Survey: Just 15 per cent of people believe companies are protecting their personal data

Challenges remain for content providers, marketers, advertisers and media, according to the Deloitte Annual Media Consumer Survey, as consumer attention spans wane, trust is eroded and content choice increases. 

Highlights of the report show that people watch on average of 13.5 hours of streamed content each week, digital voice assistants are permeating Australian households rapidly, a vast majority of respondents says nothing could induce them to pay for news, and over 80 per cent of people would skip video ads if they could.

Trust is also a big problem, with just 15 per cent of survey respondents believing companies are taking adequate steps to protect their personal data.

According to the report, over 90 per cent of respondents (93 per cent) believe they should have the right to ask a company to permanently delete their data, and 76 per cent would request permanent deletion even if it resulted in a negative impact to their service, such as no personalised recommendations, no automatic logins, and no saved payment information.

The Seventh Deloitte Media Consumer Survey is focused on four generations and five distinct age groups, providing a snapshot of how 2000 people are interacting with media, entertainment and technology, as well as considering future preferences.

Respondents watch 13.5 hours of streamed content per week. Almost half purchased a paid Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) service, up from 32 per cent last year. 

When it comes to news, 64 per cent said nothing would entice them to pay for news. Sixty-three per cent of respondents suggested they would abandon a shortform video completely if they weren’t given the option to skip the ads, up from 58 per cent last year. In addition, 82 per cent of respondents agree they will skip a video ad if given the option to do so, up from 77 per cent last year. 

Australia is also embracing the digital voice assistant at a rapid rate. Nearly 10 per cent of respondents already have devices in their homes, with many having more than one (average 1.5), and 55 per cent of these use digital voice assistants daily (59 per cent of millennials) and 86 per cent weekly (90 per cent of millennials), Deloitte Digital partner and report author, Leora Nevezie, said. 

“The race is on for advertisers and brands to adapt to this technology and become the ‘default option’ on a new channel which generally provides a single conversational response to each question,”  she said.

Deloitte Sydney managing partner and Technology Media & Telco (TMT) consulting partner, Niki Alcorn, said the survey underlines the proliferation of media and entertainment content in our lives and the challenges emerging for both consumers and providers. 

“With the entertainment world now at our finger tips, people are finding it harder to decide what to watch, how and where,” she said. 

“Nearly a quarter of respondents are uncomfortable with the algorithm-based program recommendations created to direct us through the ‘content jungle’ [raising concern about the impact of these on future programming decisions] and 75 per cent would like to be able to search all content in the one place. 

“Pay television remains the most valued media content subscription across all ages [stable at 31 per cent], despite 20 per cent of respondents having indicated in 2017 that they would cancel subscriptions in the next 12months [16 per cent in 2018].” 

Other report highlights include: 

• 60 per cent of respondents agree that they pay more attention to bite sized pieces of content (10 seconds or less) than to longer ads (30 seconds or above). 
• 21 per cent of video and music streaming subscribers now access services as part of a packaged internet or mobile plan, with 70 per cent of respondents say that digital entertainment inclusions influenced their purchase decision, and 79 per cent say it is a key reason for staying with their provider.
• Traditional news formats (TV news stations, variety/talk shows, radio, newspapers and magazines) remain the most favoured news source for respondents, despite some decline (51 per cent from 55 per cent last year) 
• Newspaper and magazine subscriptions were held by 17 per cent and 11 per cent (both 16 per cent last year)
• There is an increase in the number turning to social media as their primary news source (17 per cent up from 14 per cent last year), with the figure highest among Millennials (28 per cent) 
• 62 per cent (65 per cent last year) of respondents remain concerned about fake news 
• Leading Millennial respondents identify three primary areas that would influence their decision to pay for news: Trust and brand association (26 per cent), unique content (24 per cent) and alignment with their values (19 per cent). 
• Netflix remains the top streaming provider for SVOD subscribers (89 per cent) followed by Stan (26 per cent) and Foxtel Now (23 per cent) 
• 91 per cent of respondents (96 per cent of Millennials) multi-task while watching TV 
• 85 per cent of resondents (95 per cent of Millennials) use social media, with Facebook number one across all demographics 
• Daily social media use has dropped to 55 per cent (59 per cent last year) and is now close to 2014 levels (54 per cent),

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