The Surprising Sports Trends Revealed By Heather Coghill in Comcast’s TV Viewership Report

When it comes to tracking television viewing, one of the best data sources to use is from Comcast’s internal set top box information which is, according to Senior Director of Audience Insights, Heather Coghill, “a treasure trove of data with access to viewing data from over 17 million households across the Comcast footprint.” 

Twice a year, the company examines their subscribers’ viewing trends in aggregate, compiling them into an extensive TV Viewership Report. The most recent study was just released and contains a wealth of takeaways. There are even a few surprises, especially (spoiler alert) about Sports. Coghill, shared the results with MediaVillage.

TV Viewership Report Takeaways

The report highlights, according to Coghill, “big picture viewing trends.” These big picture trends revealed some surprises. For one, after monitoring the data, she scoffs at those who predict the demise of linear TV. “There is a narrative out in the press that television viewing is dying, and what we’ve seen in the two years we have been tracking this internal viewing data is that viewing has actually increased every quarter year over year for the past eight quarters.”

This continued growth is, “a positive,” she affirmed, “We are seeing TV viewing remaining strong. In Second Quarter specifically, we saw that there was 15 minutes more per household per day being spent with the television compared to Second Quarter last year. That equates to about 17 more hours over the course of the quarter.”

There is great confidence in these findings. Because the data is so granular, “we are not limited by sample size,” she explained, “We can see super-niche viewing that maybe in a panel-type measurement would get cut off because they are not meeting reporting standards.”

Somewhat less surprising, at least to me, is the impact of the pandemic on viewing. As people shelter-in-place, Comcast found that households are spending even more time viewing television – about 32 minutes more in the first half of the year over the same time last year. In fact, total hours of TV consumed in second quarter 2020 reached 8.5 billion hours which was an increase of over 200 million hours year over year.

Breaking it down by daypart, Coghill found that, “Seventy-one percent of all viewing happens outside of prime.” On a market by market level, she reported that, “around the pandemic, we looked at (viewing) regionally and it was interesting. On the west coast where the coronavirus hit earlier, they saw an uptick in viewership earlier than what we saw in the rest of the country and then it leveled out before the viewing for the rest of the country leveled out.”

Even day to day comparisons showed a shift in recent usage. “Cable’s share increased substantially from weekday to weekend from 62% during the weekday to 68% on the weekend,” she stated and added, “That’s significant considering share between the two are typically consistent.” 

Feeling the Absence of Sports

Cable’s dominance in weekend viewing, “is different from what we have seen in the past,” Coghill explained, “We think that, because sports aren’t happening, there is less viewing going to the broadcast networks on the weekends.”

Certainly sports’ absence has been looming large in any discussion of television viewing during the pandemic. Even today, there is uncertainty about which sports are coming back and in what format and schedule. Viewers want their sports programming and that desire is born out in the data and trends. “Sports returned in Summer 2020 with the MLB season openers and the first NHL and NBA restart games averaging a viewership increase of 71% over last year,” she noted.

“Sports fans are hungry for that type of content,” so much so that she discovered, “People who are sports fans, they are not just a sports fan of one sport. Fifty-five percent of heavy viewers of one sport watch three or more sports heavily. If certain sports aren’t happening or are delayed or postponed, it’s not that those people aren’t tuning in. We can find them wherever they are watching.”

To that end, Coghill is able to advise advertisers as to how to reach those fans whose favorite sport might not be available at this time. As part of the study, Comcast data was placed in a viewing matrix that shows what other programming viewers of one sport are watching. Take for example a college football fan. “Who knows what is going to happen with college football – it might not come back. We can tell you where else you can reach those college football viewers,” she said.

Since sports fans are sampling other types of sports while they wait for their favorite to return, there is, according to Coghill, anecdotal evidence to suggest that fan bases of these secondary sports choices might increase. “When the PGA was one of the first sports to resume, a lot of us at work were tuning into golf. Not because we are golf fans but just because we are so hungry for live events,” she explained.

