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Linear TV is converging with digital
channels into converged or advanced TV at pace, but the advertising ecosystem
isn’t keeping up.
article here
Among other things, the traditionally
dominant 30-60 second TV spot still takes up the most energy at creative
agencies, and that may be to the detriment of the brand campaign as a whole.
Also, in a new report, “The Future of Converged TV,” published by Ascendant Network in partnership
with Innovid, unified measurement is the goal, but it’s a work in progress.
The report reveals how marketing
leaders have adapted advertising strategies for converged TV and how their mix
has evolved across platforms.
It found that media plans now include
at least two of the three elements of converged TV — linear, CTV/streaming, and
digital video — to reach and engage with desired audiences.
However, linear remains an important
part of the mix for advertisers seeking an efficient way to reach broad
audiences.
Linear TV advertising is a $66
billion business in the US and is expected to grow to 14% of total adspend in
2023. Digital video, which includes CTV/streaming in an IAB forecast, will grow
to become the biggest segment of digital advertising at 22.4%, taking share of
spend away from social media and traditional display.
Per the report, advertisers view
CTV/streaming as a complement to linear due to the unique reach it provides,
opening the door to specific audiences whom they wouldn’t reach with linear TV
alone.
“What YouTube and TikTok have taught
marketers is that targeting works, ad content must be relevant, and
effectiveness requires effort — all aspects they are bringing over to
CTV/streaming.”
Perhaps because of linear TV’s
continuing mass reach — but also because of inertia in the ad industry, it is
implied — the TV spot retains most weight in campaigns.
As the report puts it, the creative
process has long been something that starts with a “big idea.” More recently,
that idea has been informed by looking beyond focus groups and competition to
deep data insights about target audiences. Yet consumers increasingly insist
that a single monolithic campaign does not appeal to all audiences — whether
because of their personal characteristics (e.g., age, gender identity,
location, education) or the channels they use.
“Brands are only just now increasing
their investment in personalization and interactivity for their video
advertising. While more than half of those surveyed do develop channel-specific
versions of the big idea, nearly 30% simply repurpose existing video ads
created for linear or digital to run in other places,” the report finds.
One marketer commented in the report
that, despite not having invested in linear TV in more than five years, their
agency still starts by presenting a video reel of the idea. Now they have to
take that idea and make sure it works on the big screen in conjunction with how
it’s retooled for digital platforms.
Another admitted that even though it
doesn’t do any traditional media, its internal creative teams and agencies are
not very good at digital-first creatives. Most of them start with a traditional
30- or 60-second film when they are concepting.
In the highly addressable,
data-driven environments that exist in digital and social advertising, the
ability to customize ads to the viewer has become possible.
What started with contextual
relevance has given way to personal relevance. Per the report, the need for
creative to become “more personalized and relatable” — one or a few concepts
modified to appeal to a specific audience or platform at scale — can be fulfilled
through technologies like dynamic creative optimization (DCO) and interactive
tools.
It’s a taller order due to the cost
of video production and the determination of how many variations will drive a
positive ROI from the effort. Encouragingly, the report found that
three-quarters of respondents plan to devote more resources to new creative
executions that incorporate personalization and interactivity in the coming
year.
Measurement Remains a Mixed
Bag
Naturally, along with the convergence
of TV and video channels comes a desire to understand
the best mix of platforms to reach
target audiences and drive outcomes. But, so far, the ability to holistically
value converged TV across linear, CTV/streaming, and digital for its reach,
performance, and incrementality remains a challenge for many.
Marketers spoken to for this report
still use a combination of in-house solutions, home-grown or external marketing
models and third-party tools to measure the impact of campaigns.
The largest share of marketers depends
on native measurement for each channel (30%), while a smaller percentage use
one measurement partner to assess all converged TV options (18%).
A quarter of respondents use a
combination of internal and external sources to understand how their mixes are performing.
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