DIGITAL MEDIA DIGEST: NOV ‘20
A monthly look at the world of digital from NORTH’s point of view
Not Sponsored by Spotify
by Nicole Bell, Media Director
My partner is an essential worker, and he listens to music throughout his shift. After coming home every day humming “Last Christmas” by Taylor Swift he admitted to playing this on repeat because it simply makes him “happy” and gives him a chance to escape from, well, everything these days. Needless to say, this song has been stuck in my head since then and while I made Thanksgiving dinner Alexa played it for me on repeat.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, people around the world have turned to music as a source of joy during the pandemic. When Italians sang to each other on their balconies, the world stopped to listen. Artists began to host virtual concerts, and for a moment people were able to escape reality. Music has always been a way to bring people together, and the pandemic has only accelerated the digital consumption of it giving brands an intimate way to connect with their audience.
I chatted with our friends over at Spotify, and they have seen a 29% increase in active users each month. According to comScore, Spotify is the number one mobile property for average time spent with users spending more time than on Pandora (+59% more), TikTok (+50%), Facebook (+16%), and YouTube (+15%).
Spotify released a report on how users soundtracked their unusual summer. Road trips make a comeback with a 92% increase in the creation of road trip playlists. There was a 140% increase in camping-themed playlists created on Spotify, showing users were in search of fresh air after months of being at home.
Consumers continue to listen more as the pandemic has them at home, especially through their smart speakers. According to eMarketer, consumers are streaming music and entertainment through a smart speaker 36% more since the pandemic started, with the largest growth among A18–34.
While streaming audio usage increased for consumers, ad spend decreased by 17% as a result of the pandemic.
As a result of pulling back ad spend for this channel in 2020, the majority of brands missed out on being apart of the joy consumers were seeking with music (and podcasts). Ad spend for streaming audio is expected to bounce back in 2021. Looking ahead, brands need to make sure digital audio (music + podcasts) is apart of their audience journey.
Podcasts Continue to Grow
By Izzy Kramer, Media Planner
I can’t help myself but give you an update on podcasts. Podcasts continue to see major growth this year. More than half of US consumers over the age of 12 listen to podcasts. We also continue to see direct impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on podcasting. Since April of 2020, there has been a 28% increase in podcast episode downloads. And according to Megaphone’s latest 2020 report, “the number of [podcast listener] uniques grew by 13%” since April 2020, “which means individual listeners are listening more than ever.” That’s a big, engaged audience. Based on the major spikes in growth starting at the beginning of the pandemic, podcasts will only continue to grow as stricter shelter in place orders, similar to those in April, are put into place.
Beyond podcast growth, what else do we know? I typically call podcasting the Wild Wild West of digital media. While this is still true comparatively to other means of digital advertising, that is beginning to change. As podcasting gains massive popularity we are also gaining more insight into what, when, and where people are listening.
In 2020, we saw a major bump in news and lifestyle/entertainment podcasts. People are looking for a mix of staying informed but also levity that helps escape the difficult news cycle. There is a gradual increase throughout the morning hours (most likely those news shows) and then a huge spike in early evening hours, typically when people are winding down and making dinner. Podcasting continues to be an awesome channel to reach an audience not just within contextual content but also contextual environments. More and more people, especially with everyone being home, are leaning on their smart speakers to listen. Combine that with the trend of everyone cooking at home more and unable to rely on restaurants for dine-in options, podcasts are dominating the kitchen and living spaces.
So what does this mean for advertisers and brands? It means they have more opportunities within podcasting now more than ever. For the most part, podcasts only survive on paid sponsorship. By nature podcasts are a free medium so charging subscription fees (such as streaming video platforms do) isn’t much of an option. In fact, podcast listeners are more likely to opt-in to subscription-based video platforms, like Netflix and Amazon Prime, meaning they are less likely to be exposed to TV advertising.
With that in mind, you may have heard the joke “Everyone has a podcast besides you” and it’s true. According to Podcast Insights, there are more than 850,000 podcasts as of January 2020 and over 30 million episodes. It is estimated that number is closer to 1 million podcasts and 35 million episodes as of November 2020. This means podcast networks are booming. They have a surplus of podcasting content to add to their portfolio.
