Impact of Coronavirus Outbreak on TV and Online Media: Implications for Advertisers
Coronavirus outbreak is impacting a large number of
industries. The TV, online media and advertising industries are no exceptions.
Amid coronavirus crisis, people are staying home and
turning to TV and internet for both information and entertainment. But what is
being broadcasted on TV and what the viewers are watching are both changing.
According to the Comscore TV viewing report for U.S. that
compared March 16 to 20, 2020 data to the same week in 2019 -
- · Viewing
of cable news networks increased by 73%. Viewing of financial cable news networks,
especially, witnessed a significant surge.
- · Viewing of the big four broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) increased by about 19%.
- · Daytime
viewing of children’s programming networks increased by about 31%.
As no sports events are being held, sport programs’
viewership has been hit hard. According to a report by Business Insider, TV
networks covering sports events may witness a decline in viewership by 9% to
25%.
Along with the cancellation of sports and other live events,
the production of TV shows and movies has come to a halt. Movie theatres have
been shut down. Studios are either postponing the release of their movies, or
planning to premiere them on the streaming platforms. Some are making their movies
streamable on demand.
Unlike traditional sports, e-sports firms are not
shutting down their tournaments, but are rather continuing them online. Esports
events can be watched live online or later on when they are uploaded to sites
like YouTube. The coronavirus outbreak has provided an opportunity to e-sports industry
to build its fanbase by showing their games online to those who would otherwise
be consuming some other content. It is also providing a great opportunity to
e-sports sector in the media rights space.
Rather than running their tournaments behind the closed
doors, some traditional sports’ organizers are also switching to virtual
simulations.
According to Nielsen, as more and more people are
staying in home, video viewing in the United States could increase by 60%. Free
and low-priced streaming services could, especially, gain benefit during this
time of crisis. Experts also speculate that if due to the coronavirus outbreak,
a steep rise in unemployment rate occurs, the majority of people will choose to
cancel TV or high-priced streaming services subscriptions in favor of free or
low-priced streaming services.
Data shows that during this coronavirus pandemic, the
viewership of content via OTT services has sharply increased. According to a
report by Comscore, the year-over-year (YOY) growth in the number of over the
top (OTT) households using connected TVs and streaming boxes/sticks was 39% and
47% respectively (March 13 to 16, 2020 data was compared to March 15 to 18,
2019 data).
For the same period, the year-over-year growth in the
time spent (total OTT hours) with OTT content on connected TVs and streaming
boxes/sticks was 34% and 20% respectively. Streaming boxes and sticks accounted
for 56% of OTT streaming hours in the month of March, while the share of connected
TVs was 32%.
For the period spanning 1 to 16 March 2020, Netflix
accounted for 37% of OTT hours on connected TV, while YouTube accounted for 21
%, Amazon Prime Video – 16%, Hulu – 12%, and others – 14%. For the same time
period, the share of streaming platforms on streaming boxes/sticks was 21% of
OTT hours for Netflix, 17% for Hulu, 16% for YouTube, 14% for Amazon Prime
Video, and 32% for others.
The increase in the viewership of connected TVs and
streaming boxes/sticks during the coronavirus crisis offers a great opportunity
to advertisers to capitalize on online video content for brand promotion. Some
marketers are now thinking of redirecting their advertising investments from
television to streaming platforms such as Netflix and YouTube.
By placing ads that are in line with the video content
that the users are actively engaging with, advertisers can effectively capture
the users’ attention. Video advertising campaigns run using keyword- or
affinity-based targeting often achieve sub-optimal results. AI advertising
that leverages the power of computer vision enables advertisers to run highly
effective online video advertising campaigns.
Computer vision
allows detection of in-video contexts - logos, faces, objects, scenes,
activities and emotions - with high accuracy. By serving ads that are relevant
to the detected contexts, advertisers can boost user engagement and reach. Besides
enabling the advertisers to place the right ad against the right video content,
computer vision also enables advertisers to avoid ad placement against brand
unsafe content, including coronavirus content. Thus, AI-powered in-video contextual
advertising boosts brand awareness and sales, while at the same time ensures
brand safety.
As online video consumption is exploding during the
coronavirus pandemic, advertisers can effectively capitalize on this
opportunity through AI-powered in-video contextual advertising.
