How do we 'consume' media? With more devices and platforms than ever, there is certainly no lack of choice. As the use of smartphones and tablets is now such an integral part of our everyday lives, it is vital for companies of all industries to understand our habits and how they shape our decisions.
The ninth annual Deloitte Media Consumer Survey presents its findings, focusing on how four generations of consumers (aged 16-75) interact with media, the challenges this creates, and how the industry can use this information to create more relevant and captivating content.
As part of the launch of this year's survey, clients and Deloitte personnel alike were invited to the Deloitte Academy, a place more accustomed to hosting tailor made suits than bright orange trainers, to reveal some of the reports key findings.
Matthew Guest, author of the survey, kicked off the event with the question media company executives have been asking most, about the group dubbed "Generation Y" (15-35 year olds) - 'When are they going to be more like us?'
A plethora of diagrams and charts were used to show how use of media is changing. Matthew explained how 16-24 year olds primarily use Facebook to communicate with friends but pay little attention to corporate advertisements which they feel invade their personal space. Twitter, he continued, is used to get the most up-to-date content and the broadest range of opinions, however it is seen to lack expert commentary, for which users will turn to print newspapers. There was a large focus on the successes of short form video, with one in three users binge-viewing at least once a week. He looked at the successes of PewDiePie, a YouTuber whose gaming videos have attracted 8.6 billion views around the world, as a great example of how to create successful short form videos which are more likely to keep users consumed for hours on end, albeit acknowledging that better business models would need to be identified for mass market short form to flourish. The conclusion was that executives are asking the wrong question. They should be asking 'what can we learn from them?'
Howard Davies, sponsor partner of the report and facilitator for the evening, introduced the panel who were to further discuss these topics, prompted by some carefully crafted questions. The panel of four covered a spectrum of age groups, and were a mixture of Deloitte employees and media industry pioneers, including Nick Bourne from BigBalls Films whose introduction raised a giggle from the audience.
The panel agreed unanimously that when it comes to marketing on media platforms, old thinking doesn't work in the new world. Companies need to be more subtle in their attempts to promote their brands, or else they risk sticking out.
On the future of cinema, Nigel Sharrocks from Digital Cinema Media explained why he thought many of this year's films have been continuations of old franchises, and that despite new challenges, the cinema format is going from strength to strength. Later, the discussion turned to Netflix, which was interestingly compared to a stock market portfolio, gambling on the choice of series it includes.
Eventually the conversation had to be cut short, after overrunning by 20 minutes. The irony that a survey on consumers' shortening attention spans had the audience engrossed for nearly 1.5 uninterrupted hours was not lost.
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