Surveys

Study: TV ads still effective amid digital media

SurveysFeb 24, 2016

Study: TV ads still effective amid digital media

Consulting company MarketShare has found that advertising on television “is still the ‘best giant megaphone’ to convey a message to a large audience of consumers.”

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MarketShare’s typical consumer purchase journey begins with a television advertisement, and is reinforced by ads on other media channels.

New York--Advertising on television consistently is more effective at impacting sales and new accounts than paid search, print or online ads, according to a recent study by consulting company MarketShare.


The company said its finding show that television “provides a direct and meaningful sales lift,” because it increases awareness and consideration and increases the effectiveness of other marketing vehicles further down the purchase funnel, meaning TV should be a relevant part of a marketing campaign that includes both online and traditional advertising mediums.

The study, “Evaluating TV Effectiveness in a Changed Media Landscape,” identified four major findings that show television advertising is the most effective and efficient way to reach consumers. They are as follows.

1. TV has the highest relative efficiency in achieving key performance indictors (KPIs) at similar spending levels when compared to other media outlets, including print, radio and online ads, both display and social.

This is true across a range of industries, including automotive, financial services, consumer packaged goods and retail, and comes despite the explosion of digital media in the past five years, MarketShare said.

“TV is a major driver of indirect outcomes such as inbound calls, organic search query volumes and website visits, which, in turn, lead to direct outcomes, such as purchases or other significant conversions,” the study states.

2. In spite of changes in consumer habits over the past few years, TV’s effectiveness at driving advertiser KPIs has not diminished.

The study found that, for all media analyzed, there was an 11.5 percent decline when comparing 2009-2011 media effectiveness to 2012-2014, “likely due to the splintering of media channels brought about by the new digital landscape.”

However, TV was the only medium that retained its relative effectiveness when compared to other channels over that time period. TV’s effectiveness dropped only 2 percent while online media’s effectiveness was down about 10 percent and offline media’s effectiveness (sans TV) declined nearly 23 percent (graph shown in gallery.)

“The value of many digital channels has been eroded by such factors as ad-blocking, click fraud and visibility issues,” MarketShare states.

Still, TV spend allocations are not a one-size-fits-all.

“Specific spending recommendations will vary by advertiser, depending, in part, on where a marketer’s media spend lies on the outcomes response curves for each advertising medium, and the interaction effects between media channels.”

3. Marketers can use advanced analytic techniques to optimize TV spend more effectively.

An example would be enacting a minor decrease in overall TV spend, coupled with large reallocations across cable, primetime, late night and sports programming within TV.

“Because TV advertising drives measurable actions such as inbound calls and online searches, TV advertisers can leverage these interactions as key data points to evaluate TV effectiveness,” the study states. “While online and mobile popularity have grown tremendously, TV is still the ‘best giant megaphone’ to convey a message to a large audience of consumers.”

4. Premium online video from broadcast and cable TV networks is disrupting the digital media mix.

Despite lower impression volumes, premium video content is clearly more effective than user-generated and short-form content, the study states.

“Leading media sellers … seem increasingly aware of the value of high-quality content (and of the fact that brands will always follow the audience.) For instance, in 2014, YouTube launched Google Preferred, which allows advertisers to buy ad space next to only high-quality, professionally produced content, such as The New York Times or Vice Media.”

For the study, New York-based MarketShare evaluated data from thousands of marketing optimization models across a range of industries including financial services, telecommunications, hospitality, consumer packaged goods and retail. It also examined decades of research and applied marketing science, as well as MarketShare Benchmark, the company’s planning and allocation software application.

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