Tag: contentmarketing

As the cornerstone of many living rooms around the world, the TV set remains a fixture for media consumption. That consumption, however, looks much different than it did a few years ago. Just as it has in the U.S., the market where Netflix was born, connected TV (CTV) adoption and streaming enablement are redefining how global consumers are spending their TV time.

In aggregate, linear television remains the best way to reach mass audiences, but reach levels are dropping between 2% and 3% each year as viewing behaviors fragment across the growing variety of streaming content.

Despite fragmenting viewership, and in contrast to what many marketers say about their planned spending, global ad spend on linear TV has bounced back stronger than spending across all media following the global ad pullback last year. The revitalized commitment speaks to the enduring influence of linear TV, even though the pandemic viewing gains of last year have receded.

Outside of traditional TV programming, platforms like Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon Prime, Tencent Video, TVING and Nordic Entertainment have established streaming footholds in an array of established global markets, including Mexico, Poland, Sweden, South Korea and Hong Kong. As these players grow their libraries and seek increased engagement, there’s no question that the TV screen will remain the most valuable media real estate in the household, with rapidly expanding content options. In the U.S., for example, streaming video accounted for 27% of viewers’ total TV time in June 2021.

And just as we’ve seen in the U.S., large media companies with established footholds in the global TV space are innovating to build broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) libraries to give audiences the opportunity to view premium content at their convenience and drive incremental ad sales. Media companies are also experimenting with dynamic ad insertion to provide addressability and personalized messaging within their linear TV programming.

Multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and virtual MVPDs (vMVPDs), many of which are operated by traditional TV companies, are also gaining traction among viewers, as they offer viewers tailored content flexibility without a commitment to a cable or satellite subscription. In the U.S., Nielsen Streaming data shows that ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD), multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and virtual MVPDs (vMVPDs) accounted for 36% of the total minutes streamed in June 2021.

In total, six key trends are driving increased TV time in ways that linear programming could not do alone. This is what the evolution of TV viewing looks like, and these trends present the industry with the next big battle: the quest for consumers’ share of TV time. 

Importantly, the fragmenting video viewing landscape places a new emphasis on understanding audiences, and not just who they are. As channels, platforms and content options increase, consumers will engage with the options that are most appealing to them, and that will continue to affect traditional TV viewing trends. CTV, which facilitates everything from streaming video to addressable advertising to skinny TV bundles, is transforming the viewing experience—and opening new advertising opportunities in the process. 

In Europe, recent IAB research found that more than 50% of advertisers and nearly 100% of agencies cite CTV/addressable as a key growth area for digital video over the next 12 months. That growth expectation is backed by growing consumer demand, with the IAB citing eMarketer forecasts that over-the-top (OTT) subscribers in Western Europe will increase from 133 million in 2019 to 159 million by 2023. Just last year, 50% of the CTV audience in Europe watched streaming content daily, according to Statista survey findings.

The increasing diversity of content is a boon for consumers. It also illustrates the ever-growing evolution of TV viewing—something that all parties will need to stay in tune with in order to know where the eyeballs are, as well as which options will best engage them.

For additional insights, watch the on-demand recording of our recent State of Global Media event.

The global video game industry has matured incredibly since its early years, but that has not eroded gamer interest in titles that have been around since the early days of modern consoles. Much like we see in Hollywood, the library of remasters, remakes and reboots is continually growing, engaging both gamers seeking nostalgia as well as many who hadn’t even been born when the originals were released.

But game remakes do more than engage adults who grew up with titles that are now household names. They’re big money makers. Digital revenue for the top remakes nearly doubled between 2018 and 2020, and remake earnings surged in 2020 as familiar brands soared in popularity as people spent much of the year at home. Well-known game franchises like Mario Kart, Call of Duty, Smash Bros., Madden NFL, Assassin’s Creed and Dragon Ball were all among the 20 top-selling games last year.

We know that video game engagement skyrocketed last year, but the engagement spread well beyond dedicated gamers. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), there are nearly 227 million video game players across the U.S. And while people 18-34 account for the largest group of players (38%), the ESA reports that 14% of players are 35-44 and 12% are 45-54. Additionally, 74% of parents report playing games with their kids. Not only does this highlight the broad appeal of gaming, but it highlights the engagement among consumers who will be familiar with nostalgic game titles, given the likelihood that they were exposed to them or played them as kids.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is the latest offering in the remaster/remake/reboot group, and it hit the market on July 16 for Nintendo Switch. While the original Legend of Zelda dates back to 1986, this offering is a high-definition remaster of the Skyward Sword installment of the franchise that came out for the Wii back in 2011. While the remake is largely unchanged from the original in terms of story and game play, it still landed on the top 15 list of most-anticipated games in the remastered, remade and reboot titles of the past eight years, among those that were tracked in Nielsen Video Game Tracking (VGT) data. The top spot belongs to Final Fantasy VII Remake, which, unlike The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, includes a significant amount of new game content. The remake came out last year, 23 years after the original Final Fantasy VII debuted.

While The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD came in at the No. 12 spot on the chart of most anticipated remaster/remakes/reboot games above, it took the top spot among the 11 titles expected to come to market in July 2021. Coming in with a Game Rank  of 90, the title was more anticipated than an array of new titles, including Sniper Elite VR, Monster Hunter 2: Wings of Ruin and Samurai Warriors 5.