When it comes to video content, it’s long been conventional wisdom that mindset can be a determining factor in the consumer’s interaction. For example, if a commercial for a product airs during his favorite TV show, he might be annoyed by it; yet if he is in the market for said product, he might view the same commercial as highly informative. But there are also indications that physical location could be just as much of a determining factor in consumer response.
For example, a consumer in a brick-and-mortar store is not likely to view a video demonstration for more than a minute at best. Yet place that same consumer on his couch in front of his TV, and he may be willing to sit through a 30-minute infomercial demo of the very same product.
“Where a person physically is can dictate how you can have their attention,” said Brian Bradley, EVP at HSN (formerly Home Shopping Network) in an interview with StorefrontBacktalk.com. “Out on the street? She’ll have seconds. In-store? A minute or two. On the web? Maybe 15 minutes. But on the TV? Hours. People go to the web with certain goals in mind. There’s a lot of bouncing back and forth as they’re trying to solve a problem.”
The thinking here is that consumers find video-watching most acceptable on their TVs, and see brick-and-mortars as places to see and touch the products, not watch videos about them. Bradley believes this has something do with viewing expectations built up culturally over many years. For the time being, even though video content viewed on a computer is often in the home, the tolerance there is lower than it is for TV video content—even if that Internet video is viewed on a TV screen.