Streaming is the mainstream: what that means for UK advertisers

10 August 2021 | By: Frazer Locke, Head of Ad Tech Sales, Europe, Amazon Ads

In the last year, streaming adoption has grown throughout the UK. We spent more time at home, and many of us turned to new, digital forms of entertainment. But even now with the UK open, many consumers continue to appreciate some of the habits they adopted over the last 16 months, including streaming.

Through a recent Kantar study, we learned that 84% of Amazon customers surveyed in the UK are either cord-stackers (viewers who watch both streaming and broadcast or satellite content), or cord-cutters (viewers who only stream content).1 This sends a clear message. It’s not just early adopters streaming content. It’s the majority.

Furthermore, video gaming and e-sports are also on the rise – consumers in 600,000 households started playing console games on their TV in 2020 in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, according to Kantar’s Worldpanel ComTech data. In the UK, e-sports is increasingly popular with nearly one in four TV viewers streaming e-sports.2 And where are many gamers watching other gamers? On Twitch. There are now 30 million average daily users on Twitch from 230 countries.3 Consumers in the UK are also streaming more podcasts, music, and other audio content, year over year.4

All of these trends point to one takeaway: Streaming is the mainstream.

So what does this mean for brands?

To really connect with consumers, it’s important for brands to build trust and emotional connections at every stage of the customer journey – and streaming channels offer a host of creative opportunities. There’s value in being where customers are leaned in and engaged. Big brands like Lego and Doritos have sponsored the e-sports tournament Twitch Rivals.

So think about how to reach audiences at scale, where they prefer to spend time. Ideate how you can bring your brand to life on streaming channels in creative and innovative ways to engage with customers in the moment. Tailor your approach by having a better understanding of your audience, and keep the messages as relevant, useful, and engaging as possible.

Here’s a look at how one brand did just that.

“All in Goo Time”, a short film that Cadbury and Amazon Ads produced.

Cadbury launched an “EATertainment” streaming channel

You may be familiar with Cadbury Creme Egg, the UK’s number-one confectionery brand in retail sales value at Easter.5 (I certainly had more than a few.) The brand drives most of their Creme Egg sales with the 35+ audience,6 who grew up loving this unique product. However, 18- to 34-year-olds weren’t buying as many Creme Eggs.

To get their message across to this audience, Cadbury teamed up with the creative agency Elvis to launch “EATertainment”, Cadbury Creme Egg’s own streaming channel. Then, Amazon Ads produced two short films, “All in Goo Time” and “The Eggscapade”, which lived on Prime Video Direct.

An Amazon Ads media campaign drove traffic to the short films, using high-impact creatives across IMDb. Cadbury also used Amazon DSP, with video and display ads, to engage relevant audiences anywhere they spend their time. Cadbury reengaged audiences, who had seen the films, to buy Creme Egg on Amazon.co.uk, via IMDb, Fire tablet and display ads. The campaign drove a strong £1.35 return on investment across offline and online sales, and Cadbury saw a 5% offline sales uplift for Creme Egg during the campaign (versus 3% benchmark).7

That is just one example of a brand who met customers where they stream, with compelling content geared to their audiences. Now that streaming has added more channels where brands can connect with customers, advertisers – more than ever – need to have holistic measurement solutions that consolidate full-funnel measurement into one view. Work with companies who can help you have a more complete view of how advertising is helping you drive business outcomes across all the new channels you’re investing in.

I look forward to seeing the innovative and creative ways brands will reach customers through video, audio and livestreaming, and if you’re interested in working with Amazon Ads to create those experiences, please get in touch.

Sources

1 Kantar UK TV/streaming audience study, November 2020.
2 https://www.kantar.com/inspiration/technology/gamers-demand-top-spec-tvs 3 Twitchadvertising.tv
4 How the pandemic affected our UK digital audio listener forecast, eMarketer, 2021
5 Nielsen data, Total Market, YTD up to 18/04/2020
6 Cadbury internal data
7 Information Resources, Incorporated (IRI), April 2020