THE STORIES THAT LIT UP OUR MEDIA WORLD THIS MONTH
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Mobile marketing proposition Weve has recently made a move to shift its focus away from advertising to concentrate on data and consumer insight services. The venture, owned by O2, will continue to see out live campaigns but with no new bookings being taken. With an audience database of c.23 million adults, Weve has a large base to draw insights from for its own marketing and brand loyalty purposes. Managing director Martin Weller said “While Weve is, for now, stepping back from delivering mobile advertising, our customers and partners will continue to receive the highest levels of service and delivery for existing campaigns, while we explore and transition to a new business model”.
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Netflix has announced that it has begun testing skippable promotional videos between episodes to flag up similar content that viewers may like. With a subscription pool that is ultimately finite, it’s likely that Netflix will eventually look to increase its income in future. However, the question remains whether this will come from additional subscription packages or if the company will fully open up its advertising inventory. Currently the recommended ads have only been rolled out to a selected group of subscribers as part of a controlled test. As Netflix continues to optimise the user experience it is yet to be seen what direction this will take.
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The competition to create the best exclusive online video content has intensified with craft beer maker BrewDog’s plan to launch a subscription video on-demand service this year. The app-based video service will include beer and culinary-themed programming, providing unique content for a passionate beer-loving audience. Recent months have seen the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV secure Ofcom’s approval to create a combined streaming service that would allow them to co-produce new popular content. Meanwhile, Netflix has worked more closely with European producers to create content like Troy: the Fall of the City, to appeal to local audiences. Whether they start creating content of their own or stick to more traditional producers, brands will have increasing opportunities to align themselves with quality content.
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Although Snapchat has made headlines this year for falling user numbers, it appears set to remain the key channel for accessing younger demographics, according to new eMarketer forecasts. By the end of 2018, total Snapchat users will reach 16.2 million, of whom 31% or 5 million will be between the ages of 18 and 24. At the same time, Facebook will see a 1.8% decrease in 18 to 24-year-old users, bringing its total number down to 4.5 million. This will put Snapchat ahead of Facebook, as well as Instagram, with 4.2 million and Twitter with 2.6 million 18 to 24-year-olds. Snapchat’s unique success amongst the youngest cohort of users demonstrates the importance of adopting mobile-first strategies to reach this younger audience.
