RTL AdAlliance has revealed the fourth edition of its annual study – The New Life of the Living Room. In the quantitative research, RTL Group’s international sales house separates signal from noise in the fast-changing video content and advertising landscape, providing valuable insight into evolving viewing habits across 14 European markets and the US.
The research reveals that linear TV remains a preferred and trusted source for consumers’ favourite programmes and a variety of genres. Most Europeans turn to broadcast TV for news (59 per cent), sports (44 per cent) and entertainment (44 per cent), while SVoD is the top choice for movies and series (63 per cent).
Broadcaster content also remains the entry point for most viewers when they turn on their TV device. Over half (51 per cent) of respondents first switch on linear TV when starting the TV device, another 8 per cent first access BVoD platforms. European users trust the curation of broadcast TV, making it easy-to-find content. Some 40 per cent of viewers need less than one minute to find content on linear TV.
Consumers seem to seamlessly switch between platforms, with 45 per cent watching linear TV and 36 per cent viewing SVoD daily. YouTube (30 per cent) and BVoD (17 per cent) experienced significant growth in daily usage, both rising by 6 percentage points. While US viewers lean more towards digital content (49 per cent watch SVoD daily), European audiences tend to favour linear TV. Spanish viewers are the most loyal to linear TV with 61 per cent watching daily.
The fluid transition between platforms has also influenced how viewers define ‘watching TV’. For 52 per cent of viewers, watching long-form content like sports or movies on a TV screen qualifies as ‘watching TV’, even when accessed through platforms like YouTube. Only 36 per cent consider viewing similar content on mobile or desktop as “TV”. Meanwhile, just 22 per cent of respondents regard viewing creator- and user-generated content on YouTube via a TV set as ‘watching TV’.
A particularly noteworthy result of TheNew Life of the Living Room study highlights the increasing trust in traditional media such as radio (67 per cent), linear TV (66 per cent), magazines/newspapers (64 per cent), and BVoD (58 per cent). Social media platforms lag significantly behind, with TikTok being the least trustworthy, trusted by only 23 per cent of respondents. This shows that European viewers do make a distinction between platforms and attribute a different value in terms of ad experience and trust. Ads are perceived as less intrusive on traditional channels like linear TV (55 per cent) compared to video-sharing platforms (61 per cent) and a significant percentage of respondents (32 per cent) regularly regrets wasting time by watching content on YouTube.
“The smart TV remains the central hub for television and video entertainment with viewers defining TV by device, quality and long-form content rather than delivery method. Nonetheless, trust in traditional media is growing across Europe, reinforcing the enduring value of broadcast content, particularly as a trustworthy source of information and for locally produced premium programming. This mix of trust and quality sets the standard for selecting optimal TV advertising environments in so many different European markets. As RTL AdAlliance, we simplify advertisers’ access to Europe’s complex media landscape, and our latest The New Life of the Living Room research offers vital insights and a clear understanding for navigating TV advertising”.
commented Stéphane Coruble, CEO at RTL AdAlliance.
Source: advanced-television.com