You have a front row seat to the next industry collapse and rebirth and it is already underway. The industry – Television Broadcasting.
This has been building for some time – traditional viewing habits have been dropping for over 25 quarters in a row. The data tells the story.
This chart is focused on the trend-setting 18-24 year old population segment but it is similar across all other age groups except for Adults 65 and older, which was up slightly over the last year. Here is how each age segment scored.
*Looking at the latest Total Audience Report, the data indicates that:
- Teens (12-17) watched 13 hours and 02 minutes of traditional TV per week in Q1, a substantial 15.9% drop year-over-year (much larger than in Q4 2016) and a 41.4% contraction over the past 5 years;
- Older Millennials (25-34) watched 21 hours and 13 minutes per week in Q1, an 11.2% decrease year-over-year that was more than double Q4’s drop (5.2%) along with a considerable 28.7% drop over 5 years;
- Gen Xers (35-49) watched 30 hours and 34 minutes per week, a 4.8% decline that figured as 3 times larger than Q4’s drop (1.6%), and representing a 13% contraction over a 5-year period;
- Adults aged 50-64 watched 43 hours and 29 minutes per week, down 1.4% year-over-year (weaker than in Q4), but relatively flat (+0.6%) over 5 years; and
- Adults aged 65 and older watched 51 hours and 42 minutes per week, up by 0.3% from the previous year (weaker than in Q4) and up by 7.7% over 5 years.
Pick the segment that your company is targeted on and decide if this trend could have an impact on your sales.
While all of us are watching noticeably less traditional broadcast TV, we are increasing our viewing of video delivered in other forms. Here are some statistics from YouTube**
- The total number of people who use YouTube – 1,300,000,000.
- 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!
- Almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day.
- YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day
- In an average month, 8 out of 10 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube.
- By 2025, half of viewers under 32 will not subscribe to a pay-TV service.
- 6 out of 10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV
- The total number of hours of video watched on YouTube each month – 3.25 billion.
- The average mobile viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes
- Female users are 38% and male users are 62%.
- User Percentage by Age 18-24 – 11%, 25-34 – 23%, 35-44 – 26%, 45-54 – 16%, 50-64 – 8%, 65+ – 3%, unknown age – 14%.
- 9% of U.S small businesses use Youtube
I highlighted this last bullet for a reason – it is not to late to get in the video game and gain the attention of your customers.
I want to challenge your thinking for a bit because I know some of you are saying – ‘this won’t have an impact on me/us.’
Consider this – Google just launched a $35 a month TV service in Charlotte, NC. The $35/month service that streams channels like ABC, FOX, ESPN and NBC is geared specifically toward cord-cutters, especially millennials, and other budget-conscious TV watchers.
This is a different approach…delivering over 50 popular TV networks through YouTube TV on a paid subscription. Here is one of the things to consider…customers can watch all their favorite shows on any screen…their mobiles, tablets, desk top computers or their TVs.
Once again – you might be thinking – ‘no impact to me/us’ but consider this next thought.
Google can deliver a massive advertising reach with Search and YouTube alone. With the rapid advancements in re-targeting and user data – you should start to have light bulbs going off. With the massive success and effectiveness of Facebook remarketing, consider how super-targeted this new Google service will be able to deliver to it’s viewers. Business will be able to deliver a customized, personal ad stream to each viewer based on their interests, habits and preferences. You ‘google’ a dentist in your area – now you will see dentists from your locale in your stream. Just imagine the possibilities. Maybe you ‘google’ a book about sales prospecting – it will now appear in your stream and because it is online vs. broadcast TV, you can simply click and be taken to the page to learn more or buy the book. Hopefully I’ve got your attention – this is why I said that you have a front row seat to the next industry collapse.
I have been hammering on the benefits of video for almost two years – and some have started to work with it. The majority of businesses has yet to take advantage of this change. That is the opportunity for you. And if you never create a single video – you NEED to know how to advertise and market on these platforms or you will be left on the side of the road.
Open your mind to the opportunities that video and remarketing provide. Try out different tools, experiment with various approaches. Many of the tools to get started are very affordable.
I am here to help, but the first step is up to you.
