Trust in Advertising: Where Does Traditional TV Stand?

There are many challenges facing advertisers today, from attention and engagement to ad blocking and fraud. But trust in advertising trumps them all, according to MediaPost. If you don’t have trust, you don’t have viewer connection. Here’s a look at the state of trust in TV advertising today.

On-Demand vs. Linear TV
A recent Advertiser Perceptions study of 200 ad executives found that 73 percent factor in trust when deciding how to allocate their media ad budgets. For consumers, YouGov found that there is an attitudinal difference among on-demand TV viewers compared to linear TV viewers; on-demand viewers are more averse to traditional television commercials. For example:

• 56 percent of on-demand viewers tend to mute TV ads compared to 48 percent of linear viewers.
• 43 percent of on-demand viewers enjoy watching TV ads compared to 47 percent of linear TV viewers.
• 54 percent of on-demand viewers don’t trust TV ads compared to 48 percent of linear TV viewers.

All of these results are unsurprising. Linear TV viewers expect commercials, whereas on-demand viewers find commercial breaks to be intrusive.

Digital vs. Linear TV

Read the full article on the Videa blog.

The State of the Art in On Demand

Last week’s B&C Multichannel New On Demand Summit gave a great overview of the state of the art in the on demand world. From content creators and distributors to measurement companies to marketers, the growth and appeal of on demand for both business and consumers is growing and transforming the business of television.  Here are the takeaways:

Make the Viewing Ecosystem Simple and Unified …

With the myriad of programming options available to viewers, there is the risk of making content choices, delivery options and payment processes too complicated and time consuming. Different programs originating from different apps and requiring different subscriptions processes and options might stall adoption and growth for certain content providers. But some companies, such as Amazon, are focusing on streamlining their processes and collecting them into one simple ecosystem.

Michael Paull, VP Digital Video for Amazon, described his company’s strategy of “getting more sources of programming and keep building on programming” offerings and enabling third party content owners to access. Amazon has created an environment of “streaming, billing and audience to create a unified experience, instead of going from app to app.” He continued, “We have aggregated all of these functions in the viewer experience.” According to Paull, “We can help other programmers unify transactional and program ecosystems and the strategy is paying off.”

… But Give the Viewer Options When and How to View

Understanding viewing trends and preferences is key to effectively responding in a competitive and strategic manner. Sofia Chang, EVP Worldwide Digital Distribution at HBO, follows their subscribers’ viewing patterns. “We saw the trend of time shifted viewing a while ago and launched the first premium service, introducing HBO on demand through our MVPD partners in 2001. In 2008 we launched HBO GO. Last year we saw the trend of broadband only homes so we launched our standalone digital app HBO Now. But even with time shifting, some programming is viewed live like our Game of Thrones. Live programming is not dead,” she asserted, “but it depends on the program.”

Programming Craftsmanship Rules

The old chestnut that Content is King continues to be true. But the old rules regarding programming are shifting. It is no longer vital to target to a broad based audience. And older programs, even those out of the market for more than a decade, can attract a younger Millennial audience.

 Paull noted that going niche, rather than broad based, is a viable programming strategy for his video service. He stated, “We are creating a lot of original programming. We want to create shows people love. And we don't need to have every show that appeals to every consumer.”

Older inventory can have a new life as younger audiences suddenly discover the gems of yesteryear. Chang noted that “Sex in City ended in 1996 and now we are picking up new audiences who were too young to watch at that time. That is what the on demand platforms have done. You can discover shows from over 10 years ago and can view them now.”

The Data Shows That Consumers Are in Control

It bears repeating that data has become the golden key to understanding the viewer experience.

Brian Hughes, SVP Audience Intelligence and Strategy, MAGNA, shared some of his agency’s findings about viewing habits. The trends, according to Hughes, are that viewing is becoming “less linear, more snacking which reveal an underlying behavior shift. Even live event sports are seeing on demand impacting them as well. For example, the Olympics offered more coverage but there was less live viewing than London.” He listed three major points: 1. In the digital age, video is everywhere and consumers like it that way. 2. Millennials are not only ones changing habits and 3. Viewers want TV experiences to be more like mobile - App based and on demand.

Conclusion

What this all means to creators, distributors, marketers and advertisers is that the brave new world of on demand is fast becoming a standard way for viewers to enjoy and consume content. Old theories about viewing habits are evolving as even live event programming cannot guarantee exact minute consumption on a reliable screen. My advice is to follow the data and respond accordingly. As Paull concluded, “We have an enormous amount of data so we can bring the right show to the right people at the right time. We are customer centric as a company.”

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com

Is On Demand Ready For Primetime Anytime?

We appear to be tantalizingly close to a more comprehensive business, delivery and measurement strategy for On Demand. But perhaps not close enough to create an industry standard just yet. The recent B&C On Demand Summit offered insights into what is being done well, what we can do better and what still needs to be accomplished in the On Demand arena.