The data also showed an increase in viewing fragmentation partially attributed to the lack of sports tent pole events. But, “viewing has increased,” she stated, “Advertisers need to move beyond being content focused and using content as a proxy to reach audiences. (They should) follow those audiences everywhere they may be going. So maybe it’s more spots across lesser rated networks or dayparts. But if you aggregate all of those together we can still reach that audience.”

Looking Ahead

Are we seeing these new viewing habits holding for the long term? “I think there are some things that will level out,” she admitted, “but I think some shifts are here to stay. The one thing that we’ve seen that is pretty consistent since the pandemic started in March is that there has been an increase in daytime viewing. So as more people are home and kids are home from school more people are available to watch television during the day. Until we resume some sort of normalcy, that will be here to stay,” she concluded.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Older is Cooler. Surprising Results from the 2017 Mindshare Culture Vultures Study

For those of us who have aged out of the desirable 25-54 demographic, we can now take some comfort and satisfaction from the results of the latest Mindshare Culture Vulture Trends report. Culture Vulture is Mindshare's global cultural trends program that sets out to identify macro and micro trends.  Now in its sixth year, the Culture Vulture has been ascertaining consumer trends with eerie accuracy.

Past studies have correctly mapped out the increasingly divided nature of our society. “Over the years, two of the biggest trends we’ve tracked have been ‘2 Americas’ and ‘Crossover Culture,’ both of which are still two of most impactful trends years later,” explained Alexis Fragale, Director, Consumer Insights, Mindshare NA . According to this year’s study, we are experiencing a Boomaissance as the value of this overlooked demographic now becomes apparent.  

The 2017 study marked ten impactful trends that are then matched with advertiser demographic targets to help in strategy and planning. The ten major trends are ‘Tapped Out’ (Too busy lives and plateauing productivity), ‘Boomaissance’ (Older adults take on a Middle Aged Millennial mindset), ‘21st Century Success’ (Traditional American dream vs dream of personal experiences), ‘Unmasking Unicorns’ (Parsing fake news), ‘My World / The World’ (Widening gulf between personal perceptions and views of the world overall), ‘Mind(ful) Optimization’ (Seeking purpose and mindfulness), ‘Land of the Giants’ (Corporate giants dominate but niche brands fight back), ‘The Informal Normal’ (More casual at work and with friends), ‘ Borecore’ (More and more, we’re posting and watching ‘boring’ content) and ‘Open Lives’ (Less privacy, more exposed lives).  

I sat down with Alexis Fragale and Jodie Huang, Manager, Insights, Mindshare NA and asked them the following questions:

Charlene Weisler: Two of the biggest trends from past studies are ‘2 Americas’ and ‘Crossover Culture’. Can you tell me about them?

Alexis Fragale: In ‘2 Americas’, we explored how Americans' values and lifestyles have been diverging significantly over recent years – making it harder for brands to speak to ‘one’ homogenous country. This was clearly a huge factor in the 2016 election and we’ve seen it move beyond values and lifestyles to other areas like content preferences and our social algorithms. ‘2 Americas’ has been evidenced in our 2017 trends of ‘My World / The World’ and ‘Unmasking Unicorns.’

In ‘Crossover Culture’, we explored how a more connected and complex world gives opportunities and a need for crossover in art, technology, science, ideas, and brands. And in a world where it’s harder to gain consumers’ trust and wallet share, more brands are finding ways to extend their brand into more areas of their consumers’ life. For example, take West Elm who is set to open a hotel, and NBA teams buying eSports teams. ‘Crossover Culture’ has been evidenced in our 2017 trends ‘Tapped Out’ and ‘Land of the Giants.’

Charlene Weisler: What are the big takeaways from this year's study?

Alexis Fragale: First, the report is a reminder on how quickly the world and culture changes. Second, there are pockets of growth opportunities that advertisers may be missing and may need to address differently than before – for example, look at Boomers, or how to deliver against consumers’ changing definition of success. Third, there are a lot of myths out there. Myths about how people are feeling in America. About the types of content people want. About consumer media behavior. That’s why you’ve always got to keep looking at the data – question those myths.  

Charlene Weisler: Do you think advertisers will shift advertising dollars to the Boomer cohort and why?

