When it comes to entertainment, peoples behaviors and preferences vary greatly.

Some idly channel-surf in front

of the TV with their families at the end of a long day, hoping just to fnd something entertaining to watch. Others
intently engage in nightly online quests for that yet-undiscovered masterpiece by an obscure band known only to
true seekers.
If youre going to successfully serve these audiences, you have to understand their distinctive attributes. You have
to know what makes them tickor, perhaps more appropriately, what makes them click. You can then use this
knowledge to craft features, navigation aids, content portfolios and promotions that cater to their various habits and
idiosyncrasies.
By catering to your audiences in this better-informed and more targeted way, you can deliver an experience that
is more satisfying to the consumerand that promotes consumption. This results in greater revenue, larger
marketshare, more website impressions, and improved long-term customer retention.
This paper describes eight personas that characterize users of entertainment services. The description of these
personas is based on three research studies conducted by Rovi in 2009 and 2010. These studies included focus
groups in ten countries, extended observation of consumers in their homes, and interviews with industry executives.
They encompassed music, movies, TV programs and games consumed from service providers, retailers, and portals
via cable, satellite, Internet, mobile and physical distribution channels.
While not necessarily a defnitive taxonomy of the entire universe of media consumers, these eight personas are
instructive for purveyors of entertainment services. Whether youre a retailer trying to boost sales, a portal operator
seeking more eyeballs, or a service provider looking for ways to optimize customer loyalty, an understanding of
these eight personas is highly actionableand can have a powerful positive impact on your companys bottom line.
There are many different ways to structure the segmentation of entertainment users. One particularly useful way is
by the manner in which they acquire and interact with content. These various acquisition/interaction personas are
especially instructiveand highly actionablebecause they highlight exactly what different types of customers are
looking for in their entertainment experience.
A New Media Market Research Advisory from Rovi
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Persona 1: The Music Lover
Much of the Music Lovers life revolves around music. This is a person who is always on the lookout for the next
awesome bandand probably wont mince words about the music he or she doesnt like. Music Lovers are
very knowledgeable and are constantly doing more research. Thats why theyre the frst to know about a lead
guitarists solo project or the new hip-hop act being produced by the same guy who just scored a big hit with a more
established star.
Music Lovers intensively utilize the web for research. They subscribe to music blogs, exchange information with
peers via social media, and are only too happy to graze through a lot of music samples before making a purchase.
The Music Lovers problem: It is diffcult and time-consuming to keep up with all the latest music and news. Make
it easy for the Music Lover to do this, and you will win a loyal customer.
The Music Lovers dream: All the music and news I want for myself and to share with others will be instantly
available to me no matter where I am and what device I am using.
I cant wait for the new Black Keys CD to
come out. And I am going to buy tickets for
the nearest Arcade Fire show as soon as they
go on sale.
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Persona 2: Simple and Serendipitous
For the Simple and Serendipitous, entertainment isnt about learning and planning. Its about convenience and
enjoyment. These are the kind of people who like to have pleasant music on in the background as ambient sound
while they get ready for work in the morning or do household chores in the evening. And when it comes to watching
TV, theyre more likely to gravitate towards shows that can be viewed as standalone episodes than a series that
theyd have to keep up on every weekbecause even if they own a DVR, they probably wont bother recording
anything with it.
The Simple and Serendipitous problem: Technology and complexity are a bother.
The Simple and Serendipitous dream: Click the remote a few times and just chill.
After we have dinner and put the kids to bed,
my wife and I just want to just watch a good
movie and relax.
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Persona 3: The Hearth-Like TV and Personal Music
It can be very diffcult for todays busy families to fnd much time to spend together. Between work, school and
activities, everybody is often going in different directions. Even entertainment can drive family members apart as
they sit at their computers, play electronic games and/or listen to music on their separate devices. Thats why many
parents go out of their way to fnd content that the whole family can watch together in front of the TVwhether its
utilizing their cable/satellite providers on-demand services, recording something on their DVR, or surveying options
on the Internet.
