The Invasion of Media Science
When I was about 10 years old, I made my first feature length film — I called it, “Legogedden”. I was so proud of that film. It was a 30 min stop-motion “end of the world”, dystopian type of film where, in my sandbox with my Legos and fireworks, I saved the world from imminent destruction by blowing up an asteroid that was hurtling towards the earth. Of course, that film never made it past my parents and a few friends in the neighborhood. There was just not enough distribution (or demand, for that matter) for the film to go beyond the living room television. It obviously didn’t make it to the movie theaters either. In those days, the amount of screens were limited to pretty much those two outlets: home and theater. Much simpler times.
If I were to make that same film today, aside from the decline in childlike imagination, distribution of the film would never be in question. I could upload it on YouTube or Vimeo in less than an hour and have eyeballs on it in no time, eyeballs that reached far beyond just that of my neighborhood. But that’s old news.
Today, we’re surrounded by screens. On airplanes during our flights, on buses, in hotels, in front of you while you sweat, pedaling on your Peloton exercise bike, on your phone, in the living room and in the office, even golf carts and now ski lifts have screens. Consumers and viewers like us are constantly bombarded by new content. We’re told that video is the most engaging type of medium, but I am willing to bet that most of us are ignoring video that doesn’t connect to our wants or needs.
Is your brand creating their own “Legogedden” where no one is seeing it? Something you’re proud of, creative, disruptive… but not in front of the right audience?
OTT Providers are earning more than $161.37 billion per year in revenue, the global OTT video market alone will double in size by 2023, and OTT ad spending is expected to reach nearly $11 billion this year. That’s up from $7 billion in 2019.
OTT or over-the-top is everywhere and the need to personalize your content experience is now paramount. How I interact with Netflix is different than how someone like you is interacting with it. This is personalization and it is critical for customer retention. Why does it matter, not only for the consumer, but for you and your companies?
For starters, if your company is not creating and distributing relevant video content, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. It’s not just marketing/advertising video content — I’m talking about high quality longer form content also. And here’s the key: not only does it have to be measurable, you must be able to find your audience and create to them, not just distribute to them, create to them. Do you truly know your customers’ behavior in order to deliver the best experience and keep them coming back for more?
Let’s take a quick look at the history of the media.
Newspapers began as mostly propaganda, disseminating one-sided stories to influence audiences. Eventually editors discovered that the more salacious and outrageous the stories, the more papers they sold. Of course, there were more high-brow publications that prided themselves on integrity. But the masses loved a good story. Even Mark Twain, as a young journalist fabricated his own stories to fill up column inches. So don’t think that the notion of fake news is new. It’s as old as Homer’s Odyssey, which was at the time presented as a true story.
Radio stepped in and drew audiences with its immediacy. News at first, then entertainment, and of course, back to half-truths and sensationalism.
TV was a marvel. News and entertainment, and a little less propaganda until cable TV, 24/7 content and reality shows that aren’t realistic. And news shows that are really just opinions about the news.
Then social media, which of course is nearly all opinion and spin and the breeding ground for conspiracy theories.
But the bottom line, despite all the half-truths, is that the media is here to entertain us. Remember the line from Russell Crowe in Gladiator when he shouts: “Are you not entertained?” to the audience.
Yes, we are entertained. We practically live our lives on screens. Entertainment. Information. Communication. Our screens even give us directions.
But an interesting thing happened on the way to our modern world. We learned to ignore what we are not interested in. We are smart that way. We walk through Times Square and remember one or two ads from the thousands we were bombarded with.
This is important to all of you who are here today to build your brands. You are being ignored. Why?
Because there are so many media options now. Let’s talk about the newest: OTT, and its rise.
Again, OTT stands for over-the-top. It’s an application or service that sits on top of your ISP or internet service provider or carrier network. It leverages existing infrastructure to provide and deliver to you various types of content or streaming services. OTT applications are not confined to traditional media companies anymore. When OTT is described, most people will think about Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu. Some will think about Spotify or Pandora.
How are you watching this session? It’s on a screen, over the internet, being streamed to the particular device you’re viewing. Zoom, WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat — all messaging applications, not traditional media as we once knew it. Think of all the possibilities of streaming from video to gaming and everything in between. It is limitless.
Because streaming and screens are now ubiquitous, companies need to be thinking of the next evolution of scaling their company and attracting market share, upselling wallet share, and retaining existing customers through churn reduction.
We’re in the thick of The Attention Economy. Your customers are distracted.
So, what is your current marketing strategy? Traditional marketing still works, but it’s not enough. The consumer is evolving, the technology is changing, and the digital transformation is approaching its zenith. Video is the most engaging medium, but not if you’re creating content with no purpose and not relying on the data to tell you what to create.
Where there is a screen, there is an audience. Where there is an audience, there is engagement, interaction. And where there is engagement, there is revenue. Behind the screen is data telling you who your audience is and how they’re behaving. If you’re not taking advantage of the screen and the data that comes with it, you’re neglecting potential customers and as I stated earlier, leaving a lot of money on the table.
The screen is not the only place to harvest data about your audience. You should be harvesting data from multiple sources for richer information about your customers and everywhere they interact. That’s where profits happen.
And there are four ways to improve your company’s profits. Increase market share by attracting new customers. Increase wallet share, meaning upsell and cross sell new products to existing customers. Monitoring and cutting costs and of course reducing product and consumer churn.
How is your company taking full advantage of OTT and the screen, powered by the right data? Do you have access to the right data?
Do you even know which data to look for and analyze?
Looking to the future, every brand now needs:
Access to critical external data sources highlighting audience behavior
Dynamic viewer profiles
Predictive analytics modeling
A media platform
Media strategy across all platforms
A Media scientist on staff
These are just to name a few. There is tremendous economic value in data driven video, distributed to the screens where your customers live.
Just like you need a CMO, brands now need a DMO: Director of Media Operations.
It’s the end of an era for traditional marketing and growth strategies.
The invasion of entertainment science is upon us. Legos and fireworks won’t necessarily save your business, but engaging with strategic streaming media, powerful storytelling, and the personalization of the screen, gives you a fighting chance.If driven by the correct data about your customers’ behavior, you’ll see your profits and lifetime value explode.
