Tag: The Media Angel
The first RAJAR of 2024, Q1 is here!
RAJAR’s first quarterly update of 2024 is here, check out the top stats for the period (January – March 2024)
Data collected from this period has revealed that the weekly population of all commercial radio listeners has increased in 2024 with 89% equivalent to 50 million adults, this is a 1% increase compared to Q4 2023.
Here are some interesting stats –
- The total average number of weekly hours listened to radio for this quarter is 1.023 billion hours.
- On average a listener tunes into 20.5 hours of Live Radio per week, unchanged from Q4 2023.
- 44 million adults (77%) are now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled platform each week.
- 73% of weekly listening hours are consumed digitally.
- In an average week, digital listening accounts for 746 million hours increasing by 17 million since Q4 2023.
- DAB has a 58% share of digital listening hours, Smart speaker with 23%, Website/Apps with 15%, and DTV with 4%.
- 63% of Smart Speaker users say they use it for listening to the radio.
- AM/FM listening hours have a share of 27%, falling by 1% since Q4 2023.
- 33% of all adults claim to listen to Podcasts at least once a month, this has increased by 6% since the last quarterly update.
- 30% of all adults say they listen to radio via Smartphone or Tablet at least once a month
National radio stats –
The latest RAJAR Q4 results reported that Commercial radio gained an additional 500,000 weekly listeners.
Three-quarters of commercial stations (75%) gained reach compared to the previous quarter, compared to more than half (53%) of BBC stations losing reach.
Breaking its record yet again, Heart Radio strengthens its position as the number one commercial radio brand, growing to a huge 12.4 million listeners across the UK, increasing by 900,000 listeners since Q3 2024.
Additionally, Capital had a great Q1 report, reaching 8.3 million weekly listeners nationwide, a 400,000 gain in listeners.
Bauer Media and partner stations celebrated this quarterly report with 198,000 weekly listeners, with a reach up 30% compared to last quarter.
Welsh radio stats
Welsh radio stations have had a very successful RAJAR this quarter.
Heart South Wales has remained the most listened to radio station in Wales. The Q1 report has shown reach is currently 453,000 an increase of 34,000 compared to Q4 2023. Also holding the highest weekly percentage reach at 23%.
This quarter, Kiss (West) has had greater success than Q4 2023. With a 36,000 gain in listeners, the station now has the biggest reach growth in all of Wales this quarter, reaching 311,000 listeners overall.
Nation Radio Wales has again increased its reach during Q1 2024, gaining 17,000 listeners making their total reach 202,000 listeners.
Smooth Radio North West and Wales remained the station with the highest average listening hours this quarter with 9.5 per week.
Greatest Hits South Wales’ (previously The Wave) weekly reach has further increased in Q1 2024 by 16,000, now reaching 136,000 listeners.
Heart North Wales has gained a considerable reach of listeners this quarter with an increase of 30,000, making the total reach of 132,000 listeners.
Following suit, Capital South Wales also had a successful quarter with an increased reach of 191,000 gaining 31,000 more listeners.
The only 2 stations throughout Wales to marginally fall in reach were Radio Pembrokeshire and Bridge FM, both decreasing by 2,000 listeners each.
Despite station switching, radio listeners continue to tune in regularly, demonstrating the importance of radio as a medium for spreading your message and drawing in new clients.
With over 40 years of commercial radio experience, contact our radio experts today to help with your next campaign!
TikTok new AI rules
Transparency is becoming more and more crucial as digital content creation develops.
AI-generated text, photos, and videos are getting more and more traction as marketers try to find unique ways to differentiate their content from the competition.
The absence of a label identifying the usage of AI-generated content might occasionally mislead viewers.
TikTok is the first social media platform to label all video and image content created by AI, by partnering with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a project that supplies resources necessary to identify AI-generated content.
The new watermark will be generated using the C2PA “Content Credentials” technology to identify AI images and videos uploaded to the platform.