Funny enough, despite podcasts dominating the heart of the home, I am not seeing networks jump on the opportunity with the multitude of food and beverage podcasts available. So I see major opportunities for brands to work with publisher direct podcasts, such as the Bon Appétit Foodcast or Food52’s Burnt Toast. Publisher direct podcasts are not on a large network but only own to their publication. They offer the contextual relevancy and host influence at the exchange of smaller (but highly qualified) reach. Moreover, it is consistently proven that podcast ad reads lift purchase intent for brands. Did someone say exciting? Because it is.
There are so many ways to get started with podcasts, just ask your friendly, neighborhood media team.
The Rise of Comfort TV
by Madelyn Engel, Performance Marketing Manager
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused human behavior to shift quickly and dramatically, acting as a catalyst for many consumer trends. Many concepts that were trending upwards before COVID-19 have seen huge spikes, accomplishing years’ worth of growth in the span of a couple of months. Every category of digital is booming. Digital wallet usage has increased, online shopping has increased, and digital streaming consumption along with other forms of online entertainment has boomed. Mintel reports that streaming video has almost doubled year over year, with 92% growth. Not only has the rate of digital usage changed, but the type of content we consume and the way we consume it has also changed.
With the terror of the global pandemic mixed with the uncertainty of a recession and the drama of a rocky and drawn-out election, anxiety and stress are at an all-time high. As Kathryn VanArendonk reports in Vulture, Consumers are turning away from prestige television, instead reaching for “safe” entertainment outlets and flocking to comfort tv. Prestige tv has an air of artistic achievement. It can often be challenging or hard to watch. But as VanArendonk notes, “Coronavirus and political anxiety have accelerated this shift toward comfort TV. Who wants to be frustrated or made sadder by their entertainment when the outside world itself feels like a sufficiently brutal place?” Instead, users are embracing comforting and undemanding. When viewers desire to be soothed, the value propositions change, and excellence is now also judged “by the capacity to calm and gratify”.
Comfort shows lean into the era of instant gratification. Whereas prestige shows often took time to get hooked and didn’t pay off until the season finale, comfort tv front loads pleasure. VanArendonk notes that these shows are often fast-paced, brightly colored, and repetitive; they emphasize clarity and immediacy over hidden messages or abstraction.
Kyle Chayka with the New Yorker takes the idea of comfort tv a step further with the concept he calls “ambient tv.” He compares this type of tv to ambient music, quoting musician Brian Eno who described it “as ignorable as it is interesting.” Ambient tv denotes content that you don’t have to pay attention to in order to enjoy it, but it’s still interesting and captivating in those moments that you do focus on it. Many users are “watching” ambient tv while scrolling through their social feeds on their phones, cleaning their apartments, or cooking a meal. Chayka describes how ambient tv “succumbs to, rather than competes with, your phone.”
The rise of comfort and ambient tv has some important implications for advertisers, as these behaviors and expectations from the consumer carry over to all aspects of their life.
The type of content that users are craving and connecting with does not require advertisers to be deep, awe-inspiring, or reflective. With the rising usage of social media and in particular short-form video platforms like Instagram stories or TikTok, users expect short, fast-paced, humorous, and delightful content. This offers advertisers the opportunity to simply be witty, fun, and pleasurable.
As users lean into ambient tv for background entertainment while multitasking, the use of sound for pre and mid-roll ads becomes more important as there are fewer eyeballs on the tv screen. Furthermore, advertisers should invest in remarketing, for example, platforms like Hulu that retarget users with digital banners after seeing a video ad. In this way, users hearing an ad while browsing on a different device will still be able to visually connect an ad with a product.
Advertisers have less and less time to hook users as comfort tv is reinforcing instant gratification and short attention spans, while platforms like TikTok are training users to subconsciously make snap decisions about whether they watch or skip content.
Lastly, the concept of ambient tv becomes more important as we think about the consumer journey, which has become increasingly non-linear as users are multi-tasking and consuming many types of media simultaneously. With so many ways for users to find and interact with your brand, the funnel becomes irrelevant, and cross-channel marketing takes center stage.
