The average person watched 4h42mins of video per day of which 68% is TV
• Amongst 16-34s TV accounts for 45% of all video viewing

The shift to on demand

The shift to on demand: how video on demand is reshaping our viewing habits (from both ad funding broadcasters: ITV hub, Channel 4, BritBox, Sky, UK TV Play and ad free subscription player: BBC iPlayer, Apple TV +, Netflix, Disney +, Prime Video)

Over the past 10 years or so the broadcasters have been developing and enhancing their on demand services. The ITV hub for example is available across 30 different platforms and offers viewers to buy access to live TV, and to catch up shows from broadcasters over the past 28 days. Alongside broadcasters on demand service, we also have subscription vod services Netflix, Prime Video and NOW TV are the most established offering but we also have new entrants such as Apple TV + and Disney + coming in into the mix. Streaming wars have well and truly began.

ITV has 30M, Channel has 4, 21M and SKY has 12M registered users = first party data

Key Take Outs

• Broadcaster VOD is now a very established and significant part of the viewing landscape
• The majority of Broadcaster VOD is watched on the TV set
• Over 50% of homes subscribe to a Subscription VOD service
• Most Netflix viewing is to US library programming bought from the US networks
• Broadcaster TV lives side by side with subscription VOD services

Autumn 2020 course open until Monday 21st Dec

The next course will open in Feb 2021

Enroll for free: https://tvmasters.thinkbox.tv/