The watermark will be applied to content generated outside of TikTok and then reposted onto the app, giving consumers the ability to precisely identify the source and reliability of the information they watch.
Source: Memeburn, The Mirror and Hypertext (2024)
The relationship between Broadcast TV and Ad recall
We recently read a case study by Think Box that explored the relationship between Broadcast TV and ad recall, here are some of the key takeaways:
Television screens are seen to drive 60% greater ad recall than ads seen on a smartphone or tablet, and 34% more than those seen on a computer.
Right in-home advertising can increase recall by up to 6.3 times.
The living room was the best spot for increasing ad recall with 22%, the highest of all other rooms in the house. Overall, the living room was 176% better than the kitchen at driving advertising recall, and 10% better than the bedroom.
The influence of shared settings whilst watching Broadcast TV is highlighted by the fact that when an advertisement was seen with others, such as when watching series or television dramas, ad recall increased by 23%.
Every night there are nearly 5 million conversations about the ads on commercial TV
These findings conclude that despite the decline of broadcast advertising, it is proven to be a great social medium that still brings people together and still gets adverts talked about.
Source: Marketing Beat, Think Box Research (2024)
Christmas TV advertising
Christmas advertising
A record-breaking £9.5 billion is set to be spent on advertising this Christmas season, almost a 4.8% increase from last year’s £9 billion spend.
The highest-performing media formats for Christmas advertising in 2023 are BVOD increasing by 20.2% and OOH increasing by 22% compared to 2022.
However, Traditional Television advertising remains the top media format in 2023 with a predicted £1.5 billion spent on advertising during this year’s golden quarter
Nearly half (48%) of all adults praise Christmas advertisements for helping to spark gift ideas, whilst 70% of young adults (16-34) find them to be a mood booster.
Public approval of John Lewis 2023 Christmas advert + Christmas 2023 adverts
The most anticipated Christmas advert release each year is John Lewis.
This year John Lewis brought ‘Snapper’ The Venus Fly Trap to our screens, drifting away from the renowned emotional and sentimental adverts we’ve seen in the past.
More than half (55%) of the British public, compared to an astounding 96% last year, said they “love” this year’s John Lewis Christmas advertisement,
‘Snapper’ was ranked just 68% for positive sentiment; However, the strength of that negative coverage boosted social media activity which generated 106m impressions, 3,248 messages, and 17,928 engagements.
Positively speaking, 40% of the population thought this year’s advertisement was “funny,” and not ‘emotional’ making it John Lewis’ funniest Christmas commercial since the 2018 Elton John advert.
Surprisingly, Aldi’s ‘Kevin and The Chocolate Factory’ was a great hit with a range of audiences, providing a score of 93% positive sentiment; the advert gained significant reach with 1,652 messages, 2,773 engagements on X/Twitter, with 17m potential views.
Similarly, this year’s Amazon ad scored correspondingly with 17m impressions and 1,696 messages, but also scored highly on sentiment with 93%.
McDonald’s 2023 Christmas campaign “Fancy a McDonald’s this Christmas” is the brand’s highest-scoring advert with 4.1 stars since its 2017 advert “#Reindeer Ready” which achieved a rating of five stars which only 1% of Christmas ads achieve.
If you want to incorporate TV advertising into your marketing mix, get in touch with us today!
(Source: Marketing Beat, 2023)
RAJAR Q3 results are now in!
Here are the top stats from Q3 for the period starting June and ending September.
Data has revealed that the weekly population of all radio listeners has remained the same as Q1 and Q2 in Q3 with 88% and has remained at 49.5 million people.
Here are some interesting stats to begin –
- The average number of weekly hours listened to radio for this Quarter is 1.016 billion hours
- The average radio listener tunes into 20.5 hours of Live Radio per week.
- 43 million adults (15+) are tuning into radio digitally each week.
- In an average week, digital listening accounts for 714 million hours, with a listening share of 76%, up by 2% since Q2.
- Listening via DAB has a 42% share of listening, Online has 24% and DTV is 4%.
- AM/FM listening hours share is less than a third with 30%.