Alexis Fragale: Boomers control much of the disposable income in America and they are living longer than ever. While companies will still advertise and try to win over younger consumers (which is partly a Customer Lifetime Value play), it would be a missed opportunity to ignore or alienate such a large portion of Americans, especially one with so much spending power. As for shifting dollars to Boomers, it depends on the nuances of both category and jobs to be done within the campaign (e.g. retain consumers, inspire trial, etc.).

Take spirits as an example: for certain brands, their stronghold of users is among Boomers (e.g. Scotch), but to grow the category, they need to appeal to a (21+) millennial audience. They’ll need to strategize how to balance the growth opportunities while speaking to their loyalists.

Charlene Weisler: How is the American Dream changing and how will that impact spending?

Jodie Huang: We’ve seen a bigger push towards experiential over materialism, especially amongst Millennials. These experiences increasingly help define their lives and identities versus the things they buy. So there is a shift in how they spend, the content they look at, and what companies they use to enable this lifestyle change. Travel is one category that will benefit from shift to experiential spending, and the one-upmanship we’re seeing among Millennials (e.g. the race to be the first of your friends to travel to Cuba or planning an epic celebration vacation for your 30th birthday).

Charlene Weisler: How can we dispel myths and fake news?

Jodie Huang: Educating consumers on how to tell the difference between fake and real news will empower the readers and puts the onus on them to decide for themselves whether or not to trust the content they are reading. Tools and content hacking devices can help make it easier to look at the source material, check facts, review credentials and speed up the process of verifying the news.

Charlene Weisler: Give me one descriptor word for each generation.

Jodie Huang: Gen Z: Ephemeral, Millennials: Savvy, Gen X: Overlooked, Boomers: Idealistic

Charlene Weisler: What advice would you give advertisers today to best prepare for the future?

Alexis Fragale: A lot of industry ‘futuring’ work tends to be wrong, especially in highly uncertain categories (the famous quote: “Wall Street indices predicted nine out of the last five recessions”). The best you can do is map plausible scenarios and prepare for a small number of likely outcomes. Our Culture Vulture work throws up the trends that may underpin different category and media scenarios. It’s important to keep a pulse on the directions the world may be heading in, and what the implications are for brands. We recommend three things:

Talk to consumers as frequently as possible (or ensure that your agencies do). At Mindshare, among our other ongoing surveys and research, we run monthly ‘consumer conversations.’ We speak to the early adopters of technologies or behaviors (e.g. right now we’re chatting to folks who have Amazon Echos and Google Home). Look to understand the drivers and barriers of new behaviors to understand the impact to the brand today and tomorrow.

Set up a committed test-and-learn program, with a funnel of hypotheses that come from consumer insights/research, and an overarching measurement strategy.

Get out and experience the emerging technology and cultural spaces – do monthly safaris out into new format retail stores, or set tasks for your organization to download and trial the newest app (e.g. try Meitu).

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Spanning All Mediums. Interview with Ruth Gaviria of Entercom

Ruth Gaviria, CMO of Entercom, intended to pursue a career in medicine after earning a degree in genetics. But, as she explained, “I became incredibly curious and interested in people and how they think, behave and socialize, which eventually led me to a career in marketing.” 

After several attempts, she was offered a job at Procter & Gamble, moved to Miller Brewing Company and on to Colgate-Palmolive in various brand management and marketing positions. From there she forged a career that spans all media from print to television and radio.

“I have always tended to take the unbeaten path and find ways to do things that have never yet been done, and through that mindset, I have traversed the media landscape from print, to television and now radio,” she explained. 

Charlene Weisler: What is your marketing philosophy?

Ruth Gaviria: I firmly believe that you are the brand company you keep. Media provides a blank canvas of opportunity to co-create with brands and for me to be an architect of new things.

Charlene Weisler: What is your experience in television?

Ruth Gaviria: I was recruited by Univision to establish a corporate marketing practice and rebrand the company during a critical time for television. The Univision brand identity had not been touched in two decades and the expanded portfolio of broadcast and cable networks were not knitted to the master brand in any way.  The work we did there still stands today and has provided an organizing principle of looking at content and distribution through a critical brand lens. 

