Media consumption patterns are shifting. TV is in decline, while digital, particularly mobile, is exploding. Nowadays digital devices represent more than 50% of media consumption. On the other hand, the majority of ad spend is still directed towards TV, while mobile is still largely underutilized. There are some huge gaps between how we consume media and how advertising budgets are allocated. But all of that is going to change.
Shifts in media consumption patterns are the result of changing consumer behaviour. Users have become truly mobile. Super computers in our pockets enable us to fulfill our hidden desire to be on top of things at all times. We want to be informed, and we’re not willing to wait to get back to the office and sit down at our desks in order just to read our latest email. We have become information junkies. With more than 8 billion connected devices mobile represents more than 25% of global media consumption and nearly half of all website traffic. Our recent research showed that the percentage of mobile-only users is rapidly increasing, with as much as 10% of users in some areas.
Based on the shifts of the past few years and looking at consumer behaviour we defined 3 things that will make you rethink your digital focus:
Advertising budgets will shift to digital
As mobile represents the largest base of new users and fewer and fewer people are actually watching TV, advertisers will need to shift their budgets to digital media to reach a new, younger user base. Desktop and mobile devices also enable advertisers to better target, track and understand their consumers and thus segment their user base and deliver more relevant communication. The most underutilized medium today is certainly mobile. While ‘it’s still quite cheap to advertise on mobile, it’s going to get more and more expensive. The moment is now, not tomorrow.
Growth of the upper funnel
Since the beginning, TV has been used to build awareness and drive intent. Entire companies and industries were built on just that. But as users are now shifting to digital, advertisers will need to learn how to build awareness and intent online. This has been a challenge for many advertisers and online mediums for some time, and all the big players (from Google to Facebook) are now heavily investing in developing new solutions for advertisers to reach users at the Top Of The Funnel (TOFU). While many new solutions already exist, advertisers and agencies have yet to find the perfect mix that will actually have an impact on BOFU (Bottom Of The Funnel) as well. The first advertisers to master the digital TOFU and MOFU will be the rulers of tomorrow.
More pressure on direct response channels
The growth of transactional searches on Google is slowing down. User behavior on email is changing as well. As BOFU isn’t growing there will be even more pressure on Direct response channels. One way to fix this is to invest in Upper Funnel as described above, while the other is to become better converting BOFU users into your customers. In the future, conversion rate optimization (CRO) will start to play a significant role in your online success.
What you should do today to get better results tomorrow?
- Analyze the way your consumers are behaving and how are they consuming media.
- Align your marketing budgets with media consumption.
- Invest in Upper Funnel online. Start building awareness and driving intent on digital channels. This is crucial for your online success.
- Increase the effectiveness of your BOFU with conversion rate optimization.
We would love to hear your thoughts. How are you driving intent online? What KPIs are you tracking? How are you tracking and analyzing consumer behavior online?