LONDON – What constitutes a high-quality, “premium” TV viewing experience in the eyes of audiences? It’s a question that is hotly debated in the TV and advertising industries.
To get a handle on it, NBCUniversal and FreeWheel conducted research putting a range of content and ad experience options to 8,000 viewers.
The research, “Prescribing Premium“, looked at a range of factors – content platform, content length, recency, ad experience and more – to piece together the individual elements viewers consider to be premium.
Viewers want to ‘lose themselves’
“(For) audiences, it means that it’s some type of content they can really immerse themselves in,” said David Evans, VP, Global Research, NBCUniversal, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
“When we looked at … what need states are driven by quality content, more often than not, it’s about wanting to escape, really sort of lose yourself in great content and engage yourself with that in a deep way.”
But Evans said NBCU’s research also shows viewers are receptive to advertising, so long as it is served up alongside appealing content.
“The more positive and more happy and more content people are with their content they receive, the more receptive they actually are to advertising as well,” he said.
Buyers uncertain about ‘premium’ video ecosystem
But NBCU’s research shows a disconnect between how viewers regard “premium” content and how ad buyers regard the “premium” video ad ecosystem.
Separate NBCU research among UK ad buyers found “quite a bit of uncertainty in the market from their side”, Evans said.
“There’s some concerns that they have about the quality of the whole premium ecosystem and the amount of inventory that is truly premium content, but then also about the safety and transparency around it as well,” he said.
Evans thinks the “premium” moniker has become overused. Nowadays, it is often applied to a wide array of content, including user-generated fare, that meets minimum broadcast standards.
Instead, he thinks TV networks should be touting their top-tier content.
“I think for, for the TV industry and for us as broadcasters, there’s almost a tier above that that we should be thinking about in terms of ultra-premium,” Evans said. “TV has the unique ability to deliver huge audiences at scale.”
You’re watching Beet.TV’s coverage of The Future of TV Advertising Global. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
