Opinion Piece: Why TV Demographics Matter
Part of each Wednesday brings a break down and full on argument between two sides of 'wrestling Twitter'. Those who likes AEW more than NXT and vise versa about total viewers. The 9th July saw AEW President & CEO Tony Khan take to Twitter and proclaim that even though AEW didn't win the total number of viewers they won the ratings in key demographics. This was dismissed quickly by people proclaiming that total viewers is the be all and end all but is it? I hope that by the end of you reading this I can raise a point about why demographics are not only as important by maybe more important. Please note I am not a professional and these are just the ramblings of someone who thinks they have some understanding of marketing and network TV and the changes it has seen in recent years. I am mainly looking at doing this as a clear and concise way of explaining demographics and the reason the 18-49 demographic is crucial to networks to obtain and why advertisers look for it for my friends who may not follow this sort of thing or have less of an understanding.
TV ratings are essentially something to be used by advertisers and marketers to look at where they can advertise their products or services. If your product is aimed at a younger audience then you won't want to advertise it during something that you won't get a good audience reach in. If I was advertising a product (let's say for example the next Fifa game) I wouldn't want to advertise it during a rerun of Midsummer Murders on at 3pm during a weekday. At this point in the day they people you mainly want to see this will be in school or at work they will not see the advertisements and those watching are less likely to care. Now if I was to advertise that same exact product down to the exact same advert during the lunch time football kick off on a Saturday it would have a greater audience reach. Not only am I targeting a time and place where the interest aligns with the product but also can target other age ranges that may fall into the interest. If you are to pitch an idea to a demographic you need to work to that demographic in order to maximise your return and make an ad campaign worth it.
Similar to this is why the Super Bowl makes a lot of money on ad revenue. Millions of people worldwide watch so this is an opportune time to put movie adverts on, pay millions for a hopeful return of millions for getting eyes on a product that is coming out. This is why you'll find that a lot of the film that advertise at that specific show will be the comic book, action adventure films as that have a large following already and word of mouth spreads combining this with showing those unfamiliar on a big stage presents these as big events and shows to bring more people through the cinema doors.
To use an example of me personally to help add to this point, I style my hair using gel and have done for a number of years. When deciding what products to use (as I was switching from using wax to gel) I saw an advert for VO5 Gel. This was when I was around 18 and it was advertised during a football game. It could've been Arsenal vs. Spurs or Southampton vs. Bournemouth it doesn't matter what the game was it is more they looked to advertise there. I have used that specific brand for 5 years now since and haven't looked to switch and probably won't. Through that correct placement of advertisement and responding to the information on their key demographics VO5 have essentially made a customer for life.
So how does that relate to older demographics? Well the older demos are less likely to change the over 50 demo are more stuck in their ways and less likely to change. I imagine when I reach that age and if I am still gelling my hair and see something new advertised in that product market I do not envisage myself changing brands unless I have a bad experience with VO5 which is how most people operate. The younger demo specifically the early end of the 18-49 demographic are more likely to change to find the brand that fits them to be more open to change and as such if a show commands are good showing in that demographic in their time slot products and brands will be more likely to buy advertisement space for that show.
To focus on the over 50 demographic for a moment at least on a UK aspect the advertisement is different to how it is to my age bracket. While pension plans and setting one up is more likely to be advertised to me for the over 50 demo it will be funeral cover as with the minimum age being 55 to withdraw a pension in the UK it stands to reason the average person will not gain a good enough pension in that time period and will most likely already have a string of private pension from employers that have been open for many years previous. You will see adverts for funeral cover as to be blunt the older generation are closer to passing away and will look at this as something that they should invest into to support their families with funeral costs instead of taking out another pension which in turn will only gross a small value that may not be useful through any crystallisation option.
Please note the discussion on pensions previously is not financial advise. I am not legally qualified as such to provide this and the above should be taken as a general observation/guess work in order to make an example of a point. Market fluctuate on a daily basis so it may prove a valuable investment but this was more for a sweeping generalisation.
