Commentary

Will Streaming Kill The Super Bowl Ad?

It seems nobody is really going to be watching the Super Bowl on a television set this Sunday. I recognize my estimate may be a little on the low side.

But the CBS telecast -- the one on TV -- seems very old hat, or I guess, helmet, this year. Streaming is where it’s at. Second and third screens is where it's happening.

An Adobe survey and other information leads them to predict that 35% of millennials will watch via a connected TV. More than 25% said they are very likely to download an app to watch.

Those younger viewers are 3.5 times more likely to watch the game on something other than a TV set.

Tamara Gaffney, the principal analyst for Adobe Digital Index, has a couple of interesting takeaways from the research and surveying the company has done.

One is that a “coordinated, multiscreen launch event is critical this year.” The second point relates to that in a more futuristic way:” We’re getting really close to the pinnacle of mass advertising with indiscriminate marketing coming to an end. More advertisers will be able to advertise for the Super Bowl, and it’ll mean fewer marketing moments for marketers,” Gaffney states.

I’m extrapolating, but what that means is that as more avenues for the game telecast develop, the grand scale of the old, fantastic “Super Bowl ad” will drift away and become as dated as Danica Patrick.

Those Super-shared ads will be replaced by lots of different ads, from different brands, for different platforms, all precisely targeted and with all the creative impact of. . . any other ad.  

Mean Joe Greene, we barely knew ye.

Everybody’s got game, even this year.

Earlier this week, Verizon’s Go90 said the game will available on that mobile only service, partnering with CBS Sports, which is also streaming the game, or course.

Apple TV will be streaming it, and, in the UK, you can stream it on the BBC’s iPlayer. A Website, CultofMac.com, says overseas, a “quasi-legal” way to stream the game is through UnoTelly, which will let you spoof your IP on your Apple or other devices so it seems you’re in the U.S.

Findings from Adobe indicate that while everybody is watching the game, not everybody is just watching the game. Millennials are much more likely to Web surf on social media for unrelated viewing rather than sports during the game.

And they are 58% more likely to watch a Super Bowl ad on social media before the game--more likely on Facebook than YouTube. They are also most likely to visit an advertiser’s site during the game.

It seems, if you add it all up, that millennials may feel very iffy about committing to a single viewing experience, when instead, they could go dozens of places in the same time span. 
The rest of the world is right behind them. As streaming makes special events much more accessible, it also makes them a lot less special. 
pj@mediapost.com
 
2 comments about "Will Streaming Kill The Super Bowl Ad?".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. larry towers from nyu, February 4, 2016 at 4:54 p.m.

    A connected TV doesn't mean it won't be getting video OTA or Via cable box. My connected TV is still used for broadcast occassionally especially when screening a live event

  2. larry towers from nyu, February 4, 2016 at 4:56 p.m.

    And the devices aren't mutually exclusive. The younger generation has always had divided attention. There is nothing new here.

Next story loading loading..