Volume 8 No. 4: Where are people watching?

Being able to connect with your target audience directly is valuable, which is why marketers are always trying to find new ways to reach and engage their customers.

But deciding where you advertise your brand depends on where your audience is already.

For TV advertisers, the challenge is learning whether their customers watch streaming or linear TV.

Marketing Breakdown

Streaming vs linear: Where are people watching?

Each week, we break down another marketing trend so you can skip having a breakdown.

According to data from Nielsen, streaming viewership has surpassed cable. Streaming accounted for 34.8% of TV viewership in July, while cable accounted for 34.4%. Multiple streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Netflix have also increased their monthly viewer shares.

But what’s being overlooked is that cable isn’t the only form of linear TV. Linear includes satellite, broadcast, and more. When taken as a whole, linear TV viewership still far surpasses streaming.

Broadcast and cable together beat streaming viewership by 21.2%.
Two-thirds of brands’ video ad dollars remain dedicated to Linear TV.

It’s still true that streaming beat cable for the first time... by four-tenths of one percent. And while it’s a narrow victory, it’s still a noteworthy one. Especially when it was only a handful of years ago that streaming made up a small percentage of TV viewership.

Key Takeaway: Although streaming is growing rapidly and holds incredible opportunities, linear TV will be sticking around for a while longer. It remains the best way to reach large audiences on a massive scale.

The Growth Lab

Question: What does it really mean to be data-driven?

We ask an experienced group of business leaders, marketers and statisticians about strategies for success.

Answer: "Being data-driven is the ability to consume large amounts of information through datasets, meld them together in meaningful ways, and synthesize that information into impactful, actionable insights."

— Matt Hultgren, VP Analytics

At work, Matt studies the patterns in TV attribution and measurement. When not at work, he studies patterns in everything from music to Rubik’s Cube solutions.

Channel Changers

Watch: The 6 Characteristics of Truly Creative People

Here we celebrate books, podcasts, videos, and influencers that are actively pushing marketing into the future.

If you’re stuck creatively, the best way to stir up ideas is to reframe the problem. Standford educator and author Tina Seelig presents the Innovation Engine model, unpacking 6 characteristics that help your ideas come to life.

Our favorite insight? True creative innovators are like quilt makers. They can take everything at their disposal and figure out how to leverage it, resulting in amazing innovations.

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