The way we watch TV has been changing over the years, and as experts continue to unpack the trends and analyze the current landscape, advertising is changing as well. This week in AdWeek, Peter Naylor, senior vice president of Sales at Hulu, wrote an article about the cumulative impact of the changing TV-watching trends, calling our current period the Era of Purposeful Viewing.
In the Era of Purposeful Viewing, the viewer makes an active decision about what television to watch and when he or she will watch it. This means that the best TV programs really have the ability to thrive, because it’s not constrained by time or viewing method. For example, you can watch Mad Men the night it premieres, or the next day via DVR or Video-On-Demand, or even binge on past episodes using services like Netflix. Conversely, “bad television”–what might be considered “filler” or background noise–is beginning to fall by the wayside. Viewers are making intentional decisions about what programs to put on and when, so there’s a diminishing need to watch just whatever’s on television at the time.
What does the Era of Purposeful Viewing mean for brands interested in advertising to these audiences? Mostly, we think it means that these brands must be even more creative than they have been in the past with their advertising.
In March, Geico released an ad addressing the trend of fast-forwarding through commercials on DVR or Hulu. By creating an undeniably creative advertisement that addresses the trend, Geico provides value to the viewer in the form of humor, and entices them to chose to stick with the ad instead of actually fast forwarding through it.
Another way that brands can ensure their message reaches the viewer is through creative product placement. Integrating further into a television program is perhaps the only way to ensure that all viewers, regardless of the time they watch the program or the method they watch the program, see the brand’s message. Despite airing in 2006, Snapple‘s 30 Rock product placement can still be seen when a viewer binge watches episodes on Netflix in 2015.
What Sparks Our Fire: Exploring where brands fit into the Era of Purposeful Viewing
