Busting the Demo Logjam: A+E Provides Fresh Ways to Reach Valuable Audiences. An Interview with A+E’s Pam Gibbons

We know the industry’s open secret - The standard demo breaks of 18-49 and 25-54 are hopelessly out of date and don’t reflect the true value of today’s consumers and their buying power. The industry has been slow to change … until now. 

 For the past couple of years, A+E Networks has been quietly working with agencies to integrate broader demographic breaks within traditional linear deals, packaged with digital and social wherever it made sense.

A Much Needed Demographic Transition

For Pam Gibbons, Senior Vice President Advertising Sales, A+E Networks, this transition is a much needed correction to an evolving media market. “The migration into the different TV platforms has gotten more dramatic and it became more obvious that traditional breaks of 18-49 and 25-54 just don't make sense when you look at the median age of the cable viewer,” she stated.  To that end, an effort was made, as she explained, “To think ahead and keep our business in a healthier place. We realized something really significant needs to change to keep things moving forward.”

Gibbons and her team implemented a focused strategy to, “Go to the marketplace and do business differently to capitalize on the total audience. We started conversations with agencies and clients, bringing research to them, showing the audience migration and also stressing the value of the older audience.”

Arguably one of the last prejudices in media is the 55+ cohort. It is high time to reevaluate this incredibly important consumer group. “Fifty plus audience is not what it was 20 to 25 years ago,” Gibbons noted, “It is not just how big of a part of society 55+ is, but how much money they're spending and how people are working longer. The old way of thinking about 55+ who is set in their ways and only wants to buy the same brands that they always been, is just not the case. Research proves this out.” Armed with compelling data, Gibbons and her team sprang into action. “We started having conversations way ahead of actual marketplace negotiations. There were a lot of obstacles. Some adapted to it quicker than others but we certainly had great success.”

Advertiser Solutions That Change the Landscape

Gibbons’ approach to the marketplace offered several solutions. “Our philosophy was to bring to light who you're reaching and in which places. Research shows the migration of the younger viewers to TV everywhere platforms,” she stated and added, “We also talked about solutions. We've been developing a Weekend Originals block that we brought to clients to reach audiences with different original content,  getting away from the traditional mindset of originals only being on in Prime. Our Weekend of original programming was sold to our clients at no premium pricing.”

In addition to this, “We are also in the marketplace in a pretty big way with audience targeting solutions,” especially for those clients who pushed back on targeting older demographics, whether because of the ad category or product. “These are all different solutions that we brought to market, that was part of our success. It wasn't something that we forced on people. We see benefits on both sides of the table recognizing the value of linear TV and all these different buckets. There are all these ways that we can help your clients get what they need by getting away from the traditional ways of doing it like just on 18-49 and 25-54,” she explained.

Advertiser Response and Next Steps

Working with advertisers to craft the most effective way of reaching their consumers has proven very successful for A+E Networks. “The response was pretty great in this upfront marketplace. We closed eighty advertisers who moved towards the 55+ demo and I want to say that close to half of our upfront revenue is now on these breaks. We really had tremendous success. But we also have some work to do. The conversation that is ongoing as we move into the ‘22 planning cycle. We've already had several meetings, which is hard to believe. It seems like the upfront season never ends anymore.”

She also believes that the tide is turning for the expansion of audience demographic breaks. “We made some really significant gains. We've all been talking about the change of our industry for so long and I really think that it's really happening now,” she concluded.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 Artwork by Charlene Weisler

 

Excess TV Campaign Ad Impressions: Too Much of a Good Thing?

One of the dark secrets of television advertising is the ad impressions waste that occurs in a campaign. Waste is defined as impressions that reach the wrong audience or reach those who have already been over-exposed to the ad. When an advertiser targets adults 18–49, for example, there is a good chance they will also inadvertently reach both older and younger viewers in their media mix.

A recent study reported in MediaPost found that more than half of a typical campaign’s TV ad impressions are wasted. Although that’s a large percentage, impressions waste is not always bad and can actually be beneficial. Here’s why.

The Current Posting System Is Antiquated

The current method of ascribing target audiences for campaigns is age and gender, and not all 18–49s are alike, nor should 50+-year-olds be dismissed. By accepting a certain level of so-called waste, advertisers may reach audiences primed for their products and services that were previously ignored.

