“We need to stop disrupting what people care about and try to become what people care about. Instead of focusing on advertising interruptions, we work on attraction ».
Thus Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of HubSpot, a technological giant born in that mythical garage of experimentation that is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known to most as MIT and reached a billion dollar turnover in sixteen years. For Shah, computer scientist by training and entrepreneur by profession, the watershed between the historian break and the new narrative linked to entertainment lies precisely in thatinterruption to overcome. Hence, it is no longer enough to put the user at the center. Now it must be entertained, excited, smile, even angry. And push it to purchase. After all, anything can be done, except boring.
How much is the market worth
The response to ever more labile attention comes from branded entertainment, a phenomenon that declines the storytelling of the brand, creating value and reputation. In Italy, this market, made up of an increasingly varied and necessarily integrated supply chain, reached 568 million euros in 2021 as an aggregate figure and for the year 2022 it is estimated that it can reach 619 million euros (+ 9% on the previous year).
But what is striking is the amount of realities that have decided to embrace this model: eight out of ten companies have declared that they have made at least one branded entertainment product in the course of 2021. To photograph the phenomenon is OBE, theOsservatorio Branded Entertainment, an association involving 46 companies, publishers, agencies, production houses. The annual research is carried out in collaboration with BVA Doxa in partnership with RTI.
The economy of attention
Objective: to highlight the importance of this sector in the economy and society. On the other hand, new sensitivities emerge for consumers, new fruition behaviors, new distribution opportunities that redefine the attention economy. Never before have brands compete on feeds customized by users. This is how we bet on the alliance: today social channels are the most adopted landing platforms for these projects (66%), but the owned media dei brand (49%). Followed by television (43%), YouTube (35%), online publishing (34%) and print (2%), audio platforms and podcasting (17%).
After the blackout linked to the pandemic emergency, the narrative choices related to theOut of home with billboards and posters (15%). In the ranking of preferences the paid video platforms (11%) and gaming apps (6%). Investments are still focused on television for more than a third of brands (37%). Followed by social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Youtube (22%). In general, television and digital platforms absorb more than 80% of investments. The privileged interlocutors for companies are still agencies (75%), media centers (71%) and production houses (48%).