How Do Political Views Impact Viewing Choices?
Why we need new research this election year.
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How Do Political Views Impact Viewing Choices?
Decades ago, when I started in the TV business working at NBCU, basic demographics like gender and age were strong predictors of consumers’ viewing behavior and were the basis for most media business decisions (18-49!).
Over time, those demos have become much weaker predictors and, as a result, content providers, advertisers, and media researchers have looked at income, race, interests, media technology ownership, and viewing patterns to identify target groups, create networks, and make content for various audiences.
Even though demographic characteristics are still relevant, analyses that go beyond demos have provided insights that lead to more effective marketing, branding, and advertising and help develop more successful content.
But do consumers’ core values, their attitudes, and their political orientation influence their media choices?
The Importance of Knowing Your Consumers
Sometimes marketers forget that “Knowing Your Consumers” should include knowing their values, attitudes, emotions, and even their moods and sense of humor. In my current work at the ARF, I have seen many presentations that show how these factors can determine consumer response to marketing messages and impact product choices.
Investing in research that provides such understanding helps accurate, successful targeting and avoids inaccurate or stereotypical assumptions about your consumers. Armed with such knowledge, marketers can develop strategies more effectively.
Having said that, it is important to stress that researchers need to find ways to uncover consumers’ true values and attitudes. For instance, they need to discern survey responses affected by social desirability or other biases, as well as pinpoint statements from respondents that do not reflect their actual behavior.
TV Entertainment and Political Opinions
That brings me to my main point. We have all seen many reports about “a divided country” which show that Americans hold opposing views on many political issues. We have also seen data (by Pew Research Center and others) showing how those views impact choices for news sources, such as the preferred news network. But how relevant are those political views, values, and attitudes for entertainment programs? And if they are, which programs are impacted and which ones are not?
A Proposal for New Research
I consider these questions important not only because it’s an election year, but also because this strikes me as a complex issue that we don’t have enough data on - and which doesn’t allow for jumping to conclusions.
First, there are good reasons to assume that at least some entertainment programs are impacted by political orientation. (Yellowstone is often mentioned in that context; just Google “Yellowstone conservative show.”) However, most programs are not overtly political or partisan and avoid controversial issues. Which ones do and which do not attract viewers with specific political opinions?
Further, studies by pollsters (Nate Cohn, for example) suggest that most Americans are not as partisan and their political opinions are not as important to them as some reports suggest. This means that an impact on viewing patterns may be limited to those viewers who hold strong opinions.
Therefore, I suggest that research on these issues should include a measure of attitude/opinion intensity.
In sum, I think taking a closer look at the impact of values and political views on viewers’ entertainment choices would provide important new insights for content providers and advertisers, both for targeting audiences as well as for informing creative decisions.
Horst Stipp is EVP, Research & Innovation at The Advertising Research Foundation. He joined the ARF in January 2011 after a long career in research at NBC Universal.
Stipp received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University. His publications cover a wide range of media and marketing topics. He is a recipient of an ARF Lifetime Achievement Award.
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About Hub Entertainment Research
Hub Entertainment Research, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2023, tracks how technology is changing the way people find, choose, and consume entertainment content: from TV and movies to gaming, music, podcasts, and social video. Hub’s studies have covered the most important trends in providers, devices, and technologies since 2013. We work with the largest TV networks, pay TV operators, streaming providers, technology companies, and studios to assess the present and forecast the future.
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