“Snacking” at Lunch

No, I am not referring to a new diet fad. I’m referring to one of the many current trends that exist in the way people consume media — a trend that is certain to be relevant to media producers, content creators, and even companies looking to market themselves (and yes, that includes B2B as well).

Web distribution of video is certainly nothing new. For as long as I’ve had an email account, people have been forwarding me videos that I, in turn, share with others. The creation of sites like YouTube didn’t introduce us to web video, it simply relocated it. Now almost anybody — from major studios looking to repurpose their content, amateur filmmakers looking to be discovered, or teenagers with a camera phone recording their friend playing Guitar Hero — has the opportunity to not only distribute their content, but to receive feedback through metrics, user ratings and viewer comments. But even access that’s this easy to come by hasn’t drastically altered viewer behavior and media consumption. People have always talked about television shows, commercials, and movies around the office water cooler, only now they sit at their desks and post their thoughts in the comments section under the video they just watched online.

So why “snacking”? Snacking is a term that is being used to refer to the consumption of media in small snippets. Instead of people sitting down for an hour or two at a time to watch television, they are turning on their computers and watching 4 minutes of online video, jumping over to read a different blog, watching another 5 minutes of online video, finding a link to a similar 3-minute video and watching that one as well. Thus, the snack session goes throughout the day. People still sit down at the media dinner table to enjoy the latest episode of Lost, but the trend is beginning to show that people are becoming much more likely to dip into the cookie jar instead.

A recent survey from IDC found that people spend an average of 33 hours each week online — roughly twice as much time as they spend watching TV (about 16 ½ hours). ComScore recently found that about half of all online video is being viewed between 7 am and 5 pm on weekdays. So, how would the average person have time to spend 33 hours each week online and account for half of their online video consumption? That’s right — at the office.

This is where content creators and B2B marketing have the opportunity to join forces. The advertising and consumer sides of marketing have been setting out an online video buffet for a couple of years now, either in branding user-generated content (Stride gum) or creating their own form of branded entertainment (Anheuser-Busch). With so many people logging on looking for “safe for work” content, and marketing firms looking to reach an audience at work with their messages, the table may have been set for a new menu of B2B marketing initiatives.

Eric Pound

As an Executive Producer, Eric is responsible for the direction and development of StudioNorth’s audio and video solutions. With experience ranging from news broadcasting to national advertising, Eric brings the ability to deliver high-end media experiences with the urgency and attention to detail that clients demand. In addition to broadcast work, Eric also has credits in several documentaries and award-winning short films. Since joining the StudioNorth team in 2005, Eric has played a leading role in understanding current and developing trends in viral marketing, social networking and user-created content, and how they impact B2B marketing initiatives.