Are Trailers Fading Out?
After more than a century of being pummeled with movie and TV trailers that either spoil, bore, overhype, or mislead, audiences have grown disillusioned at worst and skeptical at best – they’ve simply been burned too many times to fall for a trailer’s word alone. As a result, in today’s deeply fragmented entertainment landscape (with infinite trailers to choose from), capturing a jaded viewer’s attention, let alone their trust, is more challenging than ever. So it’s understandable why these days, recommendations simply hold more weight coming from a social context; according to a 2023 study uncovering the most common sources for finding new content to watch in the U.S., only 38% of viewers said they still lean on trailers, while 49% reported looking toward social media and 55% on recs from friends or family. In other words, trailers no longer work for almost 2/3rds of the country, while social recs work on at least half of them. Which begs the question: if trailers are losing their influence, what promotional tool will take their spot?
The New Frontier of Tune-In Advertising
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As social elements become increasingly critical for promotion, tune-in ads are in direct need of a revamp to regain legitimacy with prospective viewers – and our team here at Ranker is ready to heed the call.
As a data provider that’s spent the last decade mining insights from millions of votes across our Ranker.com entertainment polls and Watchworthy app, social recommendations are at the heart of what we do, which has made us the leading source of fan testimonials on pretty much every factor contributing to viewer-intent, be it novelty, similarity, or familiarity to name a few. So we’ve decided to meet viewers where they are and harness the power of all of that data within a disruptive suite of tune-in ad products called: Is It Watchworthy?
How “Is It Watchworthy” Ad Products Hook in Skeptical Viewers
With traditional trailers losing their impact, audiences want a trusted source, like a fellow fan, to level with them about the content that is most likely to match their tastes. Using Ranker Insights’ post-consumption opinion data, we’ve found multiple ways to boost viewer intent by aligning a studio’s new title with their favorite shows and movies via customized videos tailored to a wide range of taste profiles. These survey-driven associations are central to all three ad units offered under the Is It Watchworthy umbrella, all of which complement basic trailers by adding more personalized layers of engagement with new audiences on the web or social platforms:
1) Is It Watchworthy?
Our original ad model leads with a studio’s spotlight show before showcasing other shows that the audience are likely to enjoy, while optimizing media towards impressions for the studio’s show.
Best for: when a title already has some awareness.
2) Watchworthy By Association
Takes the original model and puts it in reverse. This time popular, established titles are the hook and lead our audience to realize that they will probably like the promoted show.
Best for: when a studio is trying to generate awareness towards new programming or IP.
3) Watchworthy Rankings
The version most native to Ranker. This model creates content in a ranked “worthy score” format our audience is used to seeing, which feels the least like an ad.
Best for: showing off a popular title’s sentiment intertwined with projected sentiment for a new title.