Targeted Segmentations Can Convert Swing Consumers

Even those advertisers who are not relying on age/gender proxies and instead use targeted segmentations can benefit from waste. Targeted segmentations speak to those who have a high propensity to purchase or may already be purchasers. But what about swing consumers? There is a value to exposing your message to those who may be on the fence or are open to hearing different messaging. Think about the Democratic candidates appearing on Fox News, as reported by The Hill. Sure, there will be those viewers who are not open to the messaging, but there are some who might be.

Effective Reach Levels Are Not as Low as They Used to Be

In a landscape of increasing distraction and multi-platform devices that have different quality levels of exposure, the theory that three ad impressions are enough has been debunked in several studies. A study reported in New Neuromarketing found that 10 exposures are needed to effectively influence consumers’ attitudes toward a brand: “You have to get into their brain to really create attitude changes. Multiple exposures of a clear message can cause a transfer of information to long term memory, which in turn affects consumer attitudes.”

The most efficient way of capitalizing on impressions waste is with media that offers both targeted opportunities, such as a local presence, and a certain level of mass reach, as is the case with television. Savvy marketers who understand the targeting complexities and consumer evolution in the media ecosystem shouldn’t worry about ad impressions waste but should instead find ways to maximize its value.

This article first appeared in the Videa blog.

Podcasting Delivers a Highly Engaged, Youthful, Diverse Audience

Podcasting is a major force at work in audio; one that shows no signs of slowing down as it gains steam among the masses.  Everyone is talking about it.  With the recent announcement of the expansion of the podcasting portfolio at Vox Media, and all the announcements coming out of the IAB Podcast Upfront 2018, podcasting is on the verge of a breakout.  Audio isn’t just alive and well, it’s thriving and garnering major attention from content creators and advertisers.

What are they finding so attractive about podcasting?  It starts with the audience.  Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X, each desirable consumer targets, are seeing greater podcast use, attention and engagement than ever before.  Westwood One’s recent Audioscape 2018 report, featuring data primarily from Edison Research’s Share of Ear study found generational and behavioral podcast trends that should make advertisers pay particular attention.

According to Edison’s Infinite Dial 2018, podcast listening by all adults is on the rise.  One in four Americans listened to a podcast in the past month, and the growth has been exponential from 9% of the population in 2008 to 26% in 2018.  “Podcasting has been around for over 15 years, but the medium is seeing a surge in interest not just from listeners but from content creators and advertisers,” said Suzanne Grimes, President, Westwood One and Executive Vice President of Marketing, Cumulus Media.  “We need to better understand the podcast listener, and that’s why Westwood One Podcast Network is now focused on developing the kind of actionable insights found in the Audioscape report.”

How this audience of listeners breaks down by demographics, behaviors, purchasing and affinities is especially interesting.  Here are the takeaways:

Great Demographics
Podcast listening is young.  In the past four years, the percentage of persons 12-24 who listen to podcasts grew +50% while 25- to 54-year-olds grew +88%.  Almost one third of both age groups listen to a podcast in the average month.  This assures future growth for the format with generations that are consistently consuming media wherever and whenever they want.  Notably, the median age of podcast listeners overall is 34 compared to AM/FM radio listeners (46, according to Edison Research) and ABC/NBC/CBS viewers (56, according to GfK, MRI).


Podcasting audiences are also more diverse and female.  Twelve percent of women 18-34 listen to podcasts daily, growing +25% year-to-year, compared to 19% of men 18-34 (+11%).  African American 18-34 listeners (12%) grew +21%.

These listeners have more money to spend compared to total U.S. audio listeners as illustrated in high household income $50k+ (69% vs 55%).  They are also better educated (some college or graduated college 59% vs 54%) and are more likely to be employed (work full or part time 68% vs 51%).


Audio Centric Fans with Wide Interests
Digital audio (including podcasts) is attracting an engaged audience because it can travel with the consumer.  According to a recent IAB article, the multiple touchpoints along the consumer journey is one of the perks of digital audio.  “From waking up, going to the gym, commuting; at work, home or in social settings, digital audio is present,” the article explains.