- 32% of adults (15+) claim to listen to Podcasts at least once per month.
National RAJAR listening figures
They’ve done it again! Heart and Capital remain the largest 2 commercial radio brands, resulting in Global leading the radio market with 26.4 million weekly listeners, up by 6% since Q2.
In this quarter, The UK’s largest radio station Heart, achieved its highest-ever audience of 11.3 million weekly listeners across the UK.
Capital has reached a milestone of 8 million weekly listeners, increasing by an incredible 200,000 listeners since Q2.
Following a successful Q1 and Q2, Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio has grown again in Q3, achieving 6.2 million weekly listeners.
Welsh RAJAR listening figures
Heart South Wales now has 432,000 weekly listeners, up 29,000 from Q2, making it the station with the most listeners in all of Wales.
Nation Radio Wales reached 150,000 weekly listeners an increase of 20,000 since Q2.
Greatest Hits South Wales’ weekly listeners increased by 20,000 from Q2 to Q3, reaching a total of 102,000
Even though Capital is still the biggest commercial radio station in the UK, Capital Northwest, and Wales’ reach decreased by 14,000 listeners from Q2 to Q3, yet it is still quite high at 107,000 listeners per week. Capital South Wales’ reach also decreased slightly by 6,000 listeners per week.
Although radio listeners have switched stations, they still regularly tune in to the medium highlighting that there is still a market for radio advertising! Millions of people can still hear your message; to be heard at the right time, get in touch with our team today!
TV advertising
Television advertising continues to be an effective and impactful method of advertising, TV-focused campaigns outperform those without by 35%; below are some reasons why traditional advertising should remain a part of any marketing mix:
- Wide reach
TV advertising has a vast-reaching audience as well as the capacity to quickly and frequently connect with a wide range of demographics. The average UK resident is expected to see around 40 TV adverts daily, reaching as many as 70% of the population in a single day (Improve Marketing 2023).
- Credibility
Brand credibility can be enhanced immediately by featuring on main TV channels and during well-known programs. Consumers of TV adverts frequently perceive brands that advertise on TV as more reliable and trustworthy with 40% of UK residents believing messages delivered on them. (Statista 2023).
- Repetition
TV adverts are often aired repeatedly, and your brand can be seen multiple times in a single day. The combination of repeated visuals, audio, and storytelling can create a long-lasting memory for a single viewer and for wider audiences. 3 or 4 repetitions of one TV commercial are sufficient to keep a viewer’s attention (Themediaant 2022).
- Complementary advertising
TV advertising is seen to be complementary to many other forms of media, a multi-media approach with the same campaign can significantly amplify brand presence. TV and Digital have a significant connection, TV advertising has been shown to increase the visibility of digital ads as well as organic interaction (Improvemarketing, 2023)
- High ROI
TV advertising has the highest ROI of any media, generating an average return of £1.79 for every £1 spent, accounting for 71% of all advertising revenue (Thinkbox, 2022).
- Brand awareness
TV advertising increases brand awareness by 20% as well as brand consideration by 27%, and purchase intent by 15% (Thinkbox 2023).
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Considering the benefits above, why not incorporate or enhance your brands’ exposure on TV?
So, if you need help with being seen through TV advertising, get in touch with our experienced team today!
Advertising in Wales
Do you want your brand to be seen by a mass and diverse audience, across Wales?
If so, check out the latest statistics for different advertising media in Wales!
TV
On average, people in Wales spend 2 hours 45 minutes per day watching broadcast TV, the second most of any nation. Unsurprisingly given the passion for sport in Wales, the most-watched TV program in 2022 was Six Nation Rugby: Wales vs. France (Ofcom, 2023).
On average, ITV reaches 80% of adults per month in Wales, with “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here” becoming one of Wales’s most popular programs – reaching up to 615K adults in one episode alone (ITV, 2023).
S4C, aimed at a Welsh-speaking audience, offers a potential yearly audience of almost 2.5 million people in over 1.3 million homes.
