Prepare for Generation Stream. Julie DeTraglia Showcases Hulu's Streaming TV Research

Generation Stream is Hulu’s term for those “culturesetters” who are on the forefront of cultural change and whose media consumption is mostly or completely streamed video. No longer gathered around the television set with family members, these individuals are best categorized as the harbingers of media-to-come. 

But who are they really? Hulu decided to find out by conducting a major study in April 2020. Julie DeTraglia, Head of Research for Hulu designed the study, first with a primary component that queried 20 diverse “Culturesetters” ages 16 to 44. Then, using insights gleaned from that group, she launched a national survey of 2,500+ diverse Gen Zs, Millennials and Gen Xers, ages 13 to 54. According to DeTraglia, “We tested trends and further explored streaming behavior and preferences. The result included an expansive multi-chapter report, testimonials and curated videos on streaming trends, types, behaviors, classifiers and reactions/preferences around advertising in streaming.”

Overall Trends

Generally speaking, DeTraglia found that the 13-54 year olds polled in the study were either heavy users of streaming services or intended to subscribe to a streaming service. This indicates a further advancement of streaming as a more dominant form of media consumption in the coming years. “Diving into the experiences and moods of Generation Stream further cements streaming TV as a foundational part of a viewer’s day,” she explained.  The study found that:

        90% view TV and movie content on a video streaming platform

        75% fill their media consumption time streaming or mostly streaming the video content

        Among non-streamers, 57% anticipate subscribing to a streaming service within the next 5 years

Generation Stream

Generation Stream is the prevailing consumer segment, representing 90% of all 13-54 year old Americans who stream content. And they love streaming content. According to the findings, 91% of Generation Stream would give up their music streaming service, social media, favorite food, favorite fashion item and favorite brand before they gave up their video streaming service. In fact, the only thing other than video streaming they aren’t willing to give up is their hair.

DeTraglia pointed out that, “The ripple effect of streaming is as powerful as it is universal. Virtually all (95%) of Generation Stream say streaming has changed their viewing experience in at least one way, from being able to binge content to having more control over their viewing experience to watching

niche content.” Streaming enables this cohort to watch totally on demand. “They are untethered from the 24-hour day, primetime slots, Nielsen ratings, or set commercial breaks, content has newfound wiggle room,” she added. But this brings with it added expectations for more left-of-center shows, more multidimensional characters, more bingeable seasons and generally more content. Over one-third (35%) of Generation Stream says, because of streaming, they watch more content than ever before it is changing their viewing behavior and expectations.

Diving down a little deeper, Generation Stream falls into three key segments of behaviors - Those who are Stream Only (37%), Stream Most (47%) and Stream Also (16%).For Hulu specifically, 86% of Hulu subscribers fall into the top two groups - Stream Only (41%) and Stream Most (45%).

The way Generation Stream uses streaming services fall into four behavioral types:  

1.       Classic: These viewers tend to stream content in the same manner as people watch traditional TV—at set times, with family, friends or a partner and as part of a daily routine.

2.       Curated: This group is more selective in their streaming content, centering on intelligent, niche and global content that is more than just pure entertainment. They tend to favor shows and movies that spur a cultural conversation to connect them with like-minded communities.

3.       Therapeutic: This group favors streaming content that is more meditative and therapeutic, presumably because it reminds them of childhood, or enables them to lightly reflect.

4.       Indulgent: This group favors streaming content that is totally immersive. They enjoy being fully consumed with shows, ‘holing up’ for a weekend solo to binge through several seasons of a favored program.

The results of this study will help inform the industry going forward. “The insights in this report uncover what inspires and moves this audience, so that Hulu and our partners can connect with them in meaningful ways, with content, brands and advertising. By exploring this coveted audience, who has been watching TV in a streaming environment for over a decade, ‘Generation Stream’ helps us understand the why, who and how of streaming TV viewers, and will continue to do so in the coming reports,” she concluded.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Revenge, Confusion and Kumbayah at the TV of Tomorrow 2019 Conference

Between ATSC 3.0, Addressability, live programming such as news and sports and OTT, this year’s NYC TV of Tomorrow conference offered a great sense of anticipation regarding the future of media. From when I first attended the conference in 2012, the ecosystem has gone through a series of seismic changes, lurching forward in one area and contracting in another. Recall the first rumblings of Addressable? Now it is reaching critical mass. Remember 3D TV? Yeah, neither do I. This year, the prognosticators report the following:

Revenge of the Nerds

There is more data than ever which leads to much more complexity in how it is used. “There is a greater need for examining multiple data sources, rather than simply relying on one or two” stated Helen Katz, Senior Vice President and Director Global Analytics and Insights, Publicis. “Given the increased complexity in consumers’ media and purchase behavior over the past five years, buyers and sellers both need to look to more granular data to do their jobs effectively.”

