Size isn't the only thing that matters.
Measuring audiences isn’t as easy as counting heads anymore. Sure audience mass is still important, but now there’s a multitude of other things to consider. According to an article titled "It's Not Just Size of the Audience That Matters", published in Media Works, its no longer all about how many people view a program its about the different types of people that view that program in different ways. The article points out that “a stay-at-home viewer who watches "General Hospital" at 3 p.m ET, might be quite different from a working person who watches it at 10 p.m. on cable.” Because there are so many ways to view programs, the audience is more fragmented so understanding viewer behavior and how that translates into consumer behavior is more difficult, but perhaps- more plausible!
This is because cable, satellite and telecommunication providers will be selling audience-behavior data from set-top boxes. Advertisers want to understand the behavior of the smaller audience groups. According to Mediaworks, “TNS has unveiled a new service, known as TNS DirecTView, that studies 100,000 DirecTV subscribers and their granular viewing habits.” Nielsen and TiVo also plan to provide clients with set-top-box data.
Also, quantity of people who saw the creative may not be as important as before. Other factors such as engagement levels of audiences might effect which eyeballs are actually more valuable. For example, if we can identify audiences that are channel surfing they may be less valuable then the audience that is tuned into the new episode of CSI.
In my opinion, understanding the audience is a valuable use of this detailed information but I would think it would also be a good tool to evaluate a specific vehicle. With this information, what if we could know what time during the program viewers tuned in, which programs cause people channel flip during commercials, which programs cause people to stay on the same channel through the entire time slot, and what channels and programs they flip back and forth, which programs lure certain audiences away from other programs. Couldn’t this information have some effect on evaluating which programs are most valuable to advertisers? I think we could not only evaluate how many people view the program but also which programs keep the audience on the same channel.
Source: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=125981
posted by Leah Donnenberg @ 9:09 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
It is very important to extend and increase frequencies of exposure to television programs, which in turn usually increases exposure to advertisements as well. Reach is another very important part of this whole scenario because it is imperative to reach different people, and not just the same ones all the time. As the article in AdAge states, there definitely are an extremely large number of different things to consider, besides just counting the number of people exposed to the ads. New technology has developed into higher levels of fragmentation, and that splits up audiences like never before. People are able to watch what they want, when they want, and this poses a pretty large problem for advertisers. TiVo begins to "learn" what you as a consumer like to watch, and taylors suggestions of programs to you specifically.
This new technology can also be used for good however. Because audiences become so targeted, advertisers are able to advertise to more specific demographics of people, that would be the target consumer for their product. This increases the effectiveness of the advertising, and gives a much stronger "bang for your buck" and effectiveness.
As the article states, its about the kinds of people that are watching your program, not just the size. If a company is advertising to a group of consumers that the product does not necessarily relate to at all, or would ever want to be a part of, then it wasted advertising. The more effective and efficient advertisers can be with reaching the target consumers that they want to reach, while continuing to expand their reach to potentially new demographics of consumers, the profit they will see. New TV viewing technology including DVR and TiVo can hurt mass audience ratings, but can also increase the effectiveness of advertising. It's kind of a love hate relationship, and it will be interesting to see how new technologies effect advertising and audiences in the future.
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