There Is No "Planning as Usual" During a Pandemic

Massive disruption to our routines amp8212 namely a LOT more time spent at home amp8212 has changed what ampamp how we watch what ampamp how we eat what ampamp how we buy Wouldnamp8217t it be great to have an uptodate understanding of changing consumer behaviors at your fingertips And even better one that you can filter for the specific audiences that are important to youSince March 2020 YouGov has been doing just that amp8212 tracking consumer sentiment media usage eating patterns shopping patterns and more through a COVIDamp160lens And unlike oneoff studies about COVIDamp8217s impact our questions are integrated into our continuous tracker for YouGov Profiles which has over 450000 profiling variables allowing you to cut the data by till your heartamp8217s content As a planner amp8212 an obsession I knowAnnual Planning Needs Fresher Data This YearMany of you are finalizing your marketing budgets and plans for 2021 which is always a daunting task even without a global pandemic There is a lot of uncertainty about the coming year and much of the data available to you is a rear view window into a year ago amp8212 not exactly representative of your consumeramp8217s current realityI thought Iamp8217d use todayamp8217a article to share some recent stats from YouGov Profiles that I hope will help guide decisions about 2021 with more confidence This info can help you recalibrate the channel mix coming out of your planning tools which may be backed by stale data and identify where to plan for flexibility as conditions continue to change And if what Iamp8217ve shared isnamp8217t enough amp8212 reach out amp8212 Iamp8217m happy to do a live example with you to investigate whatamp8217s most important to youMore Time at Home More Time with MediaIt is no surprise that working from home remotehybrid schooling and reduced availability of out of home activities has led to more time with screens Weamp8217re seeing increased time for all measured media platforms with the biggest changes being increases in time spent with TV YouTube and Facebook with 3040 of people saying theyamp8217ve increased their usagePeople who increased usage of one of the top media platforms are more likely to have also increased usage across platformsWith these increases in timespent on and across platforms it will be important to be mindful of your campaignamp8217s reach and frequency Iamp8217d suggest this may be a good time to consider diversifying your mix look to reach consumers in streaming media video audio or high reach content platforms where consumers are spending more time reading engagingHungry for News ampamp EscapismIncreased TV users over index for watching all day parts and especially for weekday morning 7am9am index 134 and weekdays 9am4pm index 131 They watch network TV news networks cable mainstays and lifestyle channels It will be interesting to see if networks aligned with News ie ABC CBS NBC CNN see a decrease in the coming weeks post election These consumers are neither more nor less likely to use the major streaming apps ie Netflix Amazon Prime Hulu Disney where they overindex is for live TVIncreased YouTube users are 77 more likely to watch YouTube multiple times per day than general users Theyamp8217re spending their time on YouTube watching all kinds of content from News ampamp Politics to Pets ampamp Animals Important to note this data is for A18 and does not include kidsIncreased Facebook users check Facebook multiple times every day 67 vs 49 among general users In addition to staying connected with friends and family the top reason for everyone for using Facebook we see that Facebook is also a more important source of news and entertainment for them compared to general usersThe One Mindset That Makes The DifferenceWe see slight demographic differences in consumers who have increased usage of one platform vs another People of all age groups have increased time with TV but the increase is highest among 5064 years of age Increased time on Facebook is higher among people under 65 including the 1834 year old who were amp8220supposedlyamp8221 leaving Facebook The increase in time spent watching YouTube skews somewhat younger male and more likely to be unemployed People with higher education are less likely to have changed their time spent with any of these mediaSo what makes people who are spending more time with the media different Largely we only see slight differences in their interests hobbies values the content they watch the devices they use how they shopand all these things align with the differences expected based on their demographicsBut their relationship with the virus is different amp8212 theyamp8217re more worried for their health and that of their family As a result they are eating at home more often and have made a bigger shift in their shopping from instore to onlineThey may be spending more time with media simply because theyamp8217re at home more or it may be that their worry about the virus creates a greater need for escapedistractionamp8230itamp8217s probably a bit of both These heavy media users are probably a part of your target audience Theyamp8217re an engaged audience for your content and a prime target for ecommerceAs a marketer if I was building new campaigns Iamp8217d take these considerations into planning Is there an opportunity to help consumers feel more at ease Is there an opportunity to lean into family messaging Is there an opportunity to inspire Lots of questions to be asked and lots of opportunity to fine tune an approach to create stronger longer lasting relationships between brands and consumers In the end context matters more than it ever has beforeItamp8217s a challenging time to be a media planner but uptodate data is available to help The right knowledge partner can help you go forth into the new year with confidence Contact me if youamp8217re interested in seeing this data and more broken out for your specific target audiences Iamp8217m here to help Send your request hereSource for all data in this article YouGov Profiles 10182020Photo courtesy of Tamara AlesiClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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There Is No "Planning as Usual" During a Pandemic

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Tamara Alesi

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There Is No "Planning as Usual"​ During a Pandemic

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Tamara Alesi

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There Is No "Planning as Usual" During a Pandemic