Today’s TV landscape offers more than a lifetime’s worth of choice for audiences. In total, TV audiences in the U.S. can now find content on more than 32,200 linear channels and 89 streaming video sources1. Additionally, connected TV (CTV)2 has given audiences access to anything the internet has to offer.
The appeal of content audiences can access through an internet connection is undeniable. Streaming programming, enabled by CTV, has accounted for more than one-third of total TV usage in the U.S. since February 2023 and more than 36% since May 20233.
All this wealth of choice—and audiences’ gravitation to it—has introduced new considerations for media planning that didn’t exist a decade ago. And marketers in North America are keeping pace by adjusting their spending accordingly, shifting 45% of their ad budgets to CTV in 20234. The downside, however, is that 40% say that CTV measurement remains a challenge.
Embora a tela da TV tenha se transformado em um canal que pode exibir conteúdo de uma variedade cada vez maior de fontes, os princípios básicos da medição ainda se aplicam: Quando você sabe quem está engajado, você tem o insight necessário para se engajar com eles.
É importante ressaltar que a explosão de opções não inspirou um aumento no uso total da TV. Ela simplesmente fez com que o público assistisse ao conteúdo em uma variedade maior de fontes. O adulto médio dos EUA passa cerca de 32 horas por semana na TV durante os meses mais quentes e mais duas ou três horas quando o tempo fica mais frio. No entanto, por mais consistente que seja o uso total da TV, a parte dedicada ao conteúdo acessado via CTV continua a crescer.
Somente no ano passado, o público americano com 18 anos ou mais aumentou em mais de 20% o tempo gasto com o conteúdo que acessam por meio de seus dispositivos conectados, representando pouco menos de 40% do uso total da TV. Entre os públicos mais jovens, o uso da CTV é muito mais dominante: 80,2% entre os jovens de 12 a 17 anos; 73,6% entre os jovens de 21 a 34 anos; 56,8% entre os jovens de 25 a 54 anos.
The increasing engagement is very much correlated with growing access. Today, TV connected devices reach 75% of people 2 and older5. That’s up from just 58% at the start of 2020. The penetration of smart TVs6, which often come with pre-installed apps that provide direct access to streaming content, is also nearing ubiquity: smart TV penetration is now 70.6% among U.S. TV homes5.
While connectivity opens the doors to any content the internet has to offer, streaming video is the leading driver behind the growing adoption of TV connected devices. Those devices provide audiences with access to far more content than what’s available on traditional, linear TV channels. As of October 2023, streaming services were home to just over 85% of the more than 1.1 million unique video titles available to U.S. audiences. That’s up from approximately 656,000 titles at the start of 20201.
That depth of variety, coupled with the expanding streaming landscape and the on-demand nature of many streaming services, has given streaming the edge with respect to TV usage. When Nielsen launched the Gauge in May 2021, only five streaming services accounted for more than 1% of total TV usage—the benchmark to be measured independently on a monthly basis. In November 2023, 11 services were individually reported in the Gauge.
In addition to streaming’s dominant share of TV, time spent with streaming video highlights the gravitational pull of the expanding wealth of available content. For context, U.S. audiences spent just under 15 billion hours watching the top 10 most-watched original, acquired7 and movie titles during the week of Nov. 13, 2023.
A ampla adoção da TV a cabo, a proliferação de dispositivos, os novos acrônimos e a abundância de serviços de streaming aumentaram a complexidade do planejamento de mídia ao ofuscar o comportamento real. Os distribuidores virtuais de programação de vídeo multicanal (vMVPDs), por exemplo, tornaram-se alternativas populares aos pacotes a cabo tradicionais, crescendo para representar um recorde de 5,7% do uso total de TV em setembro de 2023. Mas o planejamento de mídia depende do que está sendo assistido, não de como o conteúdo é acessado.
Pela ótica do uso total da TV, independentemente do ponto de acesso, as chaves para o planejamento de mídia envolvem apenas a resposta a duas perguntas:
- Quem está assistindo
- O que eles estão assistindo
On the surface, the fragmented nature of where content comes from can present itself as a significant media planning challenge. But when advertisers and agencies hone their focus to understanding time spent with broadcast, cable and streaming content, they have the foundational data they need for effective and efficient media planning.
To learn more audience and programming insights critical for the 2024 Upfronts/NewFronts planning season, read our full guide.
Notas
1Gracenote Dados de vídeo globais; October 2023
2CTV refers to any television that accesses content from the internet. The most common use case is to stream video content.
4Nielsen 2023 Annual Marketing Report
5Nielsen National TV Panel; Q2 2023
6A smart TV is television with the built-in capability to access the internet
7Acquired titles are those that have been licensed from other content owners after first airing somewhere else. For example, audiences can find S.W.A.T., a CBS original, on Hulu, Netflix and Paramount+.