The Hearth-Like TV and Personal Music problem: Negotiating TV viewing that everyone in the family can agree
upon.
The Hearth-Like TV and Personal Music dream: Ready access to the kind of content that is conducive to a
harmonious family media experience.
Its nice to be able to spend some time
together as a family around the TVif we
can nd something that everybody wants to
watch.
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Persona 4: The Film and TV Lover
The Film and TV Lover is an avid content consumer who will actively use the Internet, programming guides and like-
minded peers to search out the very best in available entertainment. They are not only entertained by their favorite
TV shows and movies, they also want to know about the stars in the cast, what the critics thought and what else is
similar. They love credible, high-quality recommendations. Theyll even part with some of their hard-earned cash if it
will help them make the most of their valued escape/relaxation time.
The Film and TV Lover problem: Wanting to watch something goodbut not being able to because its
unavailable, theres a technological obstacle, they dont know about it, or they ran out of space on their DVR.
The Film and TV Lover dream: Being able to readily take advantage of the latest technology to view the best/
coolest/latest content when theyre ready for some quality entertainment.
Right after I saw Crash, I looked up David
Cronenberg on AllRovi.comand immediately
decided to put History of Violence at the top
of my NetFlix queue.
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Persona 5: PC + TV
The PC + TV persona uses their PC to learn about movies and TV showsbut they do most of their actual watching
on the TV. They watch TV with their laptops or tablets on their laps, so they continue socializing and/or collecting
information about what theyre watching even while theyre still in the middle of watching it. Though not as locked
into their PCs as Persona 6, the PC + TV persona may watch movie trailers or catch up on missed shows via the
internet. And if they do research on an actor or director, they want to see everything that person has ever donenot
just a partial catalogueso they can make the most informed decision possible about the next potentially excellent
thing they can watch.
PC + TV problem: How and where can I quickly get the information I need to set up the best possible TV viewing
experience for myself and everyone with me?
PC + TV dream: Easy access to decision-making informationand minimum complexity (in terms of remotes,
cords, ordering, etc.) in actualizing that decision.
I liked the songs in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The
World so much that I bought the soundtrack
before I was even nished watching the
movie.
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Persona 6: PC for All Media
The PC for All Media user is a true Internet media geek. He or she sees little value in using a TV, when an entire
universe of TV, movies and music is available online. Theyre big fans of services that offer reasonably-priced,
multi-use media fles. These users are adept at moving their media around the various devices in their home media
systemsuch as the TV, tablet or smartphone.
PC for All Media problem: Where can I legally get on-demand access to everything I want to watch?
PC for All Media dream: A legal, reasonably-priced online resource that gives me on-demand access to everything
I want in the format I want.
I just downloaded all ve seasons of The
Wire last night. Then Im going to see if I can
nd Boardwalk Empire.
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Persona 7: Shared, Social and Abundant Media
For this persona, entertainment is largely about a shared experience with friends, family and peers. These users are
constantly exchanging feedback about movies, TV shows and music with their social network via Facebook, phone,
email, Twitter, and in person. They rely on recommendations from others not just because they trust their tastebut
also because doing so fosters their tangible sense of community. These users tend to turn to their own personal
digital collections, rather than rely on broadcast TV or radio.
Shared, Social and Abundant Medias problem: Cant easily exchange content across a social network legally,
especially with those who are not adopting new technologies.
Shared, Social and Abundant Medias dream: To be able to legally and effortlessly share content, opinions and
experiences with anyone any time.
My old friend Kristen just reminded me of
how much we used to love Animaniacs when
we were little. Im going to watch it with my
kids and see if they enjoy it as much as I did.
