- Increase in multitasking by media users will force
advertisers to rethink long-established campaign models and move
measurement of engagement from reach to attention
- Across media formats, an average of ~75% of media users
multi-task, and over 60% of media users simultaneously consume
multiple forms of media content. Traditional publishing offered
hope from higher consumer focus
BOSTON and LONDON, June 18,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Advertisers confront
radical disruption of established advertising campaign models as
engagement with advertising is hit by an accelerating and
far-reaching trend for consumers to multi-task while using media
across multiple platforms and devices, alongside continuing
declines in both attention spans and overall consumer time spent on
media, Bain & Company concludes in new research today.
Bain's analysis, released as leading advertising industry
players gather at the annual Cannes Lions festival in France, warns that advertising executives from
leading companies face a large-scale challenge to rethink current
promotion and campaign strategies as these overlapping trends in
media consumption combine.
Bain & Company's latest annual Media and Entertainment
Review, Creativity Can't Stand Still, based on the firm's
large scale Consumer Media Consumption Survey of almost 5,000
consumers, maps the major shifts taking place in how people of all
ages use and consume media and advertising across a fragmented and
diversified landscape of platforms and devices – made ever more
complex by rapid increases in personalized and curated content
offerings.
The intensifying trend for consumers to multi-task across
platforms, diluting engagement with advertising content, is among
the most striking developments impacting advertisers highlighted by
Bain's analysis, with big implications. Bain concludes that, along
with other fast-developing trends, this will force the advertising
industry and its corporate clients to redesign how advertising
effectiveness is measured to focus on metrics that track attention
paid – rather than the conventional measures of reach.
Social media users only fully engaged with content 10% of the
time
Overall, across platforms and formats, Bain's survey shows that
roughly three-quarters of media users multi-task while consuming
media, with over 60% of media users consuming multiple media
formats simultaneously. Alongside, the overall total of time spent
by consumers using media has fallen from around 13 hours a day in
2021 to around 12 hours now.
For social media, 75% of consumers also use other media
simultaneously, and so are distracted by other formats from audio
to video to television. Social media users self-report they are
only focused entirely on a social platform they are using for just
10% of the time spent.
For consumers streaming video, 65% of consumers state that they
use other media at the same time as viewing streamed content –
notably scrolling on social media on a phone. Even for video games,
often regarded as more commanding of user attention, the data shows
that almost 70% of consumers are multi-tasking, with 65% of them
doing so with other media.
"These changes in how people consume media have huge
implications for advertisers because reach is no longer
engagement," Nicole Magoon, a
partner in Bain & Company's Media & Entertainment practice,
said. "If people are paying less attention to their media, they're
also paying less attention to ads. That means lower engagement,
lower sales, and CPM re-evaluation. But there is plenty of scope
for media companies to lean into these trends, to rethink and to
adapt to the changing landscape. If you know someone is scrolling
Instagram while streaming your show, you can – for example – have a
live tie-in to drive engagement with characters and with shoppable
content in the feed. The imperative is to reimagine current models
that are threatened by the trends we're seeing."
Jeff Katzin, a partner in Bain
& Company's Media & Entertainment practice commented: "This
is a whole new set of challenges for advertising and marketing
leaders – potentially a universe of confusion. It's going to force
many advertisers to rethink long-established ways they go to
market, including how to monetize attention in addition to reach.
Creative organizations are also going to have to innovate in
creative breakthrough ways that grab attention and engagement
across platforms. They may not view that as a 'new' imperative, but
innovative uses of creative and technology will be critical."
Higher attention offers a beacon of light for
publishers
In what Bain concludes is a more optimistic finding for
traditional publishers and their leaders, it notes that readers of
publications are most attentive to the content being consumed. Just
over 45% of readers say they multitask when consuming print and
digital text publications, over 40% of them with other media. The
majority are multitasking with audio while reading.
"People consuming text-based content pay much more attention to
it, which offers publishing a bright spot amidst all the upheavals
the sector has been facing, if publishers can leverage that fact in
this new age of fragmented attention," Magoon added. "Our data also
shows people are less willing to consume AI-generated content in
books, news and magazines, with only about 35% of readers saying
they're okay with AI material – so that also offers an opportunity
for publishers and writers to use human creativity to differentiate
in a sector that has been heavily pressured by both costs and
technological changes."
Among other key findings, Bain's report highlights the need for
media companies to adapt and innovate amid seismic changes
affecting the sector:
- Great content at a premium: while demand for quality
content and IP remains, consumers' intensified appetite and demand
for content means that they expect constant new output across their
interests. Increasingly this applies across converged platforms
that blend social worlds and entertainment;
- Pressure on costs: nimble players increasingly need to
leverage technology to lower their cost base;
- Audience engagement harder but critical: fragmentation,
more niche platforms and content for more segmented audiences, and
more diverse platforms with greater personalization have increased
challenges;
- Monetization more complex: simple pricing structures and
ready reach to mass audiences on fewer channels in past decades has
given way to curated offerings, with more targeted digital
advertisings and a need to track attention, not reach, to measure
engagement and impact.
Media contacts
To request a copy of the media pack on the findings, arrange
an interview, or for any questions, please contact:
Gary Duncan (London) — Email:
gary.duncan@bain.com
Katie Ware (New York) — Email: katie.ware@bain.com
Ann Lee (Singapore) — Email: ann.lee@bain.com
About Bain & Company
Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the
world's most ambitious change makers define the future.
Across 65 cities in 40 countries, we work alongside our clients
as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary
results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We
complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant
ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more
enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than
$1 billion in pro bono services
brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling
today's urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social
justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a
platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for
environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global
supply chains, putting us in the top 1% of all companies. Since our
founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of
our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client
advocacy in the industry.
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SOURCE Bain & Company