Our guest Blogger, Colleen Savage, Strategic Planner and Brand Storytelling from WaveMaker has summarised some key findings from the 2017 IAB Ireland Nielsen study on Irish people’s video viewing, as it continues to both increase in time and expand across all ages and demographics. The insights she uncovers facilitate the planning approach and prove the significance of a mobile video strategy.
More Irish people are watching more mobile video, more of the time, on more platforms and for more reasons. So does this expansion of video viewing offer an opportunity for brands to connect with consumers?
Myself and my colleague Paul McPartlin wanted to get beneath the numbers, and to understand what this trend means for creating more growth for Wavemaker clients. We used our Digifaces online community tool to speak to Irish consumers and get a clearer picture of what is driving this behaviour and we would like to share a few of our findings.
Clearly video content acts as a form of social currency and providing a connection with other people. Our community, aged between 20 and 30, had a variety of lifestyles and interests and their content choice varied accordingly. What united them was a real sense of joy and enthusiasm in being able to access this content and to share it with other enthusiasts. Sharing content is a form of social currency and the group burst to life sharing favourite vloggers, TV shows, funny clips (a lot of animals in there), sites to learn about their interests, favourite bands, random shows they found- even ones on popping pimples (don’t ask!) They also gave each other advice straight away on avoiding negative comments/ disturbing sites and how to stop automatic playing videos on Facebook. Finding new content to share and a sense of being part of a collective viewing moment was a real driver, and Facebook’s new video function was working well here, along with You tube and Instagram.
Mobile video is different to video on other media, because of what we call the polyfilla nature of the viewing. Any moment where people feel a bit bored, lonely or sad, they are picking up the phone to self soothe or distract themselves. Students described using the phone between lectures, on the bus is a key moment, at home moments caught between doing chores and child-minding, even while watching the main show on the TV. They are itching to check out new videos or content that is shared by friends or vloggers they follow, and the number of times they check the screen is increasing. People see it as a mood enhancer and they are planning on consuming more, not less moving forward and in more contexts. Our community saw video as enhancing their day to day lives and they are not trying to control this behaviour. We see many opportunities for brands to be part of the mobile video explosion, but understanding the different needs and getting the tone right is key:
- Develop a moment based approach for the polyfilla moments- not a full ad that is getting in the way of their short session.
- Accompany them on their journey of self-discovery for the self-expression type video, with sponsored content.
- Create moments of fun or interest for their ‘social currency’ occasions.
One size will not fit all and having a mobile video strategy is key, informed by an understanding not just of what they are watching but why!
