This month Mediatel hosted the tenth annual Future of TV Advertising, a global conference offering strategy and thought-leadership for the broadcast market.
A huge amount was covered throughout the week, and today we can share some of the highlights.
First up is exclusive new consumer data on SVOD pricing strategies, developed by Mediatel Connected.
With Netflix and Amazon Prime starting to feel the heat from Apple TV+, BritBox and Disney+, just how many SVOD services can the market take in terms of price sensitivity? And how elastic are people’s wallets?
Well, it’s fair to say the market is looking very crowded, and it could be facing a tipping point.
A reappraisal of digital adspend<
Elsewhere, Vodafone’s head of media and sponsorship said advertisers operating in mature markets should “unlearn” their dependence on online media.
Lisa Walker said the UK was one of the most complex and mature markets in terms of digital adoption, but added: “We have to… unlearn digital reliance where there has arguably been over-investment.”
Twice the price, twice as good?
Meanwhile, despite its reputation for brand building, the inflating cost of TV advertising means agencies and their clients need to start looking at how they can build fame through new media, said Starcom’s executive head of strategy.
“There’s still nothing better than [a 30 second ad],” Dan Plant told us. “Unfortunately it costs twice as much now – and it hasn’t got twice as good at what it was doing. You pay twice as much to achieve the same thing.”
Although some brands disagreed – including Confused.com’s CMO Sam Day – it does pose a new headache for TV as the likes of YouTube jump on the chance to steal some ad revenue and steer the narrative in their favour.
A new measurement challenge
Finally – although we will have further coverage to share before the Christmas break – we also heard how marketers want the TV sector to unify measurement across its increasingly splintered offerings.
As Direct Line’s Sam Taylor said: “What do you do when audiences are shrinking and there’s continued inflation in the market? How do you continue to grow TV’s performance when you can’t measure the value of VOD on top of linear?”
There are big moves happening in this area, however – from BARB’s (rather slow-to-progress) Project Dovetail, to the roll-out of the CFlight metric by Sky next year.
Next Year…
Join us again in 2020 as we host the Connected TV World Summit, delving into future value chain scenarios covering the delivery, infrastructure and monetisation of subscription and ad-funded TV services.
New in 2020, we will also be hosting our Videonet Connected TV awards ceremony on the first evening of the two-day event.
The conference will take place over March 18-19 at the Royal College of Physicians, London – further details are available here.
