Category: Contributor Blogs

More than a quarter of the U.S. population lives with a disability, and many of us who aren’t disabled likely know someone who is living with one. While film and TV content have made progress in depicting stories of disability, as evident in the surge of programming inclusive of disabilities and related themes over the last 10 years, advertising featuring people with disabilities lags far behind. With a $21 billion market potential, advertisers can’t afford to miss the opportunity to engage with the disabled community and its allies.

Highlighting the impact that living with a disability can have on consumers’ experience with a product reinforces a sense of belonging. It also has the potential to drive dramatic change in people’s daily lives. We talked to Christina Mallon, influencer, activist and Global Head of Inclusive Designer and Digital Accessibility at Wunderman Thompson about what advertisers can do to craft an informed and inclusive message. She is at the forefront of raising awareness, increasing accessibility and innovating with brands for people living with disabilities.

For additional insights, read our recent articles Visibility of Disability: Answering the Call for Disability Inclusion in Media and Visibility of Disability: Portrayals of Disability in Advertising.

In July, broadcast recaptured television viewers, growing a percentage point thanks to high-profile sporting events coupled with the opening weekend of the Olympics. This shift in viewing meant that cable gave up some ground while streaming also picked up a share point. This is potentially a precursor to August viewership behavior, which will reflect the full duration of the Olympics. At 28% share, streaming benefitted from the continued momentum of the growing stable of streaming services and a healthy influx of new content to the more established services. While it may be too early to call it a trend, streaming has gained 1% with each interval of The Gauge since its release.

Take me to the methodology details below.

“Behind the scenes, sports also likely impacted streaming’s share. This includes many of the Olympics highlights clips, which were posted on YouTube, where we saw some minutes increase. We’ll stay tuned for next month when we’ll have the full impact of the Games to review,” said Brian Fuhrer, SVP, Product Strategy at Nielsen.

Watch the video to hear Brian discuss how sports played an outsized impact on July’s share of television viewership, building from last month’s conclusion of the broadcast season, to the NBA Playoffs on to the Olympics.