Changing demographics relating to what the average household looks like necessitate a change in how advertisers and marketers approach video advertising online and on mobile devices.

Traditional family-focused video advertising used to be tailored around what was then considered the prototypical family – a husband and wife plus kids. However, according to a recent report co-sponsored by Time Inc., that family dynamic was only found in 20 percent of households in 2010. As such, marketers need to tailor their messages to better reflect the realities of today's American families, according to Adweek.

So-called non-traditional families are "heavier media users, and are more likely to look to media for product information, than traditional families are," Lucia Moses wrote in an August 22 Adweek article. "But despite their growth and financial clout, many of these newer types of families feel ignored and discriminated against by the ad messages they see."

According to North Carolina State University, these trends have been happening for years. In 1998, 3.7 million children lived with grandparents. In addition, one out of every four U.S. families then included stepparents, and 13 percent were run by one parent. According to Time's report, those three groups made up 64 percent of all U.S. households in 2010.

These changing demographics are important for advertisers and marketers to take note of, as the study found that non-traditional families tend to feel maligned by video advertising that reflects a reality different from their own. According to the report, 46 percent of single-parent households and 44 percent of multigenerational households said they dislike advertising that consistently features traditional family structures and implies this structure is "ideal." Non-traditional families reported seeing a lot of this type of content in 2010, as 71 percent of single-parent families and 60 percent of mixed-race families said most advertising shows families that are unlike their own.

Purchasing power of non-traditional families
It is now more important than ever for marketers and advertisers to reach non-traditional families, as the survey found them as a whole to be big consumers of media. The study found that all non-traditional family types were more likely than traditional family households to look to media for product information.

In addition, the study found that all non-traditional household types were more likely than traditional households to buy from companies that support causes the families themselves support, and these households also plan to spend more money in the next year.

"The study found that advertisers have a better chance of reaching these consumers by understanding and leveraging certain shared values like the importance of kids, sensitivity about society's growing diversity and social causes," Moses wrote.