Andy Cullwick, head of marketing at First4Lawyers, examines the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on UK media trends and attracting claims
You won’t be surprised to hear that media consumption has changed in light of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. As a result, we’re all having to respond and focus our operations and marketing efforts where they are best placed.
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen an unprecedented shift in the way people are getting exposure to our services and this will only continue to change as the situation with Covid-19 develops. We won’t see the light at the end of the tunnel just yet, so we are focusing on what we can do in the interim to ensure ‘business as usual’ as much as we possibly can.
The shift to home working and schooling has inevitably led to an increase in TV viewership throughout the daytime, with viewership up as much as 40%. Peak airtime didn’t initially experience similar growth, however, since going into lockdown this has started to change.
Some 14.5 million adults tuned into the prime minister’s ‘stay at home’ announcement. Since then we have seen big changes, with shows such as Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and Gogglebox attracting record audiences. There has also been a spike in the number of people watching the news, with Sky News viewers up 200%.
Channel output will become a challenge in the future as filming has stopped on virtually all new content, but channels are focusing on light relief programming to entertain people during the lockdown. Channel 4 has launched a range of programmes, including The Steph Show, as a daily magazine programme fronted by journalist Steph McGovern, along with a range of cookery and light entertainment programmes from the likes of Jamie Oliver and Kirstie Allsopp.
Like anything in the current climate and situation we find ourselves in, TV viewership is likely to fluctuate and viewing behaviours will undoubtedly change over the coming weeks, until Covid-19 is tackled.
In terms of online, there has surprisingly been a huge increase in paid social as more people spend time at home, but this doesn’t come without a price. As competition for consumer attention heightens, so does the cost per impression. It will be interesting to see whether there is a further shift on paid social in the coming weeks, as well as which sectors see an uplift in activity.
Pay-per-click has seen the biggest change reflected by different sectors. Travel-related search has dropped off completely, but we are seeing increases in food delivery-, insurance- and wills-related searches.