A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM MUSIC CHOICE
Our high concentration of young adults and targeting ability makes
Music Choice one of the most efficient ways to engage Millennials.
Contact your account rep or email [email protected] for more information.
corporate.musicchoice.com/advertising
Source: Nielsen via NPOWER, July 2013, VPVH Ranker. Click here for full source.
Cynopsis Media Presents: Reaching Millennials
10.16.13
By Michael Maloney
They spend approximately six billion dollars a year. By 2020, that figure will rise to 1.6 trillion dollars annually, which translates into 30% of total retail sales in the United States, according to a June 2013 Accenture Industry report. Who are they? They’re the Millennials, aged 12-34. And with numbers like these, everyone wants to understand and reach this 80 million strong population.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM MUSIC CHOICE
Viewers vote, rate or comment to decide what plays next, or they can
be on TV alongside their favorite artists on shows like You & A.
Music Choice Play gives Millennials the control they want and
gives advertisers access to an engaged, active, audience.
Learn more about connecting with Millennials at corporate.musicchoice.com/advertising.
Although they’re not exactly like Baby Boomers and Generation Y, they’re not entirely different, either contrary to what you might have heard. But TV marketers and content creators want – and need – to connect to them, and cutting through the clutter isn’t always easy.
“Millennials are the most over-marketed to generation in history,” says Joe Ortiz, Senior Vice President, Marketing, MTV, “but we’ve found that young adults really don’t mind being marketed to as long as they find it entertaining. We take that to heart.”
Ortiz believes in a mix of traditional, in-person approaches and digital methods in reaching out to MTV viewers. Case in point? At the New York Comic Con on October 13th, the network announced a companion series to MTV fan favorite Teen Wolf: Wolf Watch, which will feature inside dish on the show’s mythology, steamy romances, and “bromances.” It’s a smart method that builds on the Teen Wolf brand and further entertains its audience. “Given Millennials’ digital upbringing, they demand all-access to celebrities and brands,” says Ortiz. “The expectation is zero-distance. We have to be on every single second of every single day.”
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM MUSIC CHOICE
47 million monthly viewers watch the Music Channels up to 24 hours per week,
an average of 3.4 hours per day, and they’re not alone: 74% watch with someone else.
Our mobile apps let them watch wherever they go, so you can reach them anytime, anywhere.
Click here for more info or visit corporate.musicchoice.com/advertising
Source: Ipsos OTX MediaCT, MC Viewer Study, Spring 2013.
Advertisers have gotten the message. Just ask Turner’s Adult Swim (Family Guy, King of the Hill) which is #1 with young adults 18-24. They partnered up with State Farm, which wanted to reach the demo for its “Get to a Better State” campaign. They, too, went to Comic Con (in San Diego), and staged a multi-phase costume contest designed to make the insurance giant top of mind with Millennials, explained Patty Gillette, SVP, Ad Sales, Integrated Marketing, Turner Broadcasting’s Young Adults. The combination of online, on-air, mobile and social components made the program a hit, with contest entries exceeding all other Adult Swim user-generated-content programs. “It was a great example of literally getting fans to think about getting to a ‘Better State.’ It’s also what Adult Swim does best hooking fans up with something inspiring and free,” says Gillette. State Farm has already committed to getting back in the water with Adult Swim in 2014, which, Gillette says, “is the probably the best way of gauging its success.”
It’s not all about contests and free stuff, though. Kent Rees, EVP, Marketing, Scheduling and Operations for new Millennial-targeted network Pivot, says the winning formula for his audience is entertainment that inspires and accelerates social change.
“Millennials are very socially active,” offers Rees. “They volunteer. They communicate. The more passionate they are, the more likely they are to take action.” And they expect to see that sort of commitment in other places, too. Seventy-five percent of the Millennials Pivot surveyed before launching this past August said that they would recommend companies that support causes – not only with loyalty, but with purchases, too. Through shows meant to reflect its vision, such as Jersey Strong and Raising McCain, the network hopes to build on its initial audience of 40 million homes.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM MUSIC CHOICE
You can view and evaluate MC VOD viewing data alongside traditional TV,
including average audience size, demographic composition and competitive rank.
Contact your account rep or email [email protected] for more information
corporate.musicchoice.com/advertising
Source: Nielsen via NPOWER, July 2013, VPVH Ranker. Click here for full source.
The other way to reach Millennials, just like every generation before it, is through music. That’s why just yesterday, SWRV re-launched as Music Choice Play, integrating all Music Choice networks under one brand including VOD, 46 music channels, Music Choice Play on TV, as well as online at musicchoice.com. In total, the channels reach 47 million monthly viewers on TV, with an additional 8 million monthly TV viewers all of them, Millennials. The goal of the unification is to create a more seamless, deeper link with what it sees as an already-engaged group.
“For instance, the program You & A (the “A” stands for “Artist”) connects Millennials with artists when they’re in our studio through social media, so they can be a part of the interview process,” says Damon Williams, VP, Programming, Music Choice. “We’ve also added artist tweets so that when say, Lady Gaga is playing, you’ll also be able to see what she’s tweeting.”
“Millennials love being in on it,” agrees Noel Cottrell, Chief Creative Officer at Fitzgerald & Co (the ad agency whose clients include Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines), adding, “If a favorite celebrity re-tweets something of theirs then they feel that distance is being knocked down.”
MTV’s Ortiz can’t emphasize enough the importance of treating this audience with intelligence and respect. “Your content has to have ‘the feels’ (feelings),” he says. However, Ortiz avoids using trendy language in campaigns. “Twerk today, gone tomorrow,” he quips.
Indeed, things are always changing: the next wave of Millennials is already here. Unlike their elders (meaning, older than 17) this group has grown up with social media their whole lives. And they are less optimistic and more practical, worried about a struggling economy and the astronomical price of many colleges.
So how will today’s marketers learn about tomorrow’s audience and trends? “It’s almost like Millennials are teaching us, if that makes any sense,” muses Cottrell. “I have Millennials working here for me and I do look to them.”
“I have a nine-year-old daughter and what I’ve learned from her is that it’s all about the device, information, and flow,” Williams says. “The challenge for programmers is to keep up and deliver creative experiences.”
Later-
Michael Maloney
Roberta Caploe: Editorial Director
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group
Cynopsis Ad Sales: Mike Farina | VP Sales & Marketing | 203-218-6480
Classifieds Sales: Trish Pihonak | Director of Operations & Content | 888-702-3858
Copyright Cynopsis 2013
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