Consumers’ Content Consumption Soars As A Result of the Pandemic

October 13, 2020

DoubleVerify CTV Consumption Increases by Age Oct2020Content consumption has increased across the board since the pandemic, though not all consumers expect these habits to stick post-COVID. So finds a recent DoubleVerify report [download page] on shifts in media and advertising since the global crisis.

Echoing other research since the pandemic, the survey of more than 10,000 consumers fielded between May and June 2020 indicates significant changes to content consumption habits. Respondents indicated having spent more time on a number of channels during the pandemic, including social media (48%), news websites/apps (47%), streaming services (47%), TV (45%) and video/mobile games (39%).

Notably, more than 4 in 10 (44%) respondents stated that they are using CTV devices more since the pandemic. This is the case particularly among younger consumers, with half (49%) of 18-24-year-olds increasing their usage as well as 55% of 25-35-year-olds. By comparison, around one-quarter (24%) of those ages 65 and over have increased their time with CTV.

Citing research from IAB, the report notes a 46% year-over-year increase in CTV ad budgets as a result of this surge in consumption. However, this is not to say that advertisers shouldn’t anticipate a changing landscape over the coming months – only around one-fifth of consumers expect to continue to increase their time spent with channels such as mobile games (20%), TV (21%), news websites and apps (22%) and social media (23%) post-pandemic.

Receptivity to Ads

The report also charts the current state of consumers’ openness to ads. The largest proportion (47%) are receptive to ads on TV, followed by social media (42%), news websites/apps (36%) and video/mobile games (22%). Respondents were least receptive to ads on streaming music channels (21%). In the US in particular, consumers are most receptive to ads on social media (57%).

Granted, consumers’ openness to ads is clearly affected by content topic: more than half (55%) of respondents claimed that their brand purchase decision would be negatively impacted by ads being placed alongside fake news or inflammatory opinions. Consumers also appear to be negatively impacted by ad adjacency to news on combat, war or territory disputes (41%), humanitarian or natural disasters news (35%), and politics (28%). Ad adjacency issues are not lost on advertisers either, with a clear majority showing concern over their ads appearing next to controversial content on social media.

Read the full report here.

About the Data: Findings are based on a May-June 2020 survey of more than 10,000 consumers across France (2,000), Germany (2,022), Spain (2,000), the UK (2,000) and the US (2,003).

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