Deja view: Why audiences love what they know and what this means for marketers
Opinion
Advertisers have a golden opportunity to ride on the coat-tails of beloved shows, captivating audiences while they are light-hearted, relaxed and open to branded messaging.
In the fast-paced world of entertainment, it’s easy to be distracted by what’s new.
But over the festive break, as I sat down with a tub of post-Christmas-dinner Celebrations to relax in front of a screen with my family, I wasn’t excited about the hottest new show. And I wasn’t the only one. Between the Gavin & Stacey finale, the brilliant Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and beloved festive films, UK viewing figures in December were dominated by what we already know and love.
This may feel appropriate for the festive season, but it’s a timeless, universal truth. YouGov data consistently puts shows like Friends at the top of the UK’s most-streamed lists and the third series of the increasingly popular The Traitors has brought around 9m viewers to BBC One each episode in January — a massive achievement for linear TV.
Our own data reinforces the nation’s love of high-quality, established programming, with Entertainment Hub being by far the most popular Samsung channel in the UK in December. Hosting shows like Schitt’s Creek, Nashville and Poldark, the channel reinforces the appeal of familiar, best-loved programming.
These “comfort shows” pose a powerful commercial opportunity that we as marketers often fail to grasp. Sure, it’s one thing to buy premium ad space alongside the newest sci-fi or fantasy drama, but the data shows that targeting audiences when they are at the edge of their seat is not always the most effective strategy.
Instead, advertisers have a golden opportunity to ride on the coat-tails of beloved shows, captivating audiences while they are light-hearted, relaxed and open to branded messaging.
Evening escape
The average Samsung streamer has eight streaming sessions each week, totting up around 118 minutes each session. But not every session is equal.
In a recent consumer study, we broke down the various motivations behind specific viewing sessions, examining the genre, time of day, type of content and extraneous factors such as who else is in the room, to understand the “TV moments” that see viewers most receptive to advertisements.
“Evening escape” viewing, in which audiences turn to the television to unwind from a busy day at work and enjoy the shows they love — often with family — proved to be one of the most receptive we tracked. With an impressively high 66% ad acceptance rate, this meant that two in three households were actively open to seeing branded content, making them more likely to remember, discuss or engage with high-quality ads.
What’s most powerful about this mode of viewing is that it isn’t limited to streaming binges or appointment linear programming like the shows that won at Christmas.
Platform loyalty doesn’t factor into viewers’ choices about what to watch and where. They will simply go where their favourite shows are hosted. And this allows advertisers to choose the platforms and channels that will offer the most targeted, most effective campaigns.
Rich content, rich data
Of course, ad acceptance is growing generally across the TV landscape. In 2024, Samsung viewers spent around 48% of all streaming time on advertising-supported VOD (AVOD) and free ad-supported TV (FAST) platforms. The result is that media buyers are spoilt for choice.
While it is clear that tapping into our love of reruns is a cost-effective strategy, brands and agencies still need to allocate their spend across a fragmented landscape of linear and streaming. But by offering non-intrusive ad placements, with the ability to target viewers with increasingly tailored, relevant ads, FAST is the Goldilocks of options.
We also know about subscription fatigue as viewers contend with an increasingly siloed landscape and an ever-accumulating list of direct debits to keep up with the best content.
Just last year, we saw a 330% year-on-year increase in consumers pausing their digital media and entertainment subscriptions. For FAST and AVOD channels that offer viewers relevant ads and a good user experience, there is an opportunity to stand the test of time, regardless of people’s disposable income.
For brands, success comes to those that can leverage the rich data inherent in connected TV in the most creative, consumer-centric ways.
Pinpointing which long-running genres and formats resonate best with specific demographics allows brands to reach target audiences at the right moment, during their “evening escape” or comfort viewing. Combining complex audience profiles with an understanding of viewer psychology helps brands buy the most relevant ad slots and should also help them create more enjoyable, effective ads themselves.
Technological advancements like automatic content recognition and machine learning even allow brands on FAST to better predict and respond to viewing behaviours. When an ad campaign converts to a sale on a specific channel or at a specific time, algorithms can apply learnings to other households with similar profiles, optimising the campaign in real time.
It is no secret that insights are the backbone of good marketing and these can range from big cultural observations (like Brits’ love of reruns) to the minute and hyper-personalised (like the tendency of a household to tune in at 8pm on a Tuesday).
What matters most for us marketers is understanding our audience so that the ads they receive are as worthwhile as their favourite show.
Antonia Faulkner is head of marketing and analytics at Samsung Ads