To that end, Julian Zilberbrand Executive Vice President Audience Science, Viacom/CBS, got it right when he said, “If you don’t have your nerds, you’re dead.” Arming your company with the best talent in data science, research and analytics is a must to compete in this ever complex media ecosystem. I have been in the nerd sector of the industry for decades so this evolution in industry attitude is very welcome.

We Are All Confused

As frenetic and confusing as the change is for those who work in media, the world is equally so for the consumer. “There is consumer confusion about how to access content,” stated Julie DeTraglia, Head of Research, Hulu. “We went into homes and found that people don’t understand their own TV sets.” Natasha Hritzuk, Vice President Consumer Insights, WarnerMedia, added, “It is a challenge for consumers. People feel overwhelmed. They have to grapple with the device proliferation and the choice of content.”

Part of the confusion on the media side is the changing ways to do business. “The rules we grew up with are antiquated,” stated Peter Olsen, Executive Vice President Ad Sales, A+E Networks, “It was good when we started because TV didn’t have to sell itself,” but now there is more competition. And even current business rules are not as simple as we may think. Take, for example, calculating attribution. “When I view engaging content, I won’t switch to buy something. I will wait,” explained Radha Subramanyam, President and Chief Research and Analytics Officer, Viacom/CBS. “Half of TV impressions are not counted because they are time shifted. Tons of clients do attribution around live. But no one will stop in the middle of a great program to buy something, especially something expensive.”

A Media Kumbayah

For the first time in our history, there has been a partnering of not only frenemy companies who compete on the same side of the business but also those who compete across the negotiation table. Programmers, networks and content distributors are forming working open partnerships with agencies, brands and advertisers. This cross industry collaboration is a welcome advancement where agreed upon solutions can be facilitated and moved more quickly into market.

David Ernst, Vice President, Advanced TV and Digital Insights, A+E Networks, explained that, “We offer insights as to how well campaigns on our networks are driving results, driving KPIs, drive to the web or retail location. What is changing is the dynamic of media seller and buyer. Once at odds, we are now all in same boat. There is more collaboration with agencies.” Olsen is, “confident in the bigger picture that TV works and we need to get there fast. It will take a couple of years but when we put our heads together we find many solutions.”

Be Careful of Simple Solutions

To mitigate this confusion, there may be a temptation to enforce simple standardizable solutions. But this lack of nuance would be a mistake. Collecting all content into an app, for example, aggregates content from many properties which can be good but, recalling her past experience in CPG research, Hritzuk warned that, “We are on a point of inflection to become commoditized. I worry about commoditization of inventory.”

Bringing different datasets together can solve for the deficiencies in each. Tom Ziangus, Senior Vice President Research, AMC Networks, noted, “There is a level of granularity that we don’t have with Nielsen but a level of information on Individual viewers from Nielsen that we don’t have from big data,” he explained. However, bringing different datasets together is complicated. “We need to ‘de-babelize’ the dataset [into one common language],” noted Jonathan Steuer, Chief Research Officer, Omnicom, “Or we can’t have same buying and selling combinations.” For Andrew Ward, President, Ampersand, the industry should, “move away from panel survey-based to deterministic.”

Remember too that we are not always seeking the same solutions. “PlutoTV is free so we are not competing for money but competing for time. People feel overwhelmed and confused over places to watch things. For many, Pluto is easy, like turning the TV on. We are not trying to get dollars out of people’s pockets. We are competing differently,” explained Colleen Fahey-Rush, Executive Vice President, Chief Research Officer, Viacom.

For Katz, she believes the industry will eventually come together to create a common data platform that incorporates data from multiple sources. How soon that will happen remains to be seen. Stay tuned for TVOT 2020.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Hulu Knows the Secret of Digital Fluency

If there is one longstanding bias that permeates the media industry, it is that older adults are techno-phobic. We’ve written long analyses as to why that is not so but the overall prejudice still exists … until now. Hulu has just released the second phase of a study that examines digital fluency by consumer segmentation that transcends age.  

What Hulu has found, according to Julie DeTraglia, Hulu’s Head of Research, is that the actual enjoyment of technology is a better indicator of digital fluency than age. She defines digital fluency as, “comfort with technology and a willingness to interact that way with all types of categories and brands.”

The Journey to Understanding

“We really didn’t set out to do this specific type of study,” she explained. Previously, “we did a generational study where we concentrated on the differences in television behavior between Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z,” and saw differences in television behavior. The intent was to simply do a follow-up to that study, folding in other types of behaviors across other categories, attitudes towards advertising and brand relationships. But, “as we started brainstorming, we realized that it is not just Gen Z that has changed. Everybody has changed,” and this change has occurred across all generations.

What she found was that people of all ages changed behaviors and attitudes, becoming more digitally fluent as opportunities for convenience became available. Her example was Uber; “We were taught from childhood never to get into a car with a stranger. But now we are doing it all the time,” she noted, because of the convenience of on-demand car service.

The Big Takeaway

“So we tried to understand what that journey is and how people identified themselves and the identity they had around technology,” she stated. That study was released last year at Advertising Week. Hulu studied digital behavior and identity and found that the consumer spectrum was segmented in a way that age was essentially a non-issue. According to DeTraglia, “The one thing that moves people across the spectrum is the enjoyment, happiness and inspiration they get from technology,” and this parses out relatively equally across age ranges.

“The more digitally fluent people use technology often and derive a lot of happiness with their digital connections,” she explained, “People in the middle use technology to make their lives easier but they are not necessarily getting joy from it. Then there are those people who we call minimalists who use technology because it’s the way they can get things done, but they don’t really love it.” But, “one of our biggest insights was that age is not a factor,” she confided. Just as many young people as older described themselves as minimalists on the digital spectrum - 19% of Gen Z compared to 16% of Boomers. But why?

“It could be that Gen Z is interpreting the questions differently than older generations,” she posited. “Or maybe they are just a little more overwhelmed by it,” since they are so immersed, for example, in social media that is ‘on’ all the time.

In the second phase of the study, just released in time for this year’s Advertising Week, segmentations were created around motivations and behaviors and “that is where we saw the segmentations flatten out a bit. Most people define themselves a somewhere in the middle, but when you do a segmentation, there were just about equal percentages of all of the segments,” from low to high. DeTraglia noted that technology prompts behavioral change. Take for example streaming video. One might start in the living room, then move into the bedroom and then onto a computer or tablet. Once content becomes available on smart TV’s Hulu saw that consumers transitioned back to the living room.  That then leads to more comfort with technology and can lead to transactions and shopping.

Conclusions

What DeTraglia saw in this brand study phase, was that advertisers should adjust their creative so there is differentiation between the digital fluency segments. “It is no longer one-size-fits-all,” she explained. “Truly digitally fluent people should get different ads,” according to the viewing environment and platform.

“Hulu has worked hard to come up with ad products that can work in different ways, depending on what your needs are. For those who are more digitally fluent, they want messaging that is more personalized. They want to interact with the creative. They want more personal connection and control and relevance,” whereas other less fluent groups just want to be informed with messaging that remains clear. Advertisers, take note.

Age is Not a Factor in Digital Fluency According to Hulu

“Digital fluency is more about attitude and behaviors than it is about age,” stated Julie DeTraglia, Head of Research, Hulu. Her company just released the results of a major new research study on what constitutes digital fluency, focusing on how consumers adapt different digital journeys throughout different forms of media, in ecommerce and across lifestyle brands. 

The results confirmed tested truths while also offering some surprising insights.

Charlene Weisler: What were the major takeaways of the study?

Julie DeTraglia: We found that digital fluency is not driven by age. It was the impact of technology that prompted behavior change. Digital connections are now normal for people, media and brands. We also found that media is core to digital identity because social and streaming are gateways to digital consumption. 

