TouchPoints special: After ten years of changing media habits, it’s time for the industry to get ahead of the curve, writes the IPA’s research director, Lynne Robinson
Media planners have never had it easy – keeping on top of the flood of new media, shifting audience profiles and budgets to match might feel like a never-ending chase.
Sure enough, our latest IPA TouchPoints study bears out industry sentiment that audience behaviours are changing rapidly, but it also shows a huge opportunity for brands of all kinds: audiences now depend on media and tech as a tool in their lives. This is especially true for digital technologies, which are now an essential element of our daily existence, not just a luxury.
The numbers are staggering: we now spend 7.37 hours consuming media every day – a 9% increase on the time spent back in 2005. Over half of that time (4 hours 16 minutes) is spent on digital online activities such as online banking, digital content, emails or shopping – and millennials (15-34 year olds) are of course leading this transition.
Media everywhere (and it’s not just digital)
Media consumption has become far more fluid than ever before. While audiences may once have consumed media in hourly chunks like TV shows, content of all kinds can be consumed on the go and in bite-sized portions as and when the audience needs it. As we move from the home to the commute to the office, we’re effortlessly switching between different devices and channels. We adapt to what’s around us and what we need next.
Our appetite for media shows no sign of slowing down, and flexible media consumption is the new normal across demographics. As the millennial generation grows older and new technologies or platforms proliferate across the population, the growth of digitally-enabled media consumption will continue apace. Our findings show older people already using digital as their main access point for content.
However, digital shouldn’t be the ‘be all and end all’ of our communications.
Contrary to some reports, we’ve found that even the ‘digital pioneers’ – millennials – continue to enjoy mainstream media. When it comes to newspapers, 19% of millennials continue to read printed editions at least once a week. In addition, 65% of millennials listen to live radio at least once week – not counting streaming from the Internet or in an app.
Instead of being led by stereotypes, therefore, planners should turn to their audience’s needs as a focal point of their campaigns.
Too busy for brands?
It’s clear that the media industry is dealing with a very different audience than it was a decade ago, but in some cases it’s significantly different to just last year.
That pace of change can drive some advertisers to increase their budgets in unfamiliar new platforms, but consideration of your target audience’s needs can yield more strategic decisions that will also add value, not just more brand messaging, to your audience’s life.
For example, over the last ten years our hours spent at work have inflated by over 20%. That means we spend a total of two weeks longer in the workplace over the course of a year. This extra time squeezes our leisure, relaxation and social time more than ever before. Because we have less time to do other activities, we are automatically seeking new solutions to make our lives simpler, and frequently technology is the first place we turn.
This insight alone should spur the industry to consider how they can shift their focus, from selling a product or service to adding value to a consumer’s life – for instance by helping to give their precious time back.
The golden moment for creative relevance
Tapping into audiences’ fluid media to provide the right information at the right time is, of course, paramount to adding that deeper value to audiences’ lives.
As we’ve already seen, trends (such as Pokémon GO) can shake up the industry in a matter of days and subside in the same week. By keeping in close touch with audience behaviours and media consumption, advertisers can remain ahead of curve and will be in the strongest position to create memorable, effective work.
However, data isn’t the only tool at our disposal. The role of the IPA is to share knowledge and insights among the marketing industry, and to encourage more creative and effective communications.
In today’s world, the highly changeable nature of our media consumption means that there are new opportunities to create engaging stories, to interact with people no matter where they are or what they’re doing. So let’s get back in touch with audiences and get ahead of the curve.
