Puppies, Pelotons & Amazon Prime
Alex Hole, VP Samsung Ads Europe looks at how lockdown changes may alter the future of TV viewership
As the UK’s lockdown moves slowly towards an end point, the question for many in our industry is: How many of our newly formed habits are here to stay?
I think we can say with confidence that the days of group Zoom quizzes are numbered (if not already gone). However, Brits bought 3.2 million puppies in lockdown.
This fact alone means that millions of households have made a major lifestyle change that will outlast the pandemic and its restrictions.
In Australia, which experienced a shorter lockdown period, the aftereffects of lockdowns are still very much in play. The dial has moved on working from home expectations – with almost double the proportion expecting now to work from home in future than pre-Covid. Plus, while the ‘cooking craze’ may be over down under, the resulting shift to convenience cooking has just begun.
When we turn our attention to the TV landscape, it’s interesting to look at how our behaviours have changed and how likely these are to stick.
On UK Samsung Smart TVs, we have seen our daily device usage soar. This increase has been noted by BARB across the UK too, which saw an increase in daily TV set usage of around 34 minutes in 2020 versus 2019.
In particular, digital video on demand has benefitted in the past year.
On UK Samsung Smart TVs, we saw VOD services surge in usage, with subscription video on demand (SVOD) viewing time growing by 43% and ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) moving from 23% to 29% of total streaming time on Samsung TVs .
In fact, according to Deloitte’s research, two-thirds of UK consumers are now able to access VOD platforms, a 10% rise since last year.
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The marked rise of TV consumption and VOD content has been accelerated by launches of new SVOD services like the popular Disney+, by increased Smart TV penetration across the UK and – of course – more time at home with the TV.
Advertisers are taking note of audiences spending more time with the TV and across online and terrestrial environments. As we move out of lockdown, it’s clear that there will be an adjustment in these behaviours – as people spend more time out of the home in the evenings or the workday.
However, an adjustment is not the same as a reversal.
McKinsey, looking at the migration to online shopping behaviours, found that there was a high intent globally to continue with these new habits – around 65% higher intention than before. Habits formed over the past year or so are unlikely to drop entirely out of favour.
For CTV, whilst there will no doubt be changes in viewing consumption patterns, audiences have grown accustomed to consuming high quality content on demand and a thirst for new entertainment continues.
Across the TV ecosystem, the challenges mounted by difficulties in content production and distribution have been overcome, with huge transformation among streaming services, broadcasters and hardware providers alike, to meet emerging needs.
TV now is more than a place to watch content, with usage evolving thanks to the proliferation of gaming and the investment into new lifestyle apps.
Samsung introduced Samsung Health’s Smart Trainer to its latest Smart TVs, a feature that tracks and analyses home workouts – as consumers take their exercise in the living room.
This is a trend unlikely to reverse. Peloton, an upmarket spin bike that represents a considerable financial investment into home fitness, saw sales boom by 172% last year.
Meanwhile, consumers have bought into new SVOD subscriptions or become used to on-demand content from broadcaster video on-demand (BVOD) or AVOD services.
On both the side of the consumer and of the ecosystem of TV, there has been an investment into digital services like VOD, gaming and health during the pandemic.
The landscape has evolved and as ever, evolution tends to stick – at least to some extent.
This is not to say that we have reached a stop point.
As our behaviours have radically altered in the past year thanks to new circumstances, it’s likely they will again as we adjust to our new normal.
So the question in my mind is: What new habits will emerge as restrictions ease?
VOD will likely continue to hold a key place as part of the day-to-day of many consumers – but how they consume it might change.
As many workers head back to the office, albeit perhaps not full-time, demand for mobile entertainment may well rise again. Cinemas will once more attract large audiences but this could be complemented by paid-for streaming releases such as that of Mulan and Wonder Woman 1984, as parts of the world operate under differing restrictions and consumers value the renewed freedom of choice.
For advertisers, it’s an interesting time to review behaviour changes and think about how these might alter.
For now at least, fragmentation across linear and even within the VOD landscape is here to stay. Like the purchase of a lockdown puppy, some things that happened in lockdown are with us for the long-term.