Weisler: What were the major surprises?

DeTraglia: The biggest surprise was that across all generations, including Gen-Z, just as many people identified themselves as Minimalists and Averse (lower end of spectrum) as they did Maximizers and Creators (higher end of spectrum). We also were surprised and happy to see that social media, streaming video and online transactions are all tightly intertwined when it comes to changing habits. 

Weisler: Do the consumer profiles of the younger generations differ along the spectrum? For example do the most adverse have a different demo profile to the Maximizers?

DeTraglia: No, they are demographically similar which is the point behind the study. Just because people are mapped to a generation doesn’t mean they have the same attitudes or perceptions of technology. It ranges more on the behavior than the age. 

Weisler: What about the older generations? How do they fall on the digital fluency spectrum?

DeTraglia: Specifically, for Boomers (55+), 2% are Creators, 7% are Maximizers, 15% are Connected, 34% are Confident, 26% are Enlighted, 12% are Minimalists and only 4% are Averse. The biggest difference we saw is that Boomers have a much lower percentage of Creator, Maximizer and Connected identified users and that they are higher in Confident and a lot higher in Enlighted. They over-index in the middle of the spectrum which is surprising to most.

Weisler: Your hierarchy of digital needs looks to be patterned like Maslow's Hierarchy. Can you talk about each hierarchy stage and what it means in the digital journey?

DeTraglia: There is a hierarchy of digital needs that the user travels along, starting with media, which is where the trend towards connectivity started back when Facebook and social media launched. What we found is that media is the foundation to a digital identity which is then closely related to transactions and shopping.  The trend towards connectivity started in the social and media and entertainment sphere, which eventually impacted every product of service, how we communicate, eat, date and transact. Once you’re comfortable with media, you slowly move along the journey, you become comfortable with transacting through digital, and eventually begin using applications that make life easier and more convenient like eating, dating, traveling. Advanced technology is the next level which pushes the consumer to use virtual reality and voice activated systems which eventually lead to curating a personalized lifestyle.  Depending on applications like HelloFresh and Aaptive and StitchFix, in turn make your life more convenient. 

Weisler: Is it possible to move someone who is more of a technophobe across the digital spectrum?

DeTraglia: Great question. We continue to explore this more at Hulu. It is diffidently a larger barrier for a consumer who is completely averse to move along the spectrum.  The only wave of movement would be if they were to try something first and realize how much better it will make their lives before they jump in. But we believe it is possible, as some later adaptors of technology are functioning as more connected, which means it is always a possibility. 

Weisler: Are there certain consumer categories that attract more Maximizers and Creators (aside from the obvious tech categories)? Any surprises?

DeTraglia: The direct-to-consumer businesses are the ones booming right now which certainly attract Maximizers and Creators.  They feel more comfortable to use them and feel like it is a great addition to their life for the convenience factor. From a Hulu standpoint, we learned that our users are further along the spectrum so they are more likely to use direct-to-consumer apps and social media.  There wasn’t anything too surprising here, but we are continuing to explore.

Weisler: What ad messages can be used to reach people by their place in the spectrum? Different messages for the Adverse vs Maximizers for example?

DeTraglia: Marketers and advertisers need to understand that it is more about where they reach these consumers vs. the language used. For example, it is about where the brands capture attention, which we know Hulu and other streaming services do that.  Consumers at the higher end of the spectrum prefer a different type of ad, they want them to feature people, make the consumer feel like they are a part of the ad, give them a sense of brand personality, take the consumer along a storyline. This came from follow-up work that we worked on for creative best practices for our advertising partners. These were the aspects, more immersive commercial experience, that consumers urge for and that video can offer.

Weisler: What are the next steps in this research for Hulu?

DeTraglia: We are a direct-to-consumer business, in this space for a long time, and we know that the people on our service are ‘empowered consumers’. They are important to us from both a marketing and advertising partnership perspective because they are valuable to reach. We used this data when we designed our new brand campaign, “Better Ruins Everything”. We will continue to explore these segments to align with our consumers’ needs and expectations. From an advertising partnership perspective, continuing to understand how our consumers are different and what they are more receptive to, help guide our advertisers as to how best reach and engage their targeted consumer.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com