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Persona 8: Living Together with Individual Media
In a lot of households today, everybody has their own personal device. Both parents and their children may have
their own PCs, TV, DVD players and/or tablets. They mostly enjoy media independently and occasionally introduce
new things to each other. Parents dont want to share all of their content with their kids and conversely, they might
not want to have to browse through a bunch of Bieber as they search for their Beatles and Bowie. This persona
makes use of their DVR extensively and occasionally gathers to watch TV or movies together on the homes biggest
fat-screen TV.
Living Together with Individual Media problem: The battle over time on the big TV for shows and games.
Living Together with Individual Media dream: Personalized digital libraries and complete fexibility to share
content and devices without confict.
Its fun to watch stuff togetherbut
sometimes the kids and the grownups have
their own taste and need their own space.
The previous descriptions of each persona are not exhaustive. Rovis research discovered, for example, that while
Persona 8 households keep their DVRs pretty organized, their physical media is typically in chaos. And Persona 7
may not use physical media much at allexcept perhaps for childrens shows watched on a secondary TV.
But this overview makes it clear that entertainment customers possess very distinctive characteristicsand
that these characteristics must be appropriately addressed by entertainment content providers seeking to grow
revenue, maintain loyalty, and competitively differentiate their offerings.
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So how can you best address each of these personas? What can you do to more effectively tailor your offerings to
each of your customer segments?
Obviously, this will depend on your business model and your overall market strategy. A portal seeking to drive ad
revenue by targeting consumers with high disposable income will adopt a very different approach from a cable
provider trying to incrementally grow profts from a broader demographic.
But, just like the personas themselves, the actions available to you as you attempt to tap the particular needs and
preferences of these personas can be grouped into a few general categories.
Differentiated use of metadata
The entertainment industry is still only starting to discover the many ways that metadatai.e. the attributes of media
contentcan be used to enhance the customer experience. It is already well known, for example, that you can
make good predictive recommendations to customers by tracking the metadata for their previous viewing history
and applying appropriate correlative logic.
However, metadata can also be applied in a variety of specifc ways for each persona. For example, metadata can
be used to create personal connections between Persona 7 customers (Shared, Social and Abundant) who dont
already know each other. This kind of taste-based networking can add value to a service and help drive additional
consumption.
Persona 3 customers (Hearth-Like TV), on the other hand, may be more interested in metadata such as MPAA
ratings that provides guidance about the appropriateness of a movie, album or game for children of a given age.
Targeted navigation/interface design
You can also leverage your understanding of these different personas to provide interfaces and navigation aids
that are targeted to their particular preferences. Persona 5 users (PC + TV), for example, may want an online
search database that is very complete and that allows queries by multiple feldsincluding director, actor, and
year. Persona 3 households (Hearth-Like TV), on the other hand, may be better served with a Top 10 list based on
genre, popularity and age-group rating.
Interface design can also be optimized based on proven historical preferences. For example, if a Persona 4
customer (Film and TV lover) tends to pre-order digital content in advance of its release date, it may make sense to
provide those dates as part of a selection menuand provide an easy click-through to order completion.
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Adding value with services and content
User personas are especially useful for making decisions about services and content. If you want to keep Persona
1 (Music Lover) customers happy, youre going to have to give them all the latest information about their favorite
bandsincluding their latest projects and concert datesin one place. You may also want to send them special
reminders about upcoming releases. For Persona 6 (PC for All Media) customers, you may want to complement this
entertainment content with relevant technology bulletins.
Youll need a different approach for your Persona 8 (Living Together with Individual media) households. These
customers can probably beneft from personalization services that allow individual users within the household to
keep track of their own content. Parents may especially appreciate it if you give them an easy and non-intrusive
way of tracking what their kids are watching.
Your ability to cater to the preferences of these various personas is limited only by your creativity and resources.
In some cases, you may need to bolster your internal technology infrastructure in order to enable an experience
that is more effectively targeted towards specifc personas. In other cases, you may be better off tapping into the
capabilities of partners who can provide the metadata and metadata analysis you need to optimize your search,
recommendation and value-added service capabilities.
