In what may be one of the most existential questions ever explored by
the ad industry, Horizon Media just dropped new research redefining what it means to be “live” in the modern time-shiftable media universe.
In its new report, “The New Live
Ecosystem," Horizon digs into the modern-day meaning of "live" events and media experiences and has reorganized them under a new rubric consisting of three concentric layers of "live" opportunities
that advertisers and agencies can exploit to capitalize on what might otherwise be scarce, super premium, live advertising inventory.
The layers consist of:
- "Real-time hype" --
happening on-premise or during the official live broadcasts or streams of an entertainment or sporting event
- "Social reverb" -- likened to "co-viewing" via group chats, watch
parties, social posts, etc.
- "Cultural afterglow -- the meme culture traversing social media platforms -- from TikTok recaps to YouTube reactions to fan-cams, commentary and
behind-the-scenes footage
Importantly, the research and report are not just an abstract, theoretical ethnographic study, but have practical applications for planning, buying and
determining the return-on-ad-spending associated with implementing campaigns across the layers.
Horizon has even developed effective live CPMs that can be calculated based on a
proprietary scorecard analyzing the relative value to specific clients and brands.
"We’re using it with our advertisers to understand the value of these types of experiences
for them," Horizon Media Executive Vice President-Chief Of Futures Michele Donati told me during a briefing on the new findings, and how Horizon is implementing them.
"What we want
to leave them with is, ‘If you are just in the stadium or in the live experience, you are leaving value on the table.’ And we don’t want them to do that," she explained, adding:
"Secondarily, if you can’t afford to be in the actual event, there are other ways you can capitalize on it as a brand."
Donati said she was inspired by the ubiquitous "live" programming
pitches being made by the major TV networks and streaming platforms at last spring's upfronts.
“All of them were talking about ‘live,’ ‘live,’ ‘live.’
NBC Universal: “75% of our schedule is live. Amazon was saying, ‘We’ve got more live'," Donati recalled, adding: "There’s a lot of discussion about live, and obviously, for a
lot of advertisers being in a live event is very important in terms of timing messages and trying to hit goals within a certain sales period, but it got us to start thinking about what live really
means now."
The study is chockfull of stats to back up the thesis, but what really struck me was how, given a long, protracted evolution of time-shiftable media -- from the days of "Is it live, or is it Memorex" tape recording to the early days of VCRs and DVRs to the current state of always-on, on-demand streaming and
social -- no one on Madison Avenue has sought to explore what the meaning of "live" media experiences has morphed into.
We bantered about some ancillary factors, including the role of
generative AI, as well as the idea that it can effectively regenerate new "live" versions of deceased individuals -- from Tupac Shakur to
who knows who -- but that's a column for another day.