That makes perfect sense when looking at podcast listeners.  They are avid fans of audio, spending 42% more time with audio daily than average listeners.  They spend the most time with podcasts (28%) followed by AM/FM radio (25%) and streaming (14%).

The range of interests among this audience is especially interesting.  Not only are they music fans, they are also heavy consumers of spoken word audio from news to personalities.  In fact, among podcast listeners, the share of time spent listening to talk/personalities has been growing quarter to quarter.

Big Spenders and Higher Engagement
Advertisers of all kinds will find a range of potential customers within the podcast audience.  According to GfK MRI, podcast listeners are more likely to purchase a range of products such as services from cell phones (227 index), camping equipment (162), sports clothing (159) and fine dining (157) to foreign vacations (151), video games (144), baby furniture and equipment (144).  For advertisers, this indicates a vibrant, youthful lifestyle among consumers making podcasting a part of their go-to media choices.

There is also a level of focus among podcast listeners that enables advertisers to make an impact.  IAB research shows 71% of podcast listeners report a high level of concentration; close to checking for news (76%) and weather (74%) and much higher than those watching shows and episodes (62%) or posting on social media (53%).  Notably, reported concentration with podcasts is more than 1.5 times the concentration on social media, which is such a personal interaction.

There is also higher engagement among podcasting (76%), close to news and weather levels (both 79%) and ahead of watching shows and episodes (56%) and posting on social media (50%).  While they seek a variety of experiences in their media choices, podcasting is the only format where learning and entertainment co-exist.

Interest from Advertisers Is Growing
Advertising on podcasts is poised to explode.  Investments in the format among marketers and agencies is now being discussed by 70% of those executives polled (up from 41% two-and-a-half-years ago) and 43% are considering investing within the next six months (up from 18%), according to a Westwood One commissioned study from Advertiser Perceptions.  Activation is growing, too.  Currently 32% of brands and agencies reported that they currently advertise in podcasts (up from 15%) and 36% will definitely advertise in the next six months (up from 10%).

“As important as it is to understand the consumer, for Westwood One it is equally as important to fully grasp advertiser sentiment,” said Grimes.  “The Advertiser Perceptions data included in this report is valuable.  We want to develop content that speaks to the listener, while at the same time piques the interest of media decision makers thinking about investing in podcasts.”

Advertisers need two things to make an impact: an audience comprised of their target demographic and a means of connecting with them on a one-to-one basis.  Westwood One’s Audioscape 2018 report makes it clear that podcasting provides both.  Not only has the medium tapped into a rich vein of young, upscale listeners, it also offers advertisers an opportunity to gain greater impact with their messaging among a group that is highly engaged.  Podcasting is where audio is evolving.  For maximum impact, advertisers and content creators should continue to evolve along with it.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Where's the Money? Exclusive Interview with Age Wave’s Ken Dychtwald

American aging demographic and psychographic trends are headed to, as Dr. Ken Dychtwald, Founder and CEO, Age Wave, noted, “a time of profound change.” But, he adds, “Do I think America is ready for the aging of the Boomer generation? Not at all.”

Back in the 1970s, a young Dychtwald hit an epiphany. “I became intrigued by older people, their point of view, what it was like to see life from the vantage point of 80, 90 or 100 years, the depth of perception they had,” he shared, “And I couldn’t understand why we lived in a society where there was so little regard for older people where in some ways they might be the most interesting among us.” 

This soon led to the formation of Age Wave and work in demography where aging trends, especially with the Boomer generation, would act like “a pig moving through a python” changing American attitudes and spending patterns. 

In this interview he explains why companies that ignore or undervalue the Boomer generation do so at their peril.

Charlene Weisler: Give me a lay of the land in the area of population maturity.

Ken Dychtwald: There are three driving forces. One is the birthrate. In the U.S. our birthrate has been hovering at about replacement level for the last several decades. So while we are doing better than the European nations which don’t have enough young people, we are not a young country anymore.

Another driver is longevity. When Social Security was drafted, life expectancy was 63. When we signed our Constitution, the life expectancy was 45.  We never envisioned there would be that many old people. We didn’t set up our culture language, governing, benefits to engage or handle the needs of hundreds of thousands of older people. 

