Clinton, Trump…and the evolution of video consumption

The US presidential debates reveal how social media companies are evolving into new, complementary media organisations driven by today’s mobile and video-first world. By Moz Dee.

The presidential debate showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has become a source of much industry discussion on how the rise of online video may impact broadcast TV audiences. ABC News partnered with Facebook to livestream the broadcast via Facebook Live, while Twitter exploited its relationship with Bloomberg TV.

It’s a natural progression for both social networks that looks to capitalise on people’s changing viewing habits, hoping to get people to turn off the television and engage in the debates on social media in real-time.

Platforms like Facebook Live have offered a new revenue stream for publishers who may be able to monetise their editorial authority to engage their vast audience in live social broadcasts.

Established broadcasters are able to use social platforms to expand their reach and further build their audience, as well as find new ways to deliver content without worrying about their established schedules.

The strategic emphasis Facebook and Twitter have placed on moving into the broadcast arena in recent months has prompted a number of commentators to speculate that this may well signal the death of broadcast television. However, the reality is far more nuanced. The video ecosystem has developed and diversified in unprecedented ways, but this does not mean viewers are throwing out their TV sets.

In-feed video has been growing exponentially in the digital landscape, with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat vying for dominance and taking aim at TV’s advertising revenue. A typical evening’s viewing could start with watching YouTube, to binging on Netflix, to checking out Sky on Snapchat Discover and catching up on Bake Off on BBC’s iPlayer.
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Digital technology has fundamentally altered the media landscape, where brands and marketers are now searching for effective ways to cut through today’s content cluttered world.

From Facebook’s now controversial announcement in November 2015, that it had reached 8 billion video views per day – which the company recently admitted to overestimating – to Snapchat saying in April 2016, that it had surpassed 10 billion video views per day, there has been a clear shift in consumer video consumption habits.

Mirroring the aggressive increase in digital video consumption by consumers has been the surging investment in digital video advertising. The IAB’s most recent annual video adspend study found that nearly three-quarters of marketing and media buying professionals planned to move funds out of TV to escalate their spending on digital video advertising.

Advertisers are now spending on average more than $10 million annually on digital video – an increase of 85 per cent from two years ago. Even as a relatively young industry, the expanding audience reach of digital video has encouraged advertisers to rethink their TV budget spend.

To some, this increase is a clear indication that traditional TV broadcast is under serious threat. However, online video remains plagued by serious issues of accountability and viewability that would make it hard for any advertiser to justify directing their ad spend solely to platforms like YouTube.

Facebook’s admission that it had been overestimating its average viewing time for the last two years by up to 100 per cent highlights the risks associated with investing in walled gardens.

Research from Thinkbox has demonstrated that although TV accounts for 57.5 per cent of video viewing, it makes up 87.6 per cent of video advertising. Conversely, YouTube represents 10.3 per cent of all viewing, but comprises only 1.4 per cent of time spent watching video advertising.

Even Facebook, which takes up 18.7 per cent of video viewing, only captures 9.9 per cent of video advertising that is watched.

These numbers not only illustrate that TV still dominates video consumption, but that it remains the best medium for advertisers to guarantee that their ad is actually seen, in full and with sound. Which is good news for broadcast TV that depends on advertising funds to help create the programming that audiences want.

However, what we are likely to see is an expanding budget for all video advertising, within which traditional broadcast may take a smaller share, but of a much larger pool, alongside new video platforms.

Social platforms have encouraged audiences to share and engage in videos in a way that means we don’t even have to go looking for video; it finds us in our social feeds. Where social platforms are triumphing is in amplifying the community experience of watching live television with a virtual society. Hence, why sports events and presidential debates make for a natural content fit for social platforms.

This is evidenced by Twitter’s success with the second presidential debate, where it received 3.2 million unique users on its livestream and its ad inventory for all four debates has sold out, exceeding advertiser expectations by over-delivering on impression estimates by 377 per cent.

We have witnessed an increase in requests from brands and publishers looking to understand how best to build content that captures moments in real-time. This demand comes from consumers who now expect brands to be able to deliver agile, creative branded content almost instantaneously.

So it is no wonder that the IAB study revealed that more than two-thirds of marketers and agency executives believe original digital video will become as important as original TV programming in the next three to five years.

What this means for marketers and brands is that the rise of digital video has not overtaken traditional broadcast television, but rather that we now have a far more diverse video ecosystem in which content is distributed.

The trick for marketers is to appreciate that the type of branded content that will resonate with the audience is dependent on which platform is being used. Successful content only works within the right context.

Ultimately, there will be no funeral for broadcast television anytime soon. It still plays a vital role in consumers’ lives and commands a major proportion of UK adspend.

Rather, what we are witnessing is the continuing evolution of social media companies into new, complementary media organisations driven by today’s mobile and video-first world.

Moz Dee is co-founder of Contented Group