Regardless of the particular approach you take, the benefts of intelligent, persona-drive customer segmentation can
be substantial. These benefts include:
Higher revenue and higher prots
The better you tailor your customer experience to each individual user, the more time and money they spend on you.
And if you can get this additional time and money from existing customers, your operating margins can increase as
well.
Stickier sites and more page impressions
When you give customers the content and features they wantand, as is often at least equally as critical, when you
dont bother them with content and features they dont wantthey spend more time on your site and less time on
others. This site stickiness is especially rewarding for ad-based revenue models that depend on large numbers of
page impressions.
Greater customer retention and marketshare
If you dont delight your customers, youll remain vulnerable to those who can. In a market environment where
your competitors are always just a click or a call away, these differentiated capabilities are essential for subscriber
growth.
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Stronger brand value
Brand value is critical in the entertainment businesswhere buzz is the most powerful marketing tool and cross-sell/
up-sell is what drives business performance. By tangibly and innovatively demonstrating your understanding of your
customers, you can more effectively build and maintain this brand value.
More nimble responsiveness to change
The entertainment business is undergoing a period of intensive change. So are the habits and behaviors of
entertainment users. If you develop more granular ways of addressing those habits and behaviors now, you will be
much better positioned to detect and respond to changes as they occur.
Smarter allocation of capital and operational budgets
You are constantly being presented with budget allocation decisions. If those decisions arent driven by the actual
preferences of your real-world customers, you wont be able to allocate those budget dollars for maximum market
returns.
The bottom line
You can substantially improve the performance of your business by understanding the specifc user personas that
constitute your customer baseand acting upon that understanding. And as those personas continue to evolve
and shift over time, your ability to target your customer experience to well-defned market segments will only
become increasingly valuable as a competitive advantage.
About Rovi
Rovi is a global leader in digital entertainment technology solutions. Our solutions create the
connections between people and technology and enable them to discover entertainment, as it truly
should be experienced. We provide guidance technology, entertainment data, content protection
and content networking technology to our customers in the consumer electronics, cable, satellite,
entertainment and online distribution markets to enable them to deliver unique entertainment
experiences for television, movies, music and photos.
Approximately 111 million subscribers and 91 million CE devices worldwide use our guidance
technology.
Our content protection technology is on approximately 9 billion DVDs and Blu-ray discs
More than 500 million devices are enabled with our protection technology
We have active advertising rights in place with approximately 121 million guides worldwide
Rovis vast and unique catalog of entertainment metadata for TV, movies, music and games includes:
More than 3.5 million TV series episodes since 1954
More than 2.4 million pop and classical music albums and 22 million tracks
More than 500,000 movie titles
For more information, please visit www.rovicorp.com
13 Copyright 2011 Rovi Corporation. Rovi is a registered trademark of Rovi Corporation. All rights reserved.
Methodology
This paper is a high level summary of the insights Rovi and Adaptive Path received by conducting three research
studies. It is not intended to be a comprehensive report of all the activity observed in the feld. Following the feld
studies and demographic surveys, the 8 personas discussed in this paper were defned.
The frst study was conducted in 2009 over the course of fve months. Over 400 people from 10 countries
participated in consumer focus groups.
In the second study, researchers spent approximately 3 hours in each of 40 different households to observe how the
70+ individual participants interacted with their entertainment technology in their home. Sessions were conducted in
US, UK, France and Germany in the native language. Sessions were recorded and participants were compensated
for their time. Sessions began with a general description and discussion on technology, content, and acquisition.
Next a show-and-tell type interaction took place, followed by a walkthrough of their day with photo cards. With
no particular service, device or technology as the focus of the study, this research provided a whole picture of the
entertainment ecosystem in a household, not a narrowed view.
The third study narrowed the focus to studying households of music professionals or consumers who listen to music
purely for enjoyment. Researchers observed how music & media is set up in the home and the behavior of the
listeners.