CTV
CTV ‘Connected TV’ is content accessed via apps and streamed over smart TVs, or a connected device, such as Amazon Fire Stick, PlayStation, and Apple TV; Nationally, CTV is heavily on the rise with a 15.7% growth rate expected for 2023 (Statista 2022).
7 in 10 TV users in Wales had a connected TV device, and users were more likely to connect their TV to the internet via a box (Sky+ or Virgin Media) by 44%, compared to England with 32% (Ofcom 2023)
VOD
According to Ofcom 63% of all Welsh households are currently subscribed to at least one VOD service and the average viewing duration for these services is 4 hours and 43 minutes whilst people in Wales are estimated to spend 15% of their total video viewing time on video-on-demand services, as well as 15% on video-sharing websites/apps.
Radio
Radio is a highly effective form of advertising, reaching 88% of the adult population weekly, equivalent to 49.4 million people.
The average listener tunes into 20.5 hours of live radio each week, and a record 39.2 million people are tuning into commercial radio every week, up by 1.3% on the quarter and 8% on the year.
North Wales appeared to have the most success in Q2 2023 RAJAR’s update; Capital North Wales’ reach increased from 100,000 to 121,000, up a staggering 21% and Heart North Wales reach has also increased from 89,000 up by 14%. Its total listener hours are up by a staggering 40% from 606,000 to 846,000, whilst the share of listening is up from 2.9% to 4.1%.
Heart South Wales in Q2 has the highest number of active listeners with 403,000, with a 21% reach.
Radio advertising makes it possible to customise messages to each audience, helping targeting specific demographic groups, local communities, and geographical regions.
Radio has the highest rate of ad avoidance, demonstrating how radio listeners are much less likely to “tune out” when there are radio commercials.
(Rajar 2023)
Transport
The Q1 (2023) TFW report has recorded across South Wales alone that 300,000 passengers have used bus transport to commute every week and is estimated that around 100 million bus journeys were made in 2022.
Reportedly bus advertising is the most-seen outdoor advertising medium, reaching over 48 million adults over a two-week period (Route, 2023).
There has been a total of 5.4m passenger journeys made on TFW trains across Wales in Q1 of 2023, this is still down in comparison to pre-pandemic levels (Wales Online, 2023), On average 71% of regular rail users have noticed an OOH ad in their respective station in the past week (Clearchannel, 2023).
OOH/ DOOH
Out-of-home and Digital out-of-home advertising has the ability to reach 98% of the UK population at least once a week, highlighting that OOH is a very powerful method of advertising (outsmart 2023). It has been suggested that on average 71% of the UK population acknowledges an advert at the roadside (75 Media, 2023).
OOH and DOOH drive online engagement as well as purchase intention or service use, almost 26% of surveyed customers have visited a website in response to an OOH advert, and a 38% increase in mobile engagements (75 media, 2023).
The top 3 performing OOH/ DOOH sites in Wales are:
- ‘M4 Super 6’ located in Newport with 574,923 weekly impacts.
- Swansea Bus Station Large Digital Format with 498,000 weekly impacts.
- Static 6 sheet located on Newport Road, Cardiff with 259,346 weekly impacts.
Digital Audio
Amazon Music accounted for the highest listening time in Wales on music streaming services with 24% – 4 times the UK adult national average (Ofcom, 2023).
The average Spotify user is estimated to spend 25 hours per month listening to music (Ferjan, 2023).
Podcasts have grown massively in popularity in recent years, from 2022 it was estimated there would be an average of 22 million monthly listeners in the UK (Cybercrew, 2023). As a result, advertising through podcasts has become highly favourable in a marketing mix, expecting to see a growth rate of 15.7% at the end of 2023 (Thepodcasthost, 2023).
Social Media
More than 9 in 10 (92%) homes in Wales had an internet connection in the first half of 2023 (Ofcom, 2023).
An average person in the UK is estimated to spend 145 minutes every day on social media platforms (Workup, 2022), with Facebook remaining the most-used social media platform with 44.8 million active users nationally (Thesocialsheppard, 2023).
