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Bryan Segal speaks to how media, news and product consumption has changed during the global pandemic.

Learn more about Bryan Segal's expertise and media appearances here: https://expertfile.com/experts/bryan.segal2

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Bryan Segal on Consumption Habits during the Pandemic

Comscore is celebrating its 20th year in business – and we’d like to personally thank each of our clients, partners, employees and investors who have worked with us over the last two decades. We are incredibly grateful for your partnership, investment, hard work and belief in Comscore’s mission to bring trust and transparency to media and marketing.

Media and Advertising: The Past, Present and Future

As advertising strategies continue to evolve, it’s critical for marketers to select, measure and optimize the right performance indicators – particularly in programmatic. Comscore’s trusted partners share their thoughts on how to best gain a complete, actionable picture of campaign effectiveness.

Measuring and Optimizing Programmatic KPIs

Comscore Activation helps media buyers drive more      strategic, impactful targeting for improved campaign performance. Hear our      partners share how Comscore’s audience and contextual segments have      enabled brands and agencies to improve ROI in programmatic.

Activating Comscore Segments for Improved ROI

There’s no question that as technology rapidly advances, consumer behavior will change alongside with it. Marketers need to adapt to new delivery method, such as Advanced TV, in order to effectively reach their target audiences. 

The Chicago Institute of Marketing (CIMA) recently hosted a panel of experts in the space to help make sense of Advanced TV, highlight targeting opportunities, and provide best practice tips. Comscore’s Jeff Boehme, SVP Research, participated in the panel and shared his expertise on the constantly changing TV landscape.

Is TV dead? No…It's simply advanced

digital-media-consumption-in-canada-is-being-dramatically-impacted-by-the-coronavirus-crisis

Digital Media Consumption in Canada is Being Dramatically Impacted by the Coronavirus Crisis

Senior Vice President

A Canadian perspective on Comscore’s ongoing special investigation into how the COVID-19 pandemic is leading to significant audience and consumer behaviour changes across digital platforms. Insights from our Analysis: News, news and more news: Canadians are consuming news at a record pace Social media and messaging: Canadians are staying ultra-connected with their communities Entertainment, music, and spirituality content: increased consumption seen as behaviours change Government: information from government websites are becoming top-of-mind Finance: increased focus on investments and payments   Analysis of News & Information Category We have seen an explosion on engagement with news and information sites. In looking at the news categories and its subcategories, the week of Mar 9-15, 2020 saw big increases in engagement over the benchmark week of Dec 30, 2019 - Jan 5, 2020.

As a trend, news consumption in general is also on the rise in Canada in terms of aggregate daily unique visitors and visits over time. Analysis of Social Media and Messaging Category As Canadians respond to the Coronavirus reality, we are seeing that their engagement with digital communication channels has increased significantly. When comparing daily engagement with email, instant messengers and social networking sites between the week of March 9-15, 2020 and the benchmark week of Dec 30, 2019 -Jan 5, 2020 as it relates to the % change in usage, we saw large increase in activity.

The raw increase in numbers in social media provides greater detailsof the growth in usage:  Analysis of Entertainment, Misc and Religious / Spiritual Category Content is Queen, King, Prince, and Princess – between the weeks of Dec 30– January 5 and March 9-15, greater amounts of time at home and the associated increased screen time drove incremental usage of the Entertainment category and the Religious/Spiritual subcategory.

