The New TV dinner: Insights that can help inform quick-service restaurant brands about at-home dining and Streaming TV
16 August 2022 | By: Theresa Yerger, Sr. Content Marketing Manager, Hospitality
The quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry is in the midst of digital evolution, just as restaurant consumer spending is reaching historic levels.1 According to the USDA Economic Research Service, the food-away-from-home (restaurant purchases) index rose 6.8% over the last year, which was the largest 12-month increase since December 1981.2 QSR brands are making efforts to capture this spend through the adoption of new digital efforts, including self-ordering technology, loyalty apps and contactless payments, to reach a new generation of diners and create brand loyalty in a competitive marketplace.3
The QSR industry quickly moved to innovate in 2020, which resulted in an industry progression faster than anyone could have forecasted.4 Knowing that the media landscape has become more fragmented in the last two years, QSR brands may want to consider Streaming TV ads as a channel to communicate their brand differentiators during a pivotal time for the industry.
Amazon Ads worked with Kantar to survey 1,244 adult consumers who identified as Amazon shoppers and visitors of a QSR or casual dining restaurant (CDR) at least once per month, in order to better understand the TV viewing habits of this audience. Demographics for this audience skew slightly female (56% female vs 44% male). Survey results show 71% of this audience are millennials or Gen X and 29% are boomers or adult Gen Z (18+).5
Three takeaways from the Amazon Ads casual dining audience study
1. QSR/CDR customers are actively streaming content–and likely to watch with others
According to the Amazon Ads and Kantar survey, nearly nine in ten (87%) Amazon shoppers who visit a QSR restaurant at least once per month watch Streaming TV – and many are watching ad-enabled content. Of those consumers, 86% access ad-enabled streaming services, including Freevee and Twitch. Most prefer to watch content on their TV (65%), compared to the 35% who watch on a mobile screen. Co-viewing is also popular among this audience, with seven in ten responding that they mostly watch TV or video content with others.6
2. Takeout is ordered on the way home and when watching TV
Survey respondents said they are most likely to order takeout – either in-person (38%) or digitally (35%)–on their way home. Respondents indicated they are likely to want to watch content while eating food, with 34% ordering before they start watching TV and 28% ordering while they watch TV. Most notably, 79% of this audience is ordering or visiting a QSR/CDR establishment at least weekly. Their top food preferences are pizza, burgers and fried chicken or wings.7
79% of survey respondents indicated they order or visit a QSR/CDR at least weekly8
3. QSR/CDR customers are likely to be engaged across Amazon channels
More than six in ten survey respondents confirmed they own at least one Amazon device, including a Fire TV, Fire tablet, Echo or Kindle. More than half watch at least one Amazon video service like Prime Video, Freevee or Twitch. Survey respondents indicated that the Amazon ad-enabled environment is a major factor in ad recall – respondents were more likely to remember an ad they saw or heard on Amazon ad-enabled media compared to social media or TV. Respondents felt that ads they recalled on Amazon ad-enabled media were more relevant, compelling, and helpful than ads recalled on social media or TV alone.9
How QSR/CDR brands can reach diners where they are
While the formats of both TV shows and TV dinners are changing, audiences continue to love to eat while watching shows with each other. The modern TV dinner is one that’s digitally enabled, with consumers preferring to stream content and order their meals through a smartphone. QSR/CDR brands may want to consider a multichannel strategy that’s rooted in streaming TV, due to the high propensity of today’s consumers being connected across a variety of touchpoints.
Learn more about connected TV (CTV) and OTT marketing.
1National Restaurant Association, “2022 State of the Restaurant Industry Report”, January 2022
2U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Food Away from Home Index”, March 2022
3–4EHL Insights, “7 restaurant technology trends to watch in 2022”, January 2022
5–9Source: Kantar US Amazon Audience streaming survey – Dec 2021