With digital video companies challenging traditional
programmers for television ad dollars, a study by media agency Starcom found
that consumers accept content created for online streaming.
The study also found that original streaming content not
only presents a reach opportunity at a lower cost than TV content online, but can
offer increased relevance via targeting and consumer choice that could lead to
a more positive reception for commercials.
Mark Pavia, executive VP and digital managing director at
Starcom, said that online content companies need to promote their new digital
series and make them easier to buy and measure.
"We need to change the narrative, leverage measurement and elevate
digital video beyond an extension of TV. If publishers better promote their
shows, provide marketers and buyers a reason to believe and allow the value of
the investment to be measured, digital video can break outside of traditional
silos," he said.
The Starcom study divided 4,800 viewers into three groups
who were shown one of 12 content clips. Each of the three groups was told
something different about why the content was produced: for television,
streaming online or neither.
While consumers may perceive that content on TV is of higher
quality than streaming original content, their viewership behaviors tell a
different story. There appeared to be no statistical relationship between quality
or likability scores and whether consumers believe content is streaming
original for TV.
Starcom said that consumers were actually less likely to recall advertisers
when they believe content is from TV. This may be because, like with their more
neutral sentiment, consumers expect and thus tune out advertising in TV content.
"Original
content produced for online streaming is the new frontier of online video, with
higher quality content than syndicated online video and lower cost than
television content online," said Pavia. "We conducted this study to dig deeper
into whether the quality of streaming original content is as good as TV,
despite the lower price tag, and whether ads placed in it perform just as well.
It was important to fully understand this from the consumer's perspective, not
just the seller's perspective."
