Looking For Viewers in All the Right Places - TRA (TiVo Research and Analytics)

By Interactivoty Archives
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In May of this year, Jefferson Graham wrote an article for USA Today regarding how vitally important social TV platforms are to the success of a television program, For TV networks, social is hugely important. There is no disputing the value of a viewer posting comments about TV shows on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. But there would be no posts without the mechanism that drives the audience to the program in the first place, the promotional spot and paid "tune-in" advertising.

In May of this year, Jefferson Graham wrote an article for USA Today regarding how vitally important social TV platforms are to the success of a television program, For TV networks, social is hugely important. There is no disputing the value of a viewer posting comments about TV shows on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. But there would be no posts without the mechanism that drives the audience to the program in the first place, the promotional spot and paid "tune-in" advertising.

Is there anything more central to the lifeblood of a network than its promotional campaigns? They invest millions in writers, director and cast, then spend untold hours screening it at their Las Vegas-Austin-Los Angeles facilities. Then, when it comes time to promote the series premiere there is another significant investment of resources that includes producing the advertising spots and utilizing their own valuable airtime as well as purchasing a schedule. If only there was a technique to assist with the promotional campaign and pinpoint the ideal target for the new series.

Enter TRA's (TiVo Research and Analytics) Viewer Segmentation report. With this report a target can be created for a single program, a network, a genre or a daypart. Then a network's promotional team can determine what else heavy viewers of that segment are watching. Promoting your new series that is CSI meets The Young and the Restless? Want to reach a rabid NHL viewer, now that the season is on life support and perhaps they would enjoy another sporting event? TRA tells you where to find them.

Let's review some of last season's broadcast hits and see what else those viewers are watching. I took a look at one series premiere from each of the broadcast network's fall 2011 season to see what else is popular with their audience. Besides other Fox sitcoms, New Girl fans enjoy CW's Gossip Girl and 90210 as well as ABC's Revenge. As for ABC's Once Upon A Time, those fans are enjoying SYFY's Merlin (makes sense) and Fringe on Fox. Grimm viewers on NBC prefer more stark fare like Fox's Bones and AMC's The Walking Dead. And the fans of CBS's 2 Broke Girls enjoy a little reality on the side with ABC's Shark Tank and Fox's Kitchen Nightmares appearing in their DVR queue.

Further analysis of these four programs reveals that the most loyal viewers account forTRA+Chartapproximately 50% of the viewing. The middle tier of viewers delivers a viewing high of 41% for Once Upon A Time and a low of 37% for New Girl. This type of viewing segmentation allows networks to target light and medium viewers of a program and try to convert them into loyal followers. This segmentation is based on TRA's Viewer Segmentation Centiles that distributes viewing from 2.2 million homes into 100 different segments from heavy to light, as illustrated in the chart.

But, let's say you're not a major network trying to promote a new series. I mean how many of you are there anyway? No really, how many of you are there? What if you are an advertiser hoping to target viewers of New Girl. The cadence of that program perfectly matches your product's ideal target, but you don't want to allocate a large percentage of your budget to just one high-priced network ticket. Where else can you place TV ads without blindly guessing where your potential fans are? We're here to help. New Girl viewers also love FX' Justified, TNT's Southland (I know, I never would have guessed that either) and that hot British import Downton Abbey. So one could try advertising on these shows instead of New Girl. Trying to reach the Grimm crowd? Looking for a little grittier audience? Might we suggest USA's Psych, (but you probably would have guessed that) and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (I got you on that one.) Viewers of Once Upon A Time can be found watching TVLand's Happily Divorced and ABC's Celebrity Wife Swap. The fans of 2 Broke Girls also enjoy awards shows, Jimmy Kimmel and (wait for it) NASCAR Racing!

From the expected to the unexpected, TRA's Viewer Segmentation offers a high powered lens into the viewing patterns of consumers. Similar to exposing moviegoers attending the 8pm showing of The Dark Knight Rises to a trailer for Skyfall, Viewer Segmentation provides your brand or new series with the opportunity of reaching its optimal target in ideal environments.

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