Find the Substance in the Hype
One of the most hyped moments of 2019 from a media, tech and consumer behavior standpoint has to be the launch of Disney+. Its launch ushered in “the streaming wars” as the incredibly rich Disney catalogue was made available to all. This would be Netflix’s true test. It became yet another symbol of the decline of TV, and if you were anything like me, it felt as if everyone in the world had just signed up.
As marketers, we’re obsessed with hype, and for good reason. We want to be in on the latest, the greatest and the most noteworthy opportunities in media and culture. Disney+ had the hype and in many ways it backed it up. A lot of people signed up for it at launch, but I was struck by some numbers from CivicScience that sought to separate substance from hype. They proved what intuitively we know to be true. Hype is not reality.
It’s a Thing, but It’s Not Yet the Thing
No one would blame you for thinking the world had signed up for Disney+ on day one. The hype was inescapable, and while Disney+ had an impressive launch, it’s not exactly pervasive. CivicScience found that about 6% of U.S. adults had signed up for the service on day one. As with anything on the tech adoption curve, the early adopters were quick to sign up, while the vast majority are waiting to see what happens—9% plan to sign up, 12% plan to with to see what others think. Then there’s everyone else. A solid 60% of people don’t plan to sign up for Disney+ at all, and 13% haven’t even heard of it.
This is a reminder for me as a marketer that hype is not reality. It’s our job to look for possibilities—possibilities in innovation, ways to reach people, methods to communicate, means to connect. In many ways, getting caught up in the hype is what makes marketing so exciting. But at the end of the day, it all comes back to the consumer, what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and how.
Check the Hype
CivicScience’s research illustrates what marketers should do with hype. Check it.
Back up the hype with data. Following hype is not a strategy. Listen to it. Learn from it. Check it. Are your consumers participating? Will they? Why or why not? Don’t follow the hype. Follow the consumer.
Remember people procrastinate. Hype is about the latest and greatest. People don’t operate that way. They’re busy and overwhelmed. They don’t have time to follow every new thing that comes their way. What’s hyped today may not matter until tomorrow. The tech adoption curve is very real.
Headlines aren’t always reality. If you heard anything about the Disney+ on launch day, it was probably about the technical difficulties incurred by the service. That was the hype. Actually 74% of users didn’t experience any glitches on launch day. Don’t take the narratives at face value—interrogate them.
Follow Substance
Hype is powerful. Disney+ used it to its advantage and created pervasive FOMO. Generating hype like that is the envy of every marketer out there. But being on the receiving end of hype demands scrutiny. Marketers want to follow the latest shiny object, but first, interrogate it and find the substance in it. What does this really mean for your consumers? Don’t chase hype. Challenge it before you leverage it.