I hope this has done something to explain and give a reason why AEW and Tony Khan have said they have 'won' and highlighted demos. Viewership is a good number to quote but money moves through advertisers seen a place that they can get a key demographic hooked in to be a consumer. TV as a whole is a slowing dying place, with the emergence of more and more 'on demand' services each with big budget original shows being placed on them it leaves lees room for TV and as such viewership goes down and down. I fully expect this to continue, look I am being honest once the Marvel TV shows started getting released on Disney+ I'll buy it and in turn watch that over anything 'new' on TV and I really only use TV to watch Football now. Take Agents of Shield for example a TV show that honestly should've been done several times over, how many seasons have ended with all conflict resolved and a ending there for if the show ends or gets cancelled to then get renewed up until they show itself calls a final season. It's because they needed new content to keep people watching ABC and as shows get taken to on demand the pool gets less and less. TV networks get outbid by on demand services and as such will keep renewing content they have until they can't anymore. As a result anything 'new' or 'fresh' that hits the target demo of 18-49 well and in a good way compared to its competition in that time slot will be viewed successfully by its network and 'win' so to speak.
I want to end this on a different note. A lot of wrestling fans see the total viewers and instantly go 'Oh TNT is going to cancel AEW blah blah' without looking at the bigger picture. Below I have included a link to a tweet from Trevor Dame showcasing what charted for TNT this week for cable ratings for the top 150 shows.
https://twitter.com/TrevorDame/status/1281396935568416769?s=20
I know we are in unprecedented times and the NBA being on hold for the moment doesn't held but AEW done a 0.29 in the target demo compared to the most viewed show Snowpiercer which did 0.31 and AEW did it with around 300,000 less viewers. It's clear TNT sees AEW is good for the demo or they wouldn't have extended their deal for more money for an extra 3 years and given the green light to an extra one hour additional program.
At the end of the day this is all based in speculation and guess work, I am not a professional nor will I ever be. However, I feel that a lot of wrestling fans miss the point on the demos and why they are more crucial. Obviously bad viewership isn't going to be looked favourable upon but we can see differences in viewing patterns and why demos hold more power now. If we want to look RAW has lost 90% of its viewership base in the last 20 years from its peak but still gets renewed by USA, should it be cancelled for falling viewership or does it still bring in good viewers and demo targeting for advertisers.
I hope that at least this I guess now essay has helped my friends I wrote it for understands the reason AEW holds the win for demographics with such pride and glee that they feel the needs to advertise it how they do.
TV ratings are essentially something to be used by advertisers and marketers to look at where they can advertise their products or services. If your product is aimed at a younger audience then you won't want to advertise it during something that you won't get a good audience reach in. If I was advertising a product (let's say for example the next Fifa game) I wouldn't want to advertise it during a rerun of Midsummer Murders on at 3pm during a weekday. At this point in the day they people you mainly want to see this will be in school or at work they will not see the advertisements and those watching are less likely to care. Now if I was to advertise that same exact product down to the exact same advert during the lunch time football kick off on a Saturday it would have a greater audience reach. Not only am I targeting a time and place where the interest aligns with the product but also can target other age ranges that may fall into the interest. If you are to pitch an idea to a demographic you need to work to that demographic in order to maximise your return and make an ad campaign worth it.
Similar to this is why the Super Bowl makes a lot of money on ad revenue. Millions of people worldwide watch so this is an opportune time to put movie adverts on, pay millions for a hopeful return of millions for getting eyes on a product that is coming out. This is why you'll find that a lot of the film that advertise at that specific show will be the comic book, action adventure films as that have a large following already and word of mouth spreads combining this with showing those unfamiliar on a big stage presents these as big events and shows to bring more people through the cinema doors.
To use an example of me personally to help add to this point, I style my hair using gel and have done for a number of years. When deciding what products to use (as I was switching from using wax to gel) I saw an advert for VO5 Gel. This was when I was around 18 and it was advertised during a football game. It could've been Arsenal vs. Spurs or Southampton vs. Bournemouth it doesn't matter what the game was it is more they looked to advertise there. I have used that specific brand for 5 years now since and haven't looked to switch and probably won't. Through that correct placement of advertisement and responding to the information on their key demographics VO5 have essentially made a customer for life.