Charlene Weisler: What is the state of Hispanic media today and where do you see it going?

Ruth Gaviria: Hispanic media is no longer about Spanish language.  That model was disrupted by English language content like the Walking Dead, Jane the Virgin and Modern Family, all of which have been ratings gold among U.S. Hispanics.  The reality is that the new Hispanic America is an inextricable part of American culture, and not a standalone cohort.  If Hispanic media, specifically Spanish language media, is going to reassemble a continuously fragmenting audience, it's going to have to take a page out of radio--the number 1 reach medium in America which continues to grow despite digital and streaming services--and offer in-culture, relevant content that reflects the evolving portrait of its audience, every day and everywhere.

Charlene Weisler: What do you see as the major trends in media?

Ruth Gaviria: In my mind, there are two major themes going into 2017 and beyond: mobility and unprecedented creativity.  The convergence of mobility and radio that we see in NextRadio, an Entercom partner, is game-changing.  The recent aggregation and mergers between content, distribution and mobility platforms like AT&T’s intent to acquire Time Warner and Verizon’s content play through Yahoo and AOL, has expanded the content and media ecosystem and is catalyzing the second major trend: hyper creativity. Brand creative will get better and better, as will content. We will become bolder and constantly disrupt ourselves.  We are seeing it worldwide in fashion, design and fantastical storytelling in all media. 

Charlene Weisler: What is Entercom?

Ruth Gaviria: Entercom is the 4th largest radio company in the US with a footprint of 126 radio stations in 28 markets.  Radio is the No. 1 reach medium in America, live and local, the least disrupted medium, with no cord cutting and scales in a second to millions of listeners across the country.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

Local Broadcast Ad Revenue Forecast 2017

The TVB hosted their annual Broadcast and Leadership Conference during Advertising Week, focusing on the value of broadcast TV and the local markets. What does the future hold for broadcast TV compared to digital? Steve Lanzano, President and CEO TVB, led off the event with an assessment of the role of digital and TV. Citing the recent Facebook measurement data controversy, he said, “Fraud, viewability, lack of third party digital verification – we take these things seriously. Marketers are now reassessing their level of participation in digital. I believe the shine is off the shiny new object. TV is still number one in influencing voters across the spectrum.” 

It is true that TV is currently a top influencer but how long will its dominance and ad revenue maintain?  Marci Ryvicker, Managing Director Wells Fargo, titled her presentation Broadcast Looks Healthy! “Despite,” she said, “what the stocks may be telling us.” According to Ryvicker, “Retransmission consent is a growing percentage of revenue and share of EBITA. Broadcast is a must see, must have asset and a key asset in this ecosystem. Broadcast will be in any successful skinny bundle. If TV doesn't matter, why is Trump raising $140 million and spending most of it on TV?”

But looking forward, she said that “Broadcast ratings are not expected to be very strong. Stations, though, are maintaining their share. The outlier is digital which is taking share from print but broadcast under performed in the stock market.”

Jack Myers, Media Ecologist, MyersBizNet, offered his forecasts for 2016 and 2017. Currently, 2016, with the Olympics and charged Presidential election, is proving to be a healthy market for TV. “More advertisers are looking at their digital expenditures,” Myers stated, and then added, “In the upfront, CPG moved back to TV from digital. It was a surprisingly strong upfront this year with CPM growth between 7% and 12% and first quarter scatter is strong so far.” Data is playing a major role, along with attribution. “There have been major shifts with data analytics at the core of decision making. We are incorporating more analytics into the process.”

Myers anticipates that local/national spot broadcast TV is projected to increase +12.5% in 2016 with legacy media garnering +11.8% and digital +25%. But the picture changes in 2017 as the total percent change declines -12.4% driven by a legacy media loss of -13.5% and a digital gain of +5%. 

The trends in consumer usage portend a more difficult sales environment for traditional television in the longer term, but television executives are exploiting digital opportunities at both the local and national level. As Myers stated, “There can be a bigger upside and better use of digital inventory in local markets. Local TV and radio have extraordinary opportunities to tap into local shopper dollars. And mobile holds significant upside potential.” 

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com