Moving from architecture to engineering
Broadcasters who incorporate digital into their video ad planning will be the ones to ensure that the future of TV is actually TV, writes Videology’s Fatima Dowlet.
On reading the recent report from Bain Consultancy, I couldn’t help but be struck by the similarities in the line of thinking they are expressing with the way that many television broadcasters in developed TV markets across the globe are starting to operate.
In the report, Charlie Kim and Danny Hong address the very real issue of whether television advertising can keep pace with its digital competitors and ultimately whether TV platforms and stations have it within their capacity to remain the top dog in the advertising hierarchy.
The report goes on to examine television’s ability to take on the same mantle as that of its digital counterparts, applying the same level of data and insight to make television advertising as powerful and as targeted as its digital challengers.
But why change? We are all well aware that the TV market across most markets is in rude health – ad revenue is at an all-time high with over 200 advertisers having returned to TV in the UK in the past year alone. There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that TV remains the unrivalled choice in any marketers’ armoury.
For example, consider the number of brands that choose to launch their Christmas ads on X Factor, or the Super Bowl effect in the US, and you get an idea of its importance in the hearts and minds of both marketing teams and consumers.
It is this unparalleled ability to reach audiences quickly and at scale that makes TV the number one choice for any brand advertiser. But for every report that celebrates the growth in TV advertising revenue, there is counter-evidence revealing a net decline in viewing of traditional linear TV.
A market dynamic where revenues are increasing and audiences are declining, does not make for long term health. Most importantly, the high-value young and affluent audiences are actively choosing to view content on their own terms, on a device of their choosing.
Advertisers are fully aware of the change in viewing habits and are actively working to address these challenges. Recognising that there is a gap that needs to be filled, marketers today are looking to the digital world to access the audiences that TV can no longer reach.
Application of rich data insights, robust targeting and the ability to report on numerous campaign objectives are increasingly attractive propositions and are resulting in the migration of budgets into digital mediums – the standard TV demo buy is no longer acceptable.
What to do? The agile and shrewd broadcasters have acknowledged this shift in behaviour from consumers and the new desire from marketing teams to be more accountable and addressable. But they aren’t changing the way they conduct their business for purely altruistic reasons.
Through accessing some of the audiences previously unmeasured by standard TV audience measurement panels and by applying deeper insights to existing audiences, they could access a currently untapped source of revenue – the Bain report estimates this to be anywhere between $10 to $20 billion in the US alone.
It is these broadcasters who are actively seeking out like-minded allies, either through set-top box providers who control the pipes into the homes, or through accessing and applying first party platform data to improve the targeting and efficiency of campaign schedules.
These solutions are actively being enabled via technology partners, such as Videology, who are at the vanguard of aiding platforms and stations across the globe to assist in making that vital leap from the architectural phase to engineering the framework, creating the reality of a digitised TV eco-system.
In doing so, it will be these agile and shrewd broadcasters who will ensure that TV will maintain its rightful place as the pre-eminent advertising solution for smart advertisers.
Fatima Dowlet is director of EMEA TV strategy at Videology.