David Shiffman, Senior Vice President, Research and Analytics at MediaVest 

Emily Vanides, Vice President, Research and Analytics at MediaVest 

As an industry, we speak endlessly about the new connected consumer. Tethered to one or more devices at all times, dividing and balancing their attention across multiple screens at one time, ingesting an endless array of information and entertainment content at one moment, a lot of time and resources go towards understanding and keeping track of the hyper inbound/outbound media lives of these ‘connected consumers.’ We know consumers are glued to media and technology, but what else are they connected to? Are we failing to uncover the most meaningful bonds that exist for today’s consumers? Isn’t it possible that the real connections lie in community, in the human passion, and pain points that bring people together both on and offline.