So how does that relate to older demographics? Well the older demos are less likely to change the over 50 demo are more stuck in their ways and less likely to change. I imagine when I reach that age and if I am still gelling my hair and see something new advertised in that product market I do not envisage myself changing brands unless I have a bad experience with VO5 which is how most people operate. The younger demo specifically the early end of the 18-49 demographic are more likely to change to find the brand that fits them to be more open to change and as such if a show commands are good showing in that demographic in their time slot products and brands will be more likely to buy advertisement space for that show.
To focus on the over 50 demographic for a moment at least on a UK aspect the advertisement is different to how it is to my age bracket. While pension plans and setting one up is more likely to be advertised to me for the over 50 demo it will be funeral cover as with the minimum age being 55 to withdraw a pension in the UK it stands to reason the average person will not gain a good enough pension in that time period and will most likely already have a string of private pension from employers that have been open for many years previous. You will see adverts for funeral cover as to be blunt the older generation are closer to passing away and will look at this as something that they should invest into to support their families with funeral costs instead of taking out another pension which in turn will only gross a small value that may not be useful through any crystallisation option.
Please note the discussion on pensions previously is not financial advise. I am not legally qualified as such to provide this and the above should be taken as a general observation/guess work in order to make an example of a point. Market fluctuate on a daily basis so it may prove a valuable investment but this was more for a sweeping generalisation.
I hope this has done something to explain and give a reason why AEW and Tony Khan have said they have 'won' and highlighted demos. Viewership is a good number to quote but money moves through advertisers seen a place that they can get a key demographic hooked in to be a consumer. TV as a whole is a slowing dying place, with the emergence of more and more 'on demand' services each with big budget original shows being placed on them it leaves lees room for TV and as such viewership goes down and down. I fully expect this to continue, look I am being honest once the Marvel TV shows started getting released on Disney+ I'll buy it and in turn watch that over anything 'new' on TV and I really only use TV to watch Football now. Take Agents of Shield for example a TV show that honestly should've been done several times over, how many seasons have ended with all conflict resolved and a ending there for if the show ends or gets cancelled to then get renewed up until they show itself calls a final season. It's because they needed new content to keep people watching ABC and as shows get taken to on demand the pool gets less and less. TV networks get outbid by on demand services and as such will keep renewing content they have until they can't anymore. As a result anything 'new' or 'fresh' that hits the target demo of 18-49 well and in a good way compared to its competition in that time slot will be viewed successfully by its network and 'win' so to speak.
I want to end this on a different note. A lot of wrestling fans see the total viewers and instantly go 'Oh TNT is going to cancel AEW blah blah' without looking at the bigger picture. Below I have included a link to a tweet from Trevor Dame showcasing what charted for TNT this week for cable ratings for the top 150 shows.
https://twitter.com/TrevorDame/status/1281396935568416769?s=20
I know we are in unprecedented times and the NBA being on hold for the moment doesn't held but AEW done a 0.29 in the target demo compared to the most viewed show Snowpiercer which did 0.31 and AEW did it with around 300,000 less viewers. It's clear TNT sees AEW is good for the demo or they wouldn't have extended their deal for more money for an extra 3 years and given the green light to an extra one hour additional program.
At the end of the day this is all based in speculation and guess work, I am not a professional nor will I ever be. However, I feel that a lot of wrestling fans miss the point on the demos and why they are more crucial. Obviously bad viewership isn't going to be looked favourable upon but we can see differences in viewing patterns and why demos hold more power now. If we want to look RAW has lost 90% of its viewership base in the last 20 years from its peak but still gets renewed by USA, should it be cancelled for falling viewership or does it still bring in good viewers and demo targeting for advertisers.
I hope that at least this I guess now essay has helped my friends I wrote it for understands the reason AEW holds the win for demographics with such pride and glee that they feel the needs to advertise it how they do.
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