There is a lot of good news according to experts in the industry. The number of enabled platforms is increasing, the cost of distribution is declining and the window for dynamic ad insertion is shortening.  Brands are beginning to integrate with content to offer a seamless viewing experience. Research companies are energetically examining second by second return path data that is being matched to IP data and there is greater flexibility than ever in content creation, delivery and access.

As the conference progressed it became clear that there are some important actions that need to be taken sooner than later - those areas where the On Demand business needs to focus to get to an industry standard. A short video that captures some of these topics is linked to here. 

Here are my top ten On Demand issues and next step: Please comment.

Cannibalization – Cannibalization is not inevitable according to Jim Packer from Lionsgate. But there needs to be a careful balancing act for content providers so that content that is available on demand and across platforms does not cannibalize the primary source of the main business, whether linear or in theater, for example.

DAI – The technology is not there yet for more real time insertion. There are still some structural issues to get it closer to almost real time. Thankfully Canoe is focusing all of its energies on addressing DAI.

Transparency – This is primarily a data access issue that is being addressed by Rentrak in partnership with MediaOcean. Agencies will be able to view a transparent transaction report of 60 networks free of charge.

Data merging and measurement – Even though agency software company MediaOcean is beginning to integrate new datasets into its systems (an important step), On Demand data and measurement in general continue to be an area in need of more development. Improvements in data standardization and metrics are being spearheaded via the IAB and the MRC is starting to accredit certain services and methodologies. We need to keep pursuing measurement solutions as a top priority. And let’s not forget the importance of asset identification to facilitate cross platform measurement trackage. 

Scale – How do you get to scale with VOD? It seems that issues like content rights and measurement need to be addressed to help create scale. 

Agency silos – Some agencies are stratified when it comes to media purchasing so broadcast and cable are separate buying departments from digital. Silo’ing is not an efficient way to maximize the purchase value of VOD. Many agencies, realizing this challenge, are being to break down these silos but there is still work to be done in this area.

Valuation- How do you value VOD? Some think of it as an extension of cable. Agency budgets need to migrate and the disparity of CPMs across platforms needs to be addressed. Mike Bologna of GroupM suggested defining hyper target segments so VOD is not just “more cable inventory”.

Educating clients beyond age and gender – VOD enables hyper niche marketing but clients may still gravitate to the simpler age gender categories. Nick Troiano of BlackArrow noted that from a business perspective CPMs for A18-49 offers a higher CPM but hyper-targeting is more efficient. 

Content rights – Let’s face it, rights are expensive. Especially when the content is new and performance is unknown. But without taking the chance of acquiring all the content rights for a program, there is a marketing challenge (brands cannot fully integrate) and a data challenge (the landscape of VOD becomes incomplete for full measurement). 

Rate of change – The rate of change seems to be accelerating. Conference s such as those offered by Mediapost and MultiChannel/B&C continue to bring new and innovative ideas to the industry and help executives keep up to date.

Q&A Interview with Cathy Hetzel - Rentrak

Cathy Hetzel, Corporate President of Rentrak, is a pioneer in interactive television and set top box data. Her first role at Rentrak was to ascertain whether Rentrak’s home video business could be adapted to television. After helping to launch their Video On Demand measurement service by examining log data from the servers, she saw the possibility of set top box data as a new way to measure television.

In this fascinating interview, Cathy talks about Rentrak, set top box data providers and the competitive landscape. She also offers some insights into the media landscape over the next few years.

The four videos of the complete interview are as follows:
Subject                 Length (in minutes)
Background                     (7:42)
STB Data and Providers  (4:01)
Predictions                      (5:32)
Cross Platform                (4:46)


Charlene Weisler interviews Rentrak President Cathy Hetzel who discusses her background and gives an overview of Rentrak's STB mission in this 7:42 minute video.




Rentrak's Cathy Hetzel talks to Charlene Weisler about STB data, VOD data projection to national for measurement and other facets of media data in this 4:01 minute video:




Cathy Hetzel, President of Rentrak, offers some predictions on the future media landscape. She also discusses Nielsen's IPO financier Deutsche Bank and their industry reports in this must-see 5:32 minute video:




CW: Deutsche Bank, the financial institution that brought out the Nielsen IPO, describes Rentrak as lacking momentum and offers their opinion on which Rentrak customers will drop the service. In a world of speculation and market positioning, what is your response to Deutsche Bank’s prognosis?


CH: We respectfully disagree with Deutsche Bank’s assessment. They are simply wrong.Rentrak continues to make solid progress by integrating its census-level currency with third party processors such as Donovan, Strata and One Domain which enhance the tools used in the day-to-day business of buying and selling advertising. We have a robust client list and pipeline of local stations, national networks and advertising agencies. Remember, Rentrak is the only company that offers census-level VOD data to help our clients sell advertising and make important business decisions. This has always been a core part of our business and Rentrak continues to lead the industry as we expand our services to provide the most advanced cross platform intelligence available today.



Charlene Weisler interviews Rentrak President Cathy Hetzel who discusses Cross Platform initiatves, Addressable Advertising and Privacy in this 4:46 minute video:




Disclosure: I own Rentrak stock.