Instagram came in second with 35 million active users at the end of Q2, while YouTube was third with an estimated 16.3 million users in the UK (Statista, 2023).
If your looking to start an advertising campaign across Wales, Get in touch with our experienced team.
Q4 – The golden quarter
Christmas is less than 100 days away and the build-up during the final quarter of the year is referred to as the ‘Golden Quarter’ since it brings in more revenue than the previous three quarters combined. With an expected £22 billion in consumer spending through Q4, businesses need to step up their advertising in order to really get the attention of customers.
Black Friday has become one of the biggest days in the retail calendar for Christmas shopping, with retailers hoping to benefit from increased traffic and sales as well as eager consumers hunting for a bargain.
This year, customers anticipate significant Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals; it has been estimated that 84% are prepared to make a purchase.
The top items people want to cross off their lists this year are electronics, technology, and clothes.
Christmas is definitely the most wonderful time of the year, making it the holiday of all holidays with a considerable share of all annual retail occasions (January Sales, Easter, Summer Holidays, Back to school, Halloween, and Black Friday) with 45%.
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, making it the holiday of all holidays. Each year, it has been estimated that 85% of all Brits shop for the Christmas season.
Christmas is a time for spreading love by giving and receiving; despite tough times, 55% of Brits say they will be spending more this year than they did last on gifts. 7 in 10 people stated they are
prioritising spending on gifting.
Source: (Clearchannel, 2023)
Interesting Media Statistics
Do you want your brand to be seen by a mass and diverse audience, at the right time and place?
Check out the latest statistics for different advertising medias!
TV
28 million households in the UK have a television (Cybercrew, 2023)
3 hours were spent daily watching TV in the UK for 2022 (Cybercrew, 2022)
TV advertising is on average almost half the price of YouTube, and 17 times cheaper than other online video advertising (Thinkbox, 2021)
Adults ages 35-54 spent up to 26% of their total TV time watching traditional TV on a weekly basis (Keegan, 2023).
VOD (Video on Demand)
In the first quarter of 2023, the number of UK households subscribing to video-on-demand services amounted to around 19.08 million (Statista, 2023).
73% of the UK population choose to watch shows/movies on streaming platforms.
58% of all households in the UK are subscribed to an average of 5.4 streaming services (Boyle, 2022).
There were 35 million users on ITV X alone in 2022! (Boyle, 2023).
OOH (Out of Home)
Out of Home reaches 98% of the UK population at least once a week (Outsmart, 2023)
Nearly 26% of Customers Have Visited a Website in Response to an OOH Advert (75 media, 2023)
Transport
Transit advertising reaches 83% of commuters on weekdays and 69% on weekends, equivalent to 48 million adults on a two-week basis (Global, 2023)
Each year a branded taxi will be seen over 75 million times (Capspacemedia, 2022)
Spending over 95% of their time in the city centre, taxis offer universal coverage by targeting mass volumes of consumers (Hugemedia, 2023)
54% of adults 15-34 see bus advertising every week (Global, 2022)
Bus shelter Ads reach 92% of the Population Every Week (75 media, 2023)
On average, passengers spend 7-13 minutes at their respective rail station (Global, 2022)
71% of regular rail users have noticed an OOH ad in the past week (Clearchannel, 2023)
Radio
88% of the adult population listens to radio weekly, equivalent to 49.4 million people (RAJAR, 2023).
The average user tunes into 20.5 hours of live radio each week (RAJAR, 2023).
A record 39.2 million people are tuning into commercial radio every week, up by 1.3% on the quarter and 8% on the year (RAJAR, 2023).
In an average week, digital listening accounts for 697 million hours, and has the highest percentage of listeners with 74% (RAJAR, 2023).
Digital Audio
Podcast advertising will see a growth rate of 15.7% in 2023.
The average podcast fan consumes 9 episodes per week (Thepodcasthost, 2023).
