As video continues its reign as one of the top forms of advertising, the plethora of viewing options that consumers have continues to expand. Consumers also have specific preferences for what type of content they’re looking to consume, where they want to watch that content and how often.
With consumers in control, it’s critical that publishers and advertisers take these preferences and behaviors into account as they create and distribute content. Connatix recently polled over 1,000 U.S. consumers aged 18+ to understand the types of videos they want to see from publishers and their ad viewing preferences. Here’s what we found about consumer behavior and why publishers and advertisers should take note.
Entertainment content reigns supreme. Our report found that 63% of respondents prefer entertainment content from publishers, including television shows, movies, music, podcasts and more.
With that said, while most viewers under age 55 prefer to watch entertainment videos from publishers, as ages and income levels rise, this interest shifts to news. 68% of viewers 55+ visit publishers’ websites directly for news content (compared to 55% of all consumers), and the level of interest in entertainment content from publishers is 71% for those making less than $50,000 per year (compared to 55% for those making $150,000 and above).
According to Veena McCoole, Head of Comms and Marketing at NewsGuard, while news is of utmost importance to consumers, news publishers are also unfortunately often the first to experience spending cuts from advertisers due to brand safety concerns. Platforms like Connatix that leverage NewsGuard’s ratings can help advertisers to approach news as a category safely, diversify their ad spend to reach a broad audience, and invest in quality journalism.
Lifestyle and shopping content is also of interest for the majority (53%) of consumers aged 18-34, while only 24% of respondents aged 55+ report a preference for lifestyle and shopping content like home decor and design inspiration to clothing and style recommendations and direct product links. When looking at the gender breakdown, only 25% of male-identifying respondents report the same preference as compared to 56% of non-binary respondents and 50% of those who identify as female.
Consumers today have specific preferences for where they consume content. The majority of viewers (68%) report visiting three or fewer channels to consume video content because they want to avoid jumping between multiple platforms. Publishers should keep this behavior in mind while developing a content strategy that both attracts a larger share of target audiences and also increases the time spent on publishers' sites through engaging and relevant on-site experiences.
If your content is interesting, consumers are happy to dedicate time to watching videos, as the majority (46%) of survey respondents report that they spend more than 10 minutes and up to an hour a day consuming video. In addition to this, 27% of respondents noted that they spend more than an hour watching, while only 10% say they spend less than 5 minutes a day watching video content.
As consumers value video content that is entertaining and informative within a select handful of channels, it’s important that publishers and advertisers prioritize content that fits within those parameters. There is much more to uncover about these preferences, so download the full report to learn more about how publishers and advertisers can best incorporate video into their advertising strategy and create ideal and strategic viewer experiences.