Dive Brief:
- Adobe Digital Index released research that found this year’s Super Bowl is going to have “major shifts in how consumers watch the big game,” according to a CMO by Adobe report.
- Most significantly this shift is coming among younger viewers with over half of millennials watching sports on something other than a traditional TV -- a group of devices that include smart TVs, mobile devices, PCs or gaming consoles.
- The research also looked into how millennials plan on watching the Super Bowl and found 35% expect to watch on a connected TV, and more than 25% were very likely to download an app to watch the game.
Dive Insight:
The Super Bowl has long been the ultimate “get everyone around the TV” event, racking up record-breaking viewership figures every year. That’s not going to change this year, but as the Adobe Digital Index report finds, change in viewing habits is in the air.
"TV viewership is becoming multiscreen,' Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst at ADI, said in a CMO by Adobe article. "We are entering a new frontier for online video, where viewing is led by mobile and growth in TV Everywhere."
As viewer consumption becomes more omni-channel, the ADI study suggests brands are missing out on the advantages of email marketing during the big game, as one in three viewers will be checking their email throughout.
One example of the growing influence and importance of mobile devices, the announced price for a 30-second Super Bowl spot this year is $5 million. But, those ads were sold as a TV/digital package deal for the first time and CBS will air those ads on TV and also stream them on mobile and online at the same time.
Gaffney added, "While consumer eyeballs are quickly turning to mobile, media companies have struggled with monetizing the channel. 2015 TV and Web/mobile ads were sold separately, and, in 2016, they will be combined. I think we’ll see more publishers and media brands, in general, selling advertising this way."
