Decades ago, basic demographics like gender and age were strong predictors of consumers’ viewing behavior and were the basis for most media business decisions. Over time, those demographics have become much weaker predictors and, as a result, content providers, advertisers, and media researchers have looked at income, race, interests, media technology ownership, and viewing patterns to identify target groups, create networks, and make content for various audiences. Horst Stipp, EVP, Research & Innovation at the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), explained how these new characteristics became more impactful on viewer’s choices on what to watch.
Even though demographic characteristics are still relevant, Stipp mentioned that analyses that go beyond these features “have provided insights that lead to more effective marketing, branding, and advertising and help develop more successful content.” In this sense, knowing the consumers became crucial for marketers, and this means they also need to get to know their values, attitudes, emotions, and even their moods and sense of humor. In his current role at the ARF, Stripp said he has “seen many presentations that show how these factors can determine consumer response to marketing messages and impact product choices. Investing in research that provides such understanding helps accurate, successful targeting and avoids inaccurate or stereotypical assumptions about your consumers. Armed with such knowledge, marketers can develop strategies more effectively.”
With this in mind, Stripp highlighted the importance that researchers need to find ways to uncover consumers’ true values and attitudes. For instance, they need to discern survey responses affected by social desirability or other biases, as well as pinpoint statements from respondents that do not reflect their actual behavior.
These characteristics are connected to Americans' reality, holding opposing views on many political issues. Those views have a clear impact on choices for news sources, such as the preferred news network. However, how relevant are those political views, values, and attitudes for entertainment programs? Answering to this question, Stripp mentioned: “There are good reasons to assume that at least some entertainment programs are impacted by political orientation. For example, Yellowstone is often mentioned in that context as a conservative show. However, most programs are not overtly political or partisan and avoid controversial issues.”
Further, studies by pollsters suggest that most Americans are not as partisan and their political opinions are not as important to them as some reports suggest. This means that an impact on viewing patterns may be limited to those viewers who hold strong opinions. Therefore, Stripp suggested that “research on these issues should include a measure of attitude/opinion intensity." He concludede that: "I think taking a closer look at the impact of values and political views on viewers’ entertainment choices would provide important new insights for content providers and advertisers, both for targeting audiences as well as for informing creative decisions.”