Groundbreaking Segmentation Of The TV-Viewing Universe Unveiled At NYC Multicultural Media Forum

NEW YORK, March 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- At last week's 14^th Annual Multicultural Media Forum, Adriana Waterston, SVP, Marketing & Business Development, Horowitz Associates, revealed the results of a ground-breaking segmentation of the new TV-viewing universe that places TV viewers on a continuum based on their media habits and psychographic attributes, not demographics.

Horowitz Associates identified six TV-viewing segments: Old Schoolers, who comprise 29% of the new TV-viewing universe, Spectators (23%), Traditional Curators (17%), Modern Multichannels (15%), Modern Families (8%), and Untethered Curators (8%). The first three segments can be considered "traditional" viewers (69% of the TV-viewing universe).  The latter three are "leading-edge" viewers who have made time-shifted viewing (DVR, VOD, and streaming) part of their media lifestyle (31% of the viewing universe). See chart.

Multicultural consumers, along with other Millennials, over-index in the most leading-edge and entertainment-oriented segments in the new TV universe. Serving young, diverse Millennials with the kind of content they want, on all the platforms they use, will be critical in driving future revenue for the media industry.  This mandate is immediate: Distribution of "traditional" versus "leading edge" viewing segments within the new TV-viewing universe shifts dramatically when segments are analyzed by age.  Sixty percent of 18-34 year-olds fall into "leading-edge" segments; in contrast, 8 in 10 Gen-X and older viewers remain in more traditional segments.

Waterston explained that it is not only critical to understand the viewing habits of young, diverse Millennials, but also their content demands.  Waterston introduced the concept of transculturalism™ to explain the dynamics of today's young audiences in a diverse, multiplatform environment. Transculturalism™ is a cyclical relationship that people have with each other and the impact these relationships have to ever-changing definitions of culture, Waterston explained. "We are constantly evolving and being redefined by each other. We are all influenced, and we are all influencers.  There is great demand for content accurately reflecting America's true diversity of culture and lifestyles, and from diverse storytellers who can imbue their reality naturally, fluidly, into their work," asserted Waterston. 

The segmentation is based on data from Horowitz Associates' annual survey State of Cable and Digital Media, National and Multicultural Editions.  For more information, please contact Stephanie Wong: [email protected] or 914-834-5999.

SOURCE Horowitz Associates