The third engine is the most dramatic. We have this huge post WW2 Baby Boom beginning in 1946 where the boys came home from the war and 92% of all women who could have kids, did – 4,000,000 a year for eight years. This Baby Boom generation is an age wave that will reshape the center of gravity for society and pull it towards the second half of life more than it has ever been in history.

Weisler: Describe Boomers and how they differ (or not) from other generations before and after.

Dychtwald: Boomers are the beneficiaries of more longevity than any other generations of Americans. And while there has been a great deal of talk about income inequality, we are about to see increasing longevity inequality because there are more and more ways that people can buy their way to longer life or buy their way to greater health that people with fewer resources can’t afford. It is not inconceivable that there will be some Boomers who will live to 150 or more. They will likely be the billionaires. 

The Boomers will also mainstream a new paradigm for work, learning and leisure throughout ones’ life. Previous generations lived what I call a ‘linear life’.  You learned, then you worked like crazy for forty years and then if you had a little bit of longevity you had some retirement time. We busted up that model when we changed majors in college, changed careers a few times and often had more than one marriage. So the idea of reinvention is not uncommon.  What you will see mainstreamed (and younger people like this model too) is a more cyclic model of how to live ones’ life – like going back to school at age 45 and learning a new career. A more balanced life across a lifetime will become the model. 

You will also see the rise of female power and influence. Women outlive men so as we become increasingly elder society it will become increasingly controlled by women. And over the past decades women are outpacing men in all sorts of things such as education. It has not been fully unleased but in years to come the aging of the population will converge with female power.

I also see more uncertainty. Since the 1930s there has been more security for older people from Social Security and then in the 1960s, Medicare. During WW2 unions negotiated for pensions. Powerful lobbying organizations such as AARP stand and protect the interests of older people. Today’s older people have benefitted from the growth of the stock market. But that is not the demographic equation we are heading into. We are going to have a lot more older people and fewer younger people. There won’t be enough younger people to shoulder future costs – it is not supportable and not sustainable. So I think that you will see that a lot of the guarantees of security evaporate in this Boomer generation. 

Next, the Boomers will mainstream the next purpose of maturity. What we saw in the 20^th Century was a huge focus on the medical breakthrough that allows more people to grow older and live longer but never really created a role or purpose for these individuals. Boomers are trying to discover a sense of purpose.  

The last thing is that Boomers are not especially good at putting a good PR spin on themselves. My parent’s generation was hard working and obedient. They were drafted and served in a war and then they built America. But they were also a profoundly racist generation and their treatment of women was almost unfathomable. Yet they are called the Greatest Generation. I don’t think the Boomers will get that kind of treatment. I think they will be thought of as self-indulgent and irresponsible. 

Weisler: How do we change the advertiser and media mindset that undervalues older Americans?

Dychtwald: Most people in business are driven by shareholder value – where can I make the most money - and perhaps the most untapped opportunity is hiding in plain sight. Back in my grandparents and parents time, when modern media was emerging on the scene, people were pretty set in their ways. You weren’t changing your toothpaste brand when you were 50 or buying a new kind of hair product when you were 70. That is called brand loyalty and people were determining what product references were from the age of about 15 to 25. So you needed to heavily load your targeting of people between those ages because if you could capture them then, you would have them for life. Conversely, why bother marketing to a 50 year old because they have already made up their mind about everything.

Well, we all know in business today that’s all bullshit. There are a lot of products I am buying today that didn’t exist before. There was no software when I was 20. And, I have a lot more money and freedom now than I had before in my life to do whatever I want. So people who are 40 or 50 or 70 are no longer brand loyal, are reinventing themselves and very eager to try new things. 

That linchpin of the 1960s and 70s is a problem because it is a lie. Everyone in business knows that – like a wink and a nod. Why will the market move towards a redefinition of age breaks? Because, like Willy Sutton said, that is where the money is. It won’t be in all categories but there are a few like Financial Services, Leisure, Health, Medical, Beauty and Wellness that will soar. Seventy percent of all of the wealth in America is held by people over 50. So you can spend a lot of time and energy creating apps for 23 year olds but guess what – they don’t have any money.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com