With so much focus in the media industry on the changing TV landscape, it goes without saying that understanding audience behavior is critical. But advertisers, agencies and publishers need to know more than just what audiences are watching to best serve their clients. They need to understand as much about the audience as they can, including how they access TV content.
Ad alto livello, le famiglie televisive possono accedere ai contenuti televisivi in uno dei tre modi seguenti:
- Cavo/Satellite diretto
- Internet a banda larga
- Antenna via etere (OTA)
These access points are not mutually exclusive. A home can have TV sets that access content in different ways. Many homes, for example, access content through cable boxes and complement that content with streaming video. The same is true of homes that access free OTA programming; 60% of OTA households also subscribe to a streaming video service.
Per aiutare i clienti a comprendere meglio la frammentazione dei tipi di accesso ai contenuti televisivi, Nielsen ha preparato una serie di stime dell'universo informativo che suddividono l'universo televisivo statunitense per tipo di accesso.
Given the variety of options, the topic of content access has become increasingly important, particularly with respect to measuring connected TV (CTV)1 usage. CTV usage, which allows audiences to access anything the internet has to offer, had grown to account for more than 38% of total TV usage among adults as of second-quarter 2023. The reason? Choice. According to Gracenote Dati video globali, 84% of the studio-produced video titles available to U.S. audiences are available on streaming platforms.
The recent ramp-up in CTV adoption has significantly amplified streaming usage over the last year: Streaming has accounted for more than one-third of total TV usage in the U.S. since February 2023, and has accounted for more than 36% since May2. During the week of Nov. 6, 2023, for example, TV audiences watched more than 15.6 billion hours of the top 10 most-streamed original programs, movies and acquired programs available to them3.
While widespread CTV adoption signals a new era in how audiences access content, it has created a misconception that viewers no longer watch linear programming. Importantly, the reality is quite the opposite. In fact, regardless of how a home accesses TV content, more than 90% watch some amount of linear programming.
The variety of content available outside of traditional cable packages is undeniable, and audiences are actively using TV connected devices and smart TVs to access it. Yet while the percentage of homes that access TV content through a broadband internet connection had risen to just under 40%4 in September of 2023, CTV access does not mean audiences are only watching on-demand content. In fact, 82% of BBO only households were watching linear programming in October, which is up 3 percentage points from earlier in the year.
Dato che nessuno dei modi in cui il pubblico accede alla TV si esclude a vicenda, il consenso sulla classificazione delle case televisive è diventato complicato, soprattutto per quanto riguarda le case che ora accedono ai contenuti con una connessione a Internet. Gran parte di questa complicazione, tuttavia, è legata alla gamma di acronimi e termini che sono stati coniati per descrivere la tecnologia associata all'accesso ai contenuti. Questi acronimi e termini d'arte complicano eccessivamente la premessa della misurazione dell'audience, soprattutto per quanto riguarda l'utilizzo della CTV.
Attraverso l'obiettivo dell'utilizzo totale della TV, indipendentemente dal punto di accesso, le chiavi per la pianificazione dei media implicano solo la risposta a due domande:
- Chi sta guardando
- Cosa guardano
Il cambiamento nel modo in cui la connettività sta ridisegnando l'accesso ai contenuti è innegabile, ma gli inserzionisti e le agenzie possono essere confortati dal fatto che i dati di misurazione su cui fanno affidamento, indipendentemente dalla fonte dei contenuti, sono accurati e rappresentativi del pubblico televisivo complessivo. Data la complessità del panorama mediatico odierno, Nielsen si impegna a collaborare con il settore per definirne meglio le sfumature.
To learn more audience and programming insights critical for the 2024 Upfronts/NewFronts planning season, read our full guide.
Fonti
1CTV refers to any television that is connected to the internet. The most common use case is to stream video content
2The Gauge
3Nielsen’s weekly Top 10 lists
4This figure includes homes that access programming through a vMVPD. Later this year, homes that access programming from a vMVPD will be classified as cable homes.
