Consumer Interests Focus Future Developments

Do you remember when we used to have to watch television when it was aired? Before even the age of the VCR and “taping” a show. Viewing habits changed as television could be taped and watched later, then again with time-shifting channels, whole seasons available on DVDs, and then PVRs. In the last few years, I know I have rarely watched any show when it is aired on television; most of it comes to me through online streaming done by the channels themselves. I love watching a couple weeks of my favourite shows at a time.

Chris Neal, vice president of Chadwick Martin Bailey, points out that “industry developments like increasingly fast and ubiquitous broadband access, Netflix’s shift to online movie rentals, TV networks making more shows available on their websites, online video services like Hulu, growth in iTunes video downloads and massive peer-to-peer video sharing through social networks are all helping to break down the mental divide between a TV screen and the internet.”

Gadgets, like the iPad, Android based cell phones, and 3D TV, are still of interest to consumers, which makes sense to me (both as a consumer and a marketing professional), since the point these gadgets is to get us the consumables. It’s a bit of the chicken and the egg scenario, really. Only studies like this one show us which options drive our consumers.

Although looking at these numbers and talking about who is excited about what new technological advances merits its own level of interest, it is also important to remember them when approaching your online marketing strategies. Consumer interests drive all of our markets. We’re all here to catch the attention of our consumers and since the bulk of the interest is in the consumable experience at this time, we need to keep that as our businesses’ guidepost.

The same changes are true when you think about gaming, cell phone usage, and internet activities. We’ve shifted with the available technology, so that we can barely remember how it was before this technology became so popular. Sometimes I find it interesting to look at technology from another point of view: from the consumer end, rather than the marketing end. What are people interested in seeing come onto the market? What technology are people using the most?

Mike Sachoff wrote a quick article entitled “Consumers More Interested In Content Delivery Than Gadgets” about just this topic. He talks about a study done by the market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey that asked “over 1,200 U.S. consumers ages 18-65 which of the recently hyped technologies they are most excited about. Topping the list was movie rentals via the Internet with 29 percent of consumers being “extremely excited” by this. Having the ability to surf the Internet via TV also came in high at 24 percent.”

Chris Neal, vice president of Chadwick Martin Bailey, points out that “industry developments like increasingly fast and ubiquitous broadband access, Netflix’s shift to online movie rentals, TV networks making more shows available on their websites, online video services like Hulu, growth in iTunes video downloads and massive peer-to-peer video sharing through social networks are all helping to break down the mental divide between a TV screen and the internet.”

Gadgets, like the iPad, Android based cell phones, and 3D TV, are still of interest to consumers, which makes sense to me (both as a consumer and a marketing professional), since the point these gadgets is to get us the consumables. It’s a bit of the chicken and the egg scenario, really. Only studies like this one show us which options drive our consumers.

Although looking at these numbers and talking about who is excited about what new technological advances merits its own level of interest, it is also important to remember them when approaching your online marketing strategies. Consumer interests drive all of our markets. We’re all here to catch the attention of our consumers and since the bulk of the interest is in the consumable experience at this time, we need to keep that as our businesses’ guidepost.