The TV industry is big business. It always has been. But how we define “TV” is very much an evolving story, simply because viewership and engagement is no longer directly tied to a predefined schedule or static set of channel options. And while people still spend more than twice the amount of time with traditional TV than their connected TV devices, trends over the last year showcase how streaming-first mindsets are critical to success in the future.
For context, Americans increased their streaming usage by 21% between May 2021 and May 2022. That uptick, much of which happened during historically low TV viewing months, fueled a dramatic shift in total TV consumption—even though total TV viewing remained virtually unchanged. In June 2022, streaming accounted for more than one-third of total TV time, 6.3 points higher than in June 2021.
The flipside of this surge in consumption is a growing expanse of content—and platforms to host it. In the period between December 2019 and February 2022, the number of unique video content titles grew from 646k to more than 817k1. And to complement the growth in titles, some now estimate there are more than 200 streaming services for audiences to choose from.
So, as lucrative and attractive as the streaming space is, success is far from easy. Several entities, including Deloitte, have forecasted subscriber churn amid the deluge of content and channel options, and a recent Nielsen survey found that 46% of streaming subscribers believe there are too many services available to them.
对于内容所有者和购买者来说，如何驾驭这种环境并不是一件简单的事情。面对如此激烈的竞争和一天中有限的时间，任何决定都可能决定观众是否参与节目。换句话说，流媒体领域的病毒式传播比观众首次创造 "狂欢式观看 "一词时更难，因为流媒体平台开始一次性投放整季内容。
但是，如果即使在一个日益拥挤的空间里，内容所有者和购买者也能利用数据来判断内容是否会提高收视率，或者它甚至可能是值得狂欢的内容呢？如果这些判断并不局限于流媒体内容呢？
好消息是，事实并非如此。更好的消息是，使用这类数据将使观众与业主和买家同样受益，甚至受益更多。毕竟，他们才是对相关内容趋之若鹜的人。
考虑到现有内容的数量，以及未来内容的数量，元数据对内容发现至关重要。元数据还可以帮助内容所有者和购买者了解受众为什么会对特定内容情有独钟。当内容所有者和购买者知道哪些特征会推动受众参与时，他们就掌握了吸引受众--并保持受众--所需的信息。
那么，在众多需要考虑的特征中，哪些是真正影响观众偏好和长期参与的因素？如何才能真正量化这些特征？
To help content owners and buyers on this front, Gracenote, the content solutions pillar of Nielsen, recently announced a new data set that can be used to optimize program licensing and acquisition strategies as TV viewership booms. These are the characteristics that shed the most light on how individual streaming and broadcast programs are consumed:
- 狂欢性：了解观众每天观看多少集电视节目，量化观众连续观看多集的倾向。
- 忠诚度：了解观众每月观看可用内容的次数（分钟数和百分比），以确定观众是否愿意坚持观看节目。
- 节目相似性：根据相似的主题特征、收视人群和历史表现，找出与其他节目相似的节目。
While these characteristics might be useful to some degree in determining road-tested programs with established audiences, especially as competition rises, they will be critical in assessing audience engagement with new programs. As streaming continues to account for an increasing share of total TV usage, we analyzed two new Netflix programs that debuted this year to gauge how audiences received them: Inventing Anna, which debuted in February, and The Lincoln Lawyer, which debuted in May. Both shows performed well with audiences, as they each appeared on Nielsen’s top 10 streaming list for several weeks around their respective debut dates.
When we look beyond the minutes viewed, however, we can better understand program-level engagement—and see viewers were more engaged with The Lincoln Lawyer than Inventing Anna.
Given the reception and resulting media fanfare around The Lincoln Lawyer, Netflix did announce that it greenlit a season 2 of the show. That said, the loyalty and binge scores for the program provide independent data points validating engagement. Comparatively, the Shonda Rhimes-led Inventing Anna was planned as a limited series, and therefore, no second season has been announced. But if the creators and Netflix ever change their minds and need viewer validation, the loyalty and binge scores could certainly serve that need.
This article originally appeared on Streaming Media.
