In recent research, Beyond the Headlines: Unpacking common narratives in media and advertising, Comscore investigated three common myths about our industry:
In the second of our blog posts in this series, we will provide a few highlights regarding the second myth, Activism is good for business. Read the full report for more details.
The rise of OTT in recent years has often been publicised as the end of the TV as we know it, but is this true? Comscore wanted to investigate whether digital, OTT and other platforms really mean the end of traditional TV or whether there is a place for TV in this evolving landscape.
The good news is that TV’s death has been greatly exaggerated. Although it makes for great headlines it doesn’t accurately reflect the reality of the situation. Like many other traditional platforms, TV has been upended by recent developments in technology, with consumers having more options than ever before to watch content on the platform most convenient to them. However, having options doesn’t mean that consumers aren’t choosing live TV. Research based on US viewing behaviour showed that live TV still dominates this space when looking at the total hours spent consuming content.
Is cord-cutting a reality?
Another widely circulated myth is that consumers are dumping their pay TV subscriptions and shifting to OTT services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. However, looking more closely at the data suggested that this is not the case. 65% of OTT viewing households have pay TV subscriptions, this indicates that these households are looking to complement their linear TV with other streaming and video-on-demand options. Consumers aren’t committing to just one platform, but instead diversifying their options.
OTT has seen incredible growth in recent years. However, the acceleration of this growth appears to be easing off, as can be seen in the chart below. With more players entering the OTT space, the industry will soon test whether there is a hard limit to the number of services consumers are willing to adopt.
What does this mean for marketers and media companies?
The results of this research are good news for traditional TV: is it still among the most powerful channels for advertisers to reach their audiences. Still, marketers need to be mindful of the proliferation of platforms to create a seamless, cohesive experience for their target audiences.
In the last of our blog posts in this series, we will provide a few highlights regarding the third myth, TV is dead. Read the full report now to learn more about the future of linear TV, as well as to explore the other common myths in the media and advertising industry.