How is the industry managing the content pick ‘n’ mix?
For TV and digital to work to their full potential, advertisers must accept that overcoming the hurdles to bring them together is worthwhile, writes Mediaocean’s Stuart Smith.
Audiences want easy access to high-quality media at home, on the go and via multiple screens. They do not differentiate between channels; they simply pick and mix content that grabs their attention, from a variety of sources.
This does not, however, mean that traditional formats have lost their power – linear TV accounts for 26% of advertising budgets across the board. This year Mars launched its first TV campaign in a decade, while Facebook made its first ever TV ad. But TV is now just one part of a network of content platforms where emerging formats, such as digital video, are making their mark.
Adspend for digital video in the UK increased by 56% this year and by 2020 video advertising revenue across Europe will reach almost €2 billion. The industry is at last beginning to embrace the need for convergence and is working to provide a seamless, cross-channel content experience. Yet bringing different elements of the media ecosystem together will not be without its challenges.
The meeting of TV and digital video
In an industry where 98% (figure garnered from Mediaocean’s database) of TV ads secure an individual rating of one or less, there is certainly room for automation. However, what works well for digital video may be hard to translate to TV, where limited prime slots require complex management.
What’s more, metrics for measuring TV and digital video ad performance are disparate, which is a problem for tracking multi-channel success and ensuring efficient budget allocation.
This lack of tangible data is also failing to win the trust of brands that want to measure the impact of campaigns beyond ad frequency and impressions. For example, Søren Hagh, executive director of global marketing at Heineken, recently announced that only 20% of the brand’s marketing budget would go to digital, due to issues surrounding viewability and ad measurement.
So what is needed to overcome the difficulties of convergence?
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Detailed audience insights
Industry-wide, detailed audience information is essential to create cohesive, data-driven campaigns where ads work in unison across online and offline channels.
At present the fragmentation of the marketplace – and proliferation of separate data providers – makes direct data points, such as set-top boxes and first-party audience data, the best way to ensure the accuracy of TV ad targeting.
Only when data providers begin to integrate and pool their cross-channel audience insights, will TV and digital video be able to connect the dots – serving the right content, to the right consumer, at the ideal moment.
With such a comprehensive understanding of media consumption, advertisers will be able to build measureable cross-channel campaigns that maximise engagement and minimise wastage.
Greater collaboration
In a world where content consumption is unified, increasing and well-established channels must work more in collaboration than in competition.
As the media veteran, TV has already reached a high level of maturity and gained valuable advertising wisdom. This means it has a lot to teach digital video, such as the importance of optimising ads for impact – not just volume – and the necessity of establishing a high standard of viewability to restore trust.
The industry must also accept the differences between TV and digital video, and use them to its advantage. By deploying both channels as part of a combined strategy advertisers can amplify the impact of campaigns and create a more powerful connection with their audience.
As audiences continue to pick and mix the way they access content, the industry is beginning to recognise the irrelevance of channel boundaries.
Convergence has arrived, but it is not without its challenges. To enjoy the success TV and digital video can create when combined, advertisers must accept that overcoming hurdles to bring the two channels together is worthwhile.
With better data, measurement tools, industry collaboration and an understanding of the strengths each channel possesses, advertising strategies can thrive with both TV and digital video.
Stuart Smith is vice president of client service at Mediaocean.