The Golden Globes. The Super Bowl. The Oscars. The national college football playoffs championship game. It’s the time of year where many of us tune in live to watch a big event rather than consuming content on demand, on our DVR, or streaming it at a time convenient for us.
Watching the big game or the “can’t miss” awards show, still means watching live for most viewers. However, consumers are customizing their experience of live events in more ways than they ever have before–whether that means following the second-by-second commentary on social media, choosing among multiple live broadcasts that offer the experience closest to what they want, or both.
At Variety’s Entertainment summit held during the Consumer Electronics Show in January, executives from Facebook, Google and Pinterest stressed how useful the data around entertainment events generated on their networks could be for brands as they market to consumers. For example, analyzing what clips or images consumers post to social media shows what’s most engaging.
Tram Nguyen, head of media partnerships at Pinterest, said partners look at what’s been pinned and re-pinned to target everything from emails to merchandising strategies. According to a study conducted by Annalect, Pinterest is a channel where users are more likely to discover new brands, and then buy from those brands. More than half said they would click on images of products they find interesting in order to learn more about the brands offering. Even better news, another half of those surveyed would also be willing to follow these newly discovered brands if there was a reward of discount or coupons given.
Facebook is also taking advantage of the data surrounding live events. “We have a tremendous amount of data on what’s taking off and what’s driving engagement . . . We’re at a place now where we can help solve a problem: that there is such a volume of content that the audience is looking for solutions to help find the content that matters to them,” said Jim Underwood, head of entertainment strategy at Facebook.
And its not just social media that is seeing this rise in viewer experience. Networks are also realizing the potential of this type of customization when it comes to consumer engagement.
During the college football championship game on Jan. 12, ESPN offered at least 12 ways to watch the game on its different properties, both broadcast and online.
Viewers on ESPN2 got supplementary commentary from college coaches diagramming key plays on white boards in the “Film Room.” ESPN Classic skipped the broadcast booth commentary in favor of amplified sound provided by 100 microphones in the stadium. Streaming offerings like the “Taco Bell Student section” focused on the fans, while ESPN Desportes broadcasted in Spanish. And, of course, the ESPN flagship, aired the game with a traditional set of reporters, analysts and full broadcast booth commentary.
The takeaway: Live events give Brands the opportunity to leverage their data collection process in real time and deliver the right message at the right time to the right people. From a consumer perspective, expect customization in social media and on the big networks; this season is the time to warm up your couch, make sure your remote has batteries, and your phone is charged, there’s a lot to explore!