Why Social TV Has the Power to Change the Media World as We Know It – Graeme Hutton

If you were to ask me why social TV is poised to become one of the most important global forces in advertising over the next 10 years it is because of its ability to challenge our industryamp8217s fundamental notion of information overloadThe term information overload was coined 40 years ago by the media visionary Alvin Toffler However we tend to think of information overload as a very recent phenomenon where depending on which source you use consumers in advanced media economies see between 1200 to over 5000 ads per dayThe reality is that ever since the 1970amp8217s media people have been fixated with the idea of how to create communications breakthrough for their brand in an ocean of advertising clutterSocial TV turns the industryamp8217s deepseated idea of information overload on its head Rather than shun additional media interfaces and opportunities todayamp8217s consumer actively embraces them She grabs her smartphone or tablet and she creates her own media cornucopia While watching TV via social media she directly interrelates with millions of others watching the same TV show she adoresI recently asked young women who are social TV users of femaleoriented drama shows such as Scandal and Pretty Little Liars how they interact with social media while watching the show For these consumers using Twitter while watching these shows doesnamp8217t detract it actually heightens their total experience Rather than shirk multiscreen and multitasking they revel in itYounger social TV devotees are enthralled by the comments they see develop on their second screen When I asked them if they did most of their social media commenting during the ad breaks a typical response was amp8220 Oh no if I did that Iamp8217d miss what everyone is saying during the show Itamp8217s all over by the time the ads come onamp8221Why Social TV Is a GameChangerIn summary I think there are three key reasons why social TV is a gamechanger1 It is a consumerdriven phenomenon According to the Council for Research Excellence social TV has grown rapidly amp8211 its reach is now 49 percent per week among the under 55s2 Social media has become TVamp8217s best friend Only five or six years ago many digital experts were saying the internet would kill TV But in fact the exact opposite has happened Whatamp8217s more we now know that TV and digital video advertising work powerfully together3 It affirms we are entering the Golden Age of Screens The amp821670s and amp821680s of the last century were the golden age of TV but then the disruptive force of the internet was unleashed Now two decades on consumers move seamlessly between their smartphone or their tablet and TV We are truly in the golden age of a screenbased media economyYet for all my enthusiasm for social TV I have to add a caveat Be careful what you wish for For example in the US the Super Bowl is the granddaddy of all social TV and wordofmouth marketing This year the Super Bowl reached over 130 million people in the US Each year the Super Bowl attracts 40 to 45 advertisers each willing to pay up to 4 million for a 30second spot Yet about 10 to 15 percent of these advertisers see no improvement amp8211 or worse a drop amp8211 in their wordofmouth during the week after the game Itamp8217s a battle for share of voice and itamp8217s a battle for communications resonance with the consumerIn short itamp8217s not enough to rely on the ad itself to do all the work to build a brandamp8217s buzzThree Winning Ad IngredientsTo help make ads work we have found there are three winning ad ingredients surprise amp8211 give people something to talk aboutactivation amp8211 give them something to do with the advertising and crossplatform amp8211 let them see the advertising in more than one format Social TV is often at its most powerful with inprogram sponsorships and integrations Here it is critical toamp183 Match the brand to the show and alsoamp183 Align the message to the audienceSo for example it isnamp8217t enough to feature a car in an automotive TV show typically we need to ensure that car would pass muster with real car enthusiasts who watch that show and the advertising has to say something that emotionally resonates with themIf you can get these two overarching factors right amp8211 both the advertising winning ingredients and the program integration factors amp8211 the campaign lifts can be substantial We can see lifts of 400 to 600 percent in lower funnel metrics in areas such as brand preference and first choiceThe upshot is that there isnamp8217t a one size fits all for socialTV related marketing It must be customized to maximize the results But like it or not social TV is beginning to change the essential way media is being consumed and in turn the way advertising worksGraeme Hutton is SVP Group Partner Research at UM Graeme came from the UK to the US in the late 90s and his only regret is that he did not do it sooner Graeme joined UM in 2006 At UM he has engineered and activated a broadbased set of integrated communications and consumer insight tools which dovetail into the agencyamp8217s burgeoning arsenal of media research products and systems Graeme can be reached at Graemehuttonumwwcomamp160Read all Graeme39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Curious Thoughts from Curious MindsCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentariesamp160amp160

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Why Social TV Has the Power to Change the Media World as We Know It – Graeme Hutton

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