September 30, 2021

Australian brands are behind on ESG messaging, but post-Covid TV viewing habits, and booming back catalogues, make for a fast – and sustainable – solution

34 minutes

Consider a few stats: The Discovery Channel, Turbo, TLC and Animal Planet are having their best ratings years – ever. Back catalogue episodes are booming: Video on-demand consumption of Friends is up 103 per cent. Fifty-six per cent of people have watched more food and cooking shows, and 70 per cent of them said they would keep watching more post-lockdowns. New viewing habits are here to stay. Brands with environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals can tap into this by targeting ads to those audiences. “If someone is going to sit down and watch an hour-long documentary on conservation, then they must be interested in that space,” Rebecca Kent, Discovery’s Senior Vice President of Transformation, says. “There’s lots of opportunity, I’m not seeing us capturing it yet.” Tim Christlieb, BBC Studios’ Director of Branded Services, says the era of a hidden sustainability web page are over. Meanwhile, when we’re all on video calls, all we can talk about is what we’re watching, Foxtel Media’s Daniella Serhan says. “We’re making it really easy for… brands to a part of that conversation.”

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