The average Spotify user spends an average of 25 hours per month listing to music (Ferjan, 2023).
Q4 data for 2022, shows that 33.2 million people in the UK are listening to online radio each week (IAB, 2022).
In an average week, digital listening accounts for 697 million hours, and has the highest percentage of listeners with 74% (RAJAR, 2023).
Cinema
Cinema advertising spending is forecast to show the largest growth rate in 2023 compared to any other media at 37% (Statista, 2023).
There are on average 220 new films of different genre released every year; therefore, cinema advertising reaches a large and diverse audience (SocialFilms, 2022).
87% of survey respondents claimed they noticed adverts before, during and after the movie (Digiday, 2023).
Social Media
In 2022, there were 4.9 billion people globally who use one or more social media platforms daily (Forbes, 2022).
An average person spends 145 minutes every day on social media (Workup, 2022).
Facebook has remained the most-used social media platform with 2.98 billion monthly active users as of Q1 of 2023, a 7.18% increase year on year (Dean, 2023).
Static images posted on Instagram achieved an average reach of 1,850 users and carousels reached an average of 2,325 users (Dixon, 2022).
500 billion YouTube videos are watched daily (Omicore, 2023).
On average, 500 million tweets are shared daily (Oberlo, 2023).
TikTok is the most engaging social media platform, with an average session length of 10.85 minutes, the time spent on TikTok globally in 2022 was a mammoth 68 billion hours (Kurve, 2023).
If you need help ensuring your using the right mix of media, get in touch with our experienced team today!
Streaming services are soaring to the detriment of traditional TV Channels
Traditional broadcasting TV has seen its steepest decline in viewership last year.
The different variations of broadcasting at present (Traditional, Streaming, VOD) means there are lots of ways to watch your favourite programmes at a time that suits you.
Traditional broadcasting viewing numbers have declined from 83% in 2021 to 79% at the end of 2022 (Ofcom, 2022).
The average viewing time has also decreased slightly, falling from 2 hours 59 minutes in 2021 to 2 hours 39 minutes in 2022 (Ofcom, 2022)
A study by Ofcom, found that fewer viewers are tuning into the major broadcasting TV channels than ever before, soap operas and news bulletins aren’t drawing the same audiences they once did.
It comes as no surprise that the younger generation are spending a lot more time on social media platforms and streaming services compared to traditional TV broadcasting, it seems that even the ‘loyal’ older generation are now following suit by alternating their media habits.
Statistics show that Disney + seems to be a favourable streaming provider amongst the older generation (65+), showing an 11% increase in 2022, from 7% in 2021 for the age demographic.
When it comes to uniting the country at significant cultural and sporting events, traditional broadcasting continues to be unmatched.
The Top 5 most viewed moments from 2022 were:
- England V France – 16.1 million
- Queen Elizabeths II Jubilee – 13.2 million
- Queen Elizabeths II funeral – 13.2 million
- I’m a celebrity – 12.5 million.
- The Tourist – 11.4 million
Despite the fall in traditional broadcasting viewers, BBC 1 and ITV1 still have a considerable viewing rate and even see higher ratings per week than Netflix. While ratings on BBC iplayer and ITVX are up.
The early and late evening news bulletins and soaps have all taken a hit, viewings are down 42 per cent since 2014, with popular soaps: Eastenders, Emmerdale and Coronation Street all affected.
Social Media Statistics Update
At the end of the Q4 of 2022, there were 4.9 billion people globally who use one or more social media platforms daily (Forbes, 2022).
An average person spends 145 minutes every day on social media (Workup, 2022).
Short-form video will remain the top marketing content format for 2023, it has the highest ROI and growth rate, with 90% of marketers now using this media format (HubSpot, 2023).
- Facebook has remained the most-used social media platform with 2.98 billion monthly active users as of Q1 of 2023, a 7.18% increase year on year (Dean, 2023).
- On average 78.63% of these users use the platform daily, equivalent to 1.9 billion (Dean, 2023).
- At the end of 2022, it was estimated that there were 1.28 billion monthly users, it has been forecasted there will be an increase to 1.44 billion (Dixon, 2022).
- Static images posted on Instagram achieved an average reach of 1,850 users and carousels reached an average of 2,325 users (Dixon, 2022).
YouTube
- At the end of 2022 there were 2.5 million active monthly users (Omicore, 2023)
- The average time spent on YouTube globally is 19 minutes daily (Omicore, 2023)
- 500 billion YouTube videos are watched daily (Omicore, 2023)
- In 2022, there were 229 million daily active users, this is a 15.9% increase compared to 2021 (Oberlo, 2023).
- On average, 500 million tweets are shared daily (Oberlo, 2023).
- 6 out of 10 (59.2%) Twitter users globally are between 25 and 49 years old (Statista, 2021)
TikTok
- TikTok had 1.6 billion active monthly users at the end of 2022 and is estimated to reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2023 (Kurve, 2023)
- Gen Z dominates TikTok, with 83% using the platform in Q1 2023 (Kurve, 2023)
- TikTok is the most engaging social media platform, with an average session length of 10.85 minutes, the time spent on TikTok globally in 2022 was a mammoth 68 billion hours.
- Over 1 billion videos are viewed daily (Kurve, 2023)
- TikTok has the highest engagement rate 4.25% compared to Instagram 0.60% (Kurve, 2023)
If you need some help with any areas of your marketing, get in touch by emailing us on [email protected]
A Look at 2023 Media Outlets
1. A slower advertising growth
Global advertising is expected to increase by 5.9% in 2023, according to the latest forecast from Group M.
Connected TV is likely to be a big global player in terms of increase in revenue.
2. Digital Subscriptions slowdown in growth
Growth for most subscription platforms are achieving period-on-period gains of 5% or more, which is a dip from lower double-digit figures at the same time last year. As a result streaming platforms will have to increase their output to retain existing subscribers and encouraging new ones and will need to revise and offer new packages and products. The cost of living crisis will leave many subscribers re-evaluating the platforms they need/want to keep.
3. Trust
Increasingly, brands recognise how vital customer trust in them is, they want make sure they align their brands with highly reliable and reputable content.
News publishers need to look at the breadth and tone of their output using accessible and easier to understand content. Moving away from “fake-news” and embracing new content styles such as constructive or solution looking journalism, aiding trust from their readers and in turn advertisers.
4. Reaching Gen Z where they are
Media is consumed differently by Gen Z’ers, thus proving a challenge to advertisers who are keen to target this audience. Their use of YouTube, Tik Tok and music streaming services such as Spotify make them a more complex demographic to connect with. It has been suggested that in order to gain traction with this market, collaboration with them will gain greater insight…such as the use of focus groups or hiring from the demographic to help create content that will speak to and engage with their peers.
Jon Birchall, Director of Editorial Strategy at the LADbible Group says “ For us to build a media that is essential, inclusive, and as such commercially viable, for 2023 and beyond, we must listen to youth audiences and empower young talent to fundamentally redefine what news is and the role it plays for the next generation.”
Publishers need to meet Gen Zers where they are, and communicate in a style and format that speaks to them. Creating tailored products, hiring and empowering Gen Z talent, and engaging with audiences off-platform on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, are likely to be essential to any successful approach.
5. Audiences spend over 2 hours a day with publishers’ content
As highlighted, a drop in the growth of subscriptions, audiences lack of trust in news outlets and media does not take away from the fact that audiences are still consuming their content.
On average, internet users around the world spend 2 hours 9 mins a day on this type of content, slightly less than social media (2 hours 28 mins)
This makes for a firm foundation for publishers to build on in the year ahead, engaging with audiences and using this engagement to build products, advertising and reader revenue strategies that tap into these consumption habits.
Despite these challenges, the media industry remains full of potential for those who are able to adapt and find new ways to connect with their audiences. Whether through subscriptions, advertising, or other forms of revenue, there are opportunities for publishers to thrive in the face of these challenges.