Doodle Inspirations – July 24
At NDP we pride ourselves on staying on top of the industry – what’s new, what’s trending, what’s surprised us. Here are a few things from this week that caught our attention and got us talking:
The Great Podcast Buildup of 2020 continues as it was announced this week that the New York Times Company is acquiring Serial Productions. The deal keeps the Serial’s creators on as NYT staff and also provides a partnership between the Times and PRX show This American Life. Given the Times’ recent acquisition of Audm, this latest information reinforces the organization’s dedication to taking long-form journalism to an audio platform. We drew parallels between the user experience similarities between newspapers and podcasts – a dynamic comparison of traditional “on demand” vs. digital on demand.
Real-time data and consumer behavior hit an interesting cross-section in Australia this week as LifeStyles condoms launched a new campaign. On the campaign microsite STDs are assigned stock/ticker symbols which rise and fall with online STD keyword search activity. As more search actions are completed, the dynamic price lowers for a package of condoms available through online purchase. This is a really cool way to push the “Minimize Risk, Maximize Pleasure” brand message, while using innovative technology for an age-old problem.
With the return of live sports to the airwaves on the 23rd, DraftKings released survey results collected from 1,000 American sports fans specific to “how modern fans have adapted to the Covid-19 era” of sports. While Covid shut down live sports for most of Q2, 25% of Americans started following a new sport and 67% of those plan to continue to follow that sport even as live sports make a comeback. As sports resume, 24% of fans said they want to be able to attend a game in 4-6 months with an additional 20% saying they don’t want to attend a sports event until there’s a cure for COVID-19. Overwhelmingly, 78% of fans “are comfortable sacrificing some traditional aspects of attending live sporting events if it means the sport will resume sooner.” NDP is currently awaiting ratings information to determine the scale of the much-hyped return of live sports.
Similar to sports, cinema closures have forced moviegoers to view their favorite content in a different way as traditional theaters have shuttered during the pandemic. As Hollywood studios look to inject the industry with life and reopen theaters, Box Office Analysts are urging the industry to hold off. After a study in early July surveying over 24,000 US adults, a majority of respondents (72% as the national average) were not comfortable returning to theaters. NDP continues to watch cinema developments closely as some studios have opted to switch to streaming platform releases. All of these continued changes impact consumer behavior and media consumption habits of target audience during the pandemic and beyond.
This week, Hulu released a new report called “Unpacking the Streaming Experience” that created new personas for Streaming Consumers based on their viewership. The Disney-owned platform currently aligned with 2 other major streaming platforms (Disney + and ESPN) reported that more than 90% of people 13-54 use at least one streaming services/platform. This report – the first in a series commissioned by Hulu – speaks of “lean back” viewing, “therapeutic streaming” and “curated streaming” habits of users. NDP likes the idea of persona creation, but wonders the usability for the Hulu-specific user and the scalability of the study overall considering it was fielded in April to a small sample size.