Binge-watching changes the world

Binge-watching or binge-viewing is a hot topic at the moment and rightfully so. After years of watching linear TV programming or catching up the episodes on VHS after the premiere, audiences and fans are embrassing the possibility to finally consume entertainment just the way they want to and for how long they want to. Like it pretty much is with every other consumer product. So, the digital revolution is finally catching up with serialized entertainment.

Before we came up with the term "binge-watching", people sloutching before TV for hours on end were called "couch potatoes". I remember my mom reminding me that "too much TV will rot my brain" and I should "go out, it´s a beautiful day" in the middle of my weekend marathon of "Knight Rider", taped on VHS of course. Binge-watching on the other hand, is socially acceptable and makes the linear television look old fashioned. Finally the audience has the control.

But is binge-watching something new? Yes and no. For the older generation, binge-watching is welcomed form to consume your favorite content, but if you look at the web-savvy and web-native younger generation binge-watching is nothing new. Because of the short format of online video, binge-watching is all you do and you do it several times a day. As the attention span gets shorter, it will further change the way entertainment is consumed in the future. And the change is already in motion, at least that´s what it looks like if you look at the figures. According to Sandvine, real-time video and audio entertainment traffic takes up most of the Internet's bandwidth and that means Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube. And the time spent with these content providers is time taken from the traditional TV Networks, who now face a challenge that can be terminal for them.

Ad funded TV Networks need to figure out how to make revenue when viewers are in control and only want to watch the content, not the ads, for hours on end. And to make the situation even more challenging,  brands who buy the ads are waking up to a new world where quality brand content can compete with the best entertainment for the attention of the audience. Take Chipotle´s short films "The Scarecrow" and "Back to the start". These are prime examples of brand content that captures the attention of the audience and can keep it for hours on end. And with a free channel like YouTube, why would Chipotle waste their media budget on advertisements, when investment in quality content pays off better. Now Chipotle just needs to mass produce it for the binge-watchers and they will have the attention of the masses for hours on end.

Don´t invade, engage!

According Wikipedia, the first banner ad was sold by Global Network Navigator (GNN) in 1993 to Heller, Ehrman, White and McAuliffe and the rest was advertising history. Wheather the now defunct law firm with a Silicon Valley office started what is today a multi-billion dollar industry or not, is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that ever since the first display ad hit the screens, the evolution of online advertising has been non existent. What makes it even worse is that it basicly animated print ads and use a much smaller space. So when James Salins, the CEO of Supersonic Ads said at Mobile Games Forum 2013, in London: "In-game advertising is twice as effective as online advertising, and four times more effective than TV advertising", I started thinking that maybe now is the time to do something different. Most of the in-game advertising are the same display ads that are used on sites, but since gaming is all about engaging, even those annoying, old fashioned banners get more attention. So we have the audience, how can we create new ad forms?

Brands should see games as a platform to engage the audience and deepen the brand experience – they need to argument the game and the gaming experience instead of invading it. Think it from the gamers perpective. You´re trying to finnish a level, beat the boss, get the high score and you have spent the better half of the hour trying to achieve all that. At the same time a local bank is blocking part of your view with ad promoting a credit card (which you don´t need at that particular moment) and the car shop trying to sell you a pair of tires (you don´t even have a car!). Feeling the love? Not likely. But what if the brand would help you to achieve your goals or added a new level? What if the brand was a part of the gaming experience and would tell its story through the game? That would benefit the brand, the game company and most importantly – the fans.

We, at TBWA\Gamelab, recently did a campaign for McDonalds China with Rovio Entertainment. Rovio´s Angry Birds has over billion downloads worldwide, making it one of the biggest media platforms on earth. And to be honest, the campaign included display ads and TV ads, the traditional ad formats and we even had paper posters, POS materials and toys (it´s Angry Birds, you got to have the merchandise), but we also created something unique. McDonald´s would offer the fans something extra, using a new ad space within the Angry Birds game and the GPS available in every mobile device these days. By entering a physical McDonald´s restaurant, customers would be able to unlock new levels and game modes (you could play as the pigs) and get in-game currency called Power-ups. McDonald´s was offering this to anyone who had Angry Birds installed in their mobile phone and was at the restaurant. The campaign was a success both in advertising metrics as well as business.

Moving away from display ads to new ways of engagement also creates new challenges for gaming companies. Game engines need to be designed from the beginning to offer the tools to create augmented brand experiences and there should be sufficient amount of data about the gamers. No brand can invest if they don´t know what they are getting. And to calculate the marketing ROI, we need to understand what is the value for in-game brand engagement and that requires new metrics and measuring tools, since the current ones are still based on the 1990´s display ads.