Driving the growth is the explosion of Entertainment – Music, which saw an increase of 32% in aggregate daily UV, a 33% increase in visits, and a 31% increase in minutes during this time. Analysis of Government Category Another category that has seen an explosion of visitation and engagement is government sites. Overall there has been huge audience and time spent with government-related content.
Here is the build of visits and aggregate Daily UV over the past 10 weeks:

We reviewed the Government category between week of Dec 30, 2019 – January 5, 2020 to March 9 – March 15, 2020 and looked at the % change in usage, which really showed a large increase in activity by Canadians. Based on this trend and growing global cases of Coronavirus, it is expected that Canadian audiences will continue to flock to the content from the government in these uncertain times. Analysis of Finance Category There is a saying that we hear in society – “Follow the Money”. The digital behavior of Canadians has been analogous in recent weeks as we have seen increased measures taken relating to the Coronavirus. Overall the Business/Finance category has seen some increased usage over the time period reviewed. Banking, Payments, Investments, and especially Taxes have seen high visitation. Between the week of Dec 30, 2019 – January 5, 2020 to March 9 – March 15, 2020 we saw an increase of +19% and +59%, respectively, in visits in the Investments and Payments subcategories.

Additional insights  from Comscore’s initial COVID-19 insights for Canada show that:
Overall Digital Consumption across the Total Internet has increased. During the time period of this review visits have increased by 10% and time spent has increased by 14% In a time of crisis, people turn to News/Information Websites There have been significant increases in activity by Canadians on Social Media, Email, and Messaging pointing to the need for communication. Social distancing is safe on the internet. Interest soars for government information sources – where we see an explosion of usage. Increases in certain content Categories like Entertainment, Games, Music, Dating, and Religion/Spirituality have spiked Spikes in traffic are occurring for the e-commerce giants as social distancing and local restrictions impact in-store retail – with specific focus on Food and Supermarket Global movement restrictions lead to tumultuous traffic for travel sites  

canadians-digital-behavioral-shifts-in-relation-to-the-the-coronavirus-pandemic

Canadian's Digital Behavioral Shifts in Relation to the The Coronavirus Pandemic

This article is part of a series of insights that reveal a Canadian perspective on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer behavior and significant audience shifts across digital platforms.  Things are moving fast. Following our last update regarding digital media consumption during the Coronavirus pandemic, this article will highlight some of the major category changes reflected as of the week March 16 - 22, 2020. 
 Key Insights from Our Analysis Digital consumption continues to grow: the visits and minutes curve is not flattening Key content categories such as news, social media, and government are being driven by higher engagement: metrics include visits and duration More engagement with news sites: sites categorized as local, business/finance, and general news are main drivers Categories that focus on entertaining, kids, food, financial advice, and children’s education are also seeing growth: growth comes from increases in aggregate unique visitors, visits and minutes Automotive manufacturers, real estate, sports and travel entities have seen decreases: however, they are poised for major increases and a bounce back. Mobile platforms are driving growth: some differences between desktop and mobile engagement  Canadian's total digital consumption continues to grow When we analyzed Canadian total digital media consumption to compare the percentage change between the week of March 16, 2020 and the first weeks of January 2020, February 2020, and March 2020, we found that overall digital engagement is not flattening. Even comparing the beginning of March against mid-March, we can see visitation, visits, and engagement continuing to grow.

Looking at the total digital consumption trend over time, we can see growth in total minutes spent online while total visits have remained relatively flat.  Media Consumption Growth by Category There are several content categories that we are seeing major growth in each of the time periods: These digital categories of news/information, social media, entertainment, government and games are showing continuous growth. The need for ongoing news and information updates, government information, flocking to social media to bring community together and message, and the need to be entertained with visitation and engagement on Entertainment and Games Entities.

News and Information Category Insights  To look at the news/information category a bit closer – it is amazing to see the category growth over the past few weeks of Canadians going to news entities to get updates. The hockey stick growth from the start of March 2020 is very evident.

The news and information growth is being driven by local news, general news, and business/finance news. That being said – technology, politics, and weather are also seeing growth. Through these time periods, we are also seeing some other categories that are showing significant growth. Many of the categories are a result of many Canadians being home bound and isolated, and with families with kids having the kids at home.  Platform Variance for Media Consumption One of the areas that we have been asked most about is whether we find any variances between desktop and mobile platforms. When reviewing the data, there is greater engagement with mobile platforms in the week of March 16 compared to other weeks. Amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing a significant increase in digital consumption amongst Canadian consumers. The data trends show Canadians are flocking online with significant growth in news entities, instant messaging, social media, government resources, entertainment, music destinations, video, and financial websites. What this means for marketers and advertisers is a significant opportunity to reach Canadians who are highly engaged and are looking for relevant and timely content. It comes down to delivering the right message, at the right time, in front of the right audience, in brand safe environments. 

insights-and-analysis-of-canadian-digital-media-consumption-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-

Insights and Analysis of Canadian Digital Media Consumption During the Coronavirus Pandemic 

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, millions of Canadians are staying home and turning to their computers, smartphones, and tablets as a core source of news, information, education, and entertainment.  This article is part of a series of insights that reveal a Canadian perspective on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer behavior and significant audience shifts across digital platforms. This week we will highlight some of the major category changes reflected as of the week March 23 - 29, 2020.

Key Insights from Our Analysis: Digital consumption continues to grow, although at a slower pace Canadians are still consuming news at a record pace, but growth is slowing Sports and Real Estate declines are slowing Retail overall is stable but key categories like Toys, Apparel, and Books are increasing in consumption Canadian usage in Dating, Pets, Food, and Family & Youth Education on the rise  Canada's Total Digital Population An analysis of Canadian Total Digital Media consumption looking at the percent change from week of March 23, 2020 to March 29, 2020 from the previous week of March 16, 2020 to March 22, 2020 showed continued increase of Unique Visitors (UVs), Visits, and Minutes, but does reveal that some increases are at a slower rate than previous weeks. Unique Visitors grew by +1%, Visits by +2%, and Minutes by +5%. At a top line that is still substantial growth, but throughout this release we will give insights into what is driving these increases, and in some cases highlight categories that are starting to show recovery. Analysis from the News and Information Category This category has been a huge focus over the past few releases given the amazing growth of Unique Visitors, Visits, and Minutes as COVID-19 became more prevalent in Canada. Canadians flocked to News/Information websites in record numbers driven by General News, Local News, Weather, and Politics. With that being said, during our latest week of data (week of March 23, 2020 to March 29, 2020) we have seen a lower percentage increase for the category. There is still growth, but the growth is at a slower rate. The category is still a huge area of focus and visitation and engagement are near record high levels. Analysis from the Retail Category The Retail category has also been a particular focus as bricks and mortar shopping has significantly changed, and in some places closed where they are deemed non-essential. Overall, the Retail category has seen a pretty flat line of growth in Unique Visitors, Visits, and Minutes. That being said, we have seen some sub-categories show growth that is greatly over-indexing. This growth in the Retail category is being driven by these subcategories: Toys, Books, Apparel, Sports/Outdoor, Department Stores/Malls. Toys is leading the charge with a 27% week-over-week growth in Unique Visitors. Analysis from Sports and Real Estate Categories The Sports and Real Estate categories have been two of several categories hit by major decreases in visitation and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. 
With live sports on hold for most of the major sports leagues in North America – there has been a decline across the board. That being said, during the week of March 23, 2020 to March 29, 2020 for the first time since our COVID-19 analysis began we have seen a decrease in the rate of decline in Visitation, and an in fact an increase in week-over-week Minutes.

In terms of the Real Estate category, we have seen small week-over-week decreases with -3% in Unique Visitors, -7% in Visits, and -6% in Minutes – compared to the double-digit declines in the past few weeks.  Insights from Other Categories of Interest There were a few other categories that hit our radar this week when looking at the data. These categories have seen week-over-week increases – that show Canadians are increasing Visitation and Engagement with this content. Many of these categories reflect the reality that people are isolated at home – with either kids (whom they must entertain and educate) or without kids or a partner – and they are looking to meet new people (Dating). The Pets category showed big increases, and Lifestyle – Food showed increases in activity. Canadians are apparently focused on love, kids, pets, and their tummies!  

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