Surviving the TV Advertising Rollercoaster Series: Adapting to Changes in TV Media Buying & Attribution

Part 1: Surviving the TV Advertising Rollercoaster

Spots and dots are going the way of the dodo. TV advertising is rapidly evolving to reflect the new media landscape and consumer preferences. Advertisers and media experts need to pay constant attention to these changes and prioritize finding the best channel mix to achieve omnichannel success.

According to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), CTV ad spend is expected to grow 21% in 2023; this trajectory is 61% faster than other forms of digital video advertising. Meanwhile, Linear TV viewership is decreasing, with only News and Live Sports programming driving live viewership. Samba TV’s State of Viewership report confirms this trend, highlighting that less than 50% of U.S. adults have a monthly cable or satellite TV subscription. Connected TV is growing, linear is shