Unsurprisingly, consumers are increasingly turning toward streaming services, prioritizing entertainment and watching new content amid the pandemic, according to research conducted by Canvas8 and commissioned by Facebook and a Vivendi Brand Marketing survey.
The recent iteration of the Variety Streaming Room, “Staying Ahead of Modern Audiences,” moderated by Variety’s senior TV writer Elaine Low and presented by Facebook, explores how trends are influencing the way entertainment platforms are evolving to engage their audiences. Panelists included Seth Goren, senior vice president of media strategy and analytics at Discovery; Shannon Snow, director of entertainment at Facebook; Tulani Elisa, vice president of social media at Fox Entertainment; Radha Subramanyam, chief research and analytics officer at CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision; and Romina Rosado, senior vice president of entertainment and content at NBCUniversal, Telemundo Enterprises.
The speakers discussed the increasing occurrence of multigenerational viewing, where families co-view content, which amplifies togetherness and offers producers a chance to broaden their audience bases. Furthermore, people want to access supplemental content, such as behind the scenes exclusives or interviews with talent, and spend more time reflecting on social media to culturally connect with others.
“Change, tumult to the extent we’ve never experienced — think about getting through that without great storytelling, without TV, without video, right? It’s almost unimaginable,” Subramanyam said. “At this time of great duress in the country as well as globally, TV has become this lifeline in many different ways, right? There’s the escapism, the storytelling, the comedy, the familiar, the comfort. But also, that’s how you stay up to date with the news, whether it’s news around the pandemic itself or an election year in America, right? These are things we all care about, are vested in and need to know about.”