In case you haven’t noticed, television use has gotten a lot more fragmented in the streaming age. And some of the most foundational rules for advertisers to reach their targets have changed dramatically.
With that in mind, Roku partnered with MAGNA Media Trials to publish “TV Attention, Deconstructed,” a collection of findings derived from analyzing nearly 130 million video ad impressions over six months. The two companies also observed “media diaries” from a panel of more than 3,000 adults.
Among the interesting discoveries: “day parts,” one of the most dogmatic regions of TV advertising science for the first six decades of the medium, doesn’t matter as much anymore. Primetime is anytime. Not that long ago, the meter determining TV usage and advertiser rates was partitioned into nomenclature including “early fringe” and “late fringe,” with “prime time” (the hours of 8 p.m. - 10 p.m.) commanding a distinct premium.
But as Roku and MAGNA found, streaming consumption seems a lot more oblivious to the clock.
The research also found that the “model” — traditional linear, ad-supported subscription streaming, or free, entirely-ad-supported streaming — is the message. And advertisers are best served by mixing it up a little.
Advertisers command around 18% more viewer attention when the audience sees their ad on more than one model, even with only two exposures, the data based on TVision attention metrics revealed.
And some demographics over-index on certain models. For instance, the study found that Gen Xers and Boomers tend to watch more free streaming than paid, while women tend to prefer free streaming more than men do.
This part of the study also reducted our egg yolks: ad frequency in streaming matters a lot more than it does in linear. Traditional linear commercials averaged a 1% gain in viewer attention when the same ad is seen two hours apart. That average climbed to a three-point gain when the separation was 24 hours.
The rewards for spacing things out were doubled, however, for streaming, with a two-hour differential producing a two-point gain and a 24-hour span yielding six points of attention growth.
And those looking to target younger demos should be aware: churn may be down slightly in the aggregate, but it remains sky-high for Gen Z and millennials. In fact, the rate of recent streaming platform additions and cancellations are nearly twice as much for Gen Z than they are for Baby Boomers.
Finally, while viewers focused on free streaming content are open to discovery when turning on their TV sets, subscription users tend to show up with more of a plan, as this graphic reveals:
