How companies can react in this situation by focusing on marketing and communication
Coronavirus has revolutionized our days, impacted heavily on our priorities and freedoms, also forcibly redesigning our use of the media. Let’s take a look at the main changes that took place during this particular period, thanks to an interesting study published by Immediato Mediaplus.
TV regains audience
During this period, on average, one Italian out of three watches television and with the closure of schools, a good share of children and teenagers has been added, however less than that of adults. The analysis identified a correlated trend, direct and proportional, between the increase in cases of contagion and listening to television, as shown in the graph below.
The peak of the audience is at 9 pm with almost 50% of Italians in front of the television, but it is the day time that has benefited most from the situation with an increase of 17%.
All segments of the population benefited from the change, but it is the active targets and above all the young people and children who have most changed their media habits.
Viewers spend on average over six and a half hours in front of the television, an hour more than before the virus spread. In addition, the consumption of videos on linear TV and that of connected TVs, fixed or mobile devices is growing, and finally the number of users, time spent and number of videos viewed also increases.
Traditional information portals are the most authoritative
Local news and information networks are recording excellent results. The all-news networks and the most authoritative news outlets also depopulate, also and above all through their digital portals (corriere.it, repubblica.it, ilsole24ore.com, etc.). In a period in which the need for certified and truthful information is fundamental, traditional information publications confirm their leadership on all platforms.
The answer from the world of corporate marketing
Marketing has therefore adapted to these changes, less brands than expected canceled the campaigns (about 12%), almost half of them rescheduled, but surely those who already had an e-commerce or website were ready with high-performance digital services pushing, where possible, products for home use available online. Most companies have therefore committed themselves to maintaining a minimum of visibility for these weeks and above all to imagining restart strategies.
In general, ethical attitudes and strategies for immediate response to the crisis have prevailed from sector operators, such as publishers and advertising agencies: commercial policies were quickly developed with strong discounts to support the investments of companies such as those launched by Mediaset, IGP Decaux, and some national radio stations, just to name a few.
What can a company do in these quarantine days?
In this moment it is important to communicate closeness to your customers, highlight any beneficial initiatives (if they have not yet been done this is the right time), take advantage of the days of inevitable calm to reorganize your site and finally invest in the media more performant as TV, social and news portals, which can bring returns on investments even double or triple compared to the previous period.