Ads As Entertainment
The changing world of TV viewing
The way we watch TV has changed and the advertisements are now part of the entertainment. Less people are watching commercial television on a traditional television and are looking to On Demand streaming services such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube to provide entertainment and information.
OFCOM (The Office of Communications UK) reports that while the over 65’s are watching on average 344 mins/day of programmed TV, the younger group of 16-24 year olds are watching 114 mins/day and that number is decreasing as they use their mobiles, tablets, and desktops to stream.
This Chinese mobile phone ad gets the point across about the main features of the phone while creating a strong emotional bond with the grieving woman and it does it all while maintaining a sense of humour.
As fewer people watch TV the old-fashioned way, advertising is moving digital. Tom Goodwin, stating his opinion in Forbes, feels that in this new digital world, advertising will be “programmatically bought and placed”. This leads to the ads themselves being decided programmatically with the placement of ads being placed in a setting that considers things such as “the time of day, the stock market performance, the location viewed, the length of the show it’s placed against, the content it’s bookending” and becoming “personalized against a person”.
This leads to emotional involvement with the watcher, with advertisers hoping to engage the viewer into watching the ad and enjoying the ad as an end unto itself. The aim is to create a positive relationship with the consumer.
Ads for Money Supermarket engage the audience but ASA (Advertising Standards Authority)also gets complaints about them. Getting the viewers talking about the ad is part of the objective.
Daniel Newman finds that the Millennials do not respond to ads the same way as earlier generations.
They use the internet, social media, and connected word of mouth to make decisions. An engaging ad creating lots of views on a media such as YouTube has a lot more impact on this generation. They want creative content that can be shared.
This real KFC ad makes you feel that you are watching a spoof but it is a real ad and uses humour in an intelligent way.
Newman goes on to say that, “Millennials want more. They want it now. They want it newer. And they want it faster than ever before. They consume and share content like crazy – but it has to be good – innovative, and cutting edge.”
The way advertising is now being produced is changing rapidly and If nothing else it is creating great entertainment.
Watch this great ad from Japan. You will have to wait to the end to see what is being advertised.