The majority of brands are taking a more integrated approach to media planning and buying, but still face barriers when it comes to convergence, according to a new report from Mediaocean.
The Managing Media Convergence report, which tracks changes in consumer behaviour and predicts the evolution of customer journeys, found that 68% of companies are taking a more ‘joined-up’ approach to media planning as a result of convergence.
Media convergence – which sees different media such as TV, radio, online and newspapers combine into a single media – delivers tangible ROI for agencies according to the report, with 60% saying it delivers more measurable campaign effectiveness and 41% stating that it has driven direct sales uplift.
While 84% of agencies felt that clients had a limited understanding of the impact of changing media consumption habits on their business, 64% of clients said that they plan to become more ‘data-fluent’ in the next 12 months.
59% of companies said that media convergence has resulted in higher budgets for digital at the expense of offline budgets, and 73% of agencies said that they believe a siloed organisational structure is preventing clients from taking a more integrated approach to media planning.
47% believe that it is a result of clients working with separate agencies.
Amongst the channels expected to decline is direct mail, which the report predicts will drop 56% in the next year. Social and mobile advertising are expected to grow 83% and 82%, respectively.
“Convergence is delivering greater transparency in both data and analytics,” said Sarah Lawson Johnston, managing director of Mediaocean.
“However marketers are struggling to grapple with how they’ll handle the last mile of breaking down siloes. This study gives answers to what’s being done.”
Linus Gregoriadis, research director at Econsultancy, added: “This study makes two things clear. First, marketers are shifting their working models dramatically to adjust for the new media consumption. Second, many marketers still aren’t sure how they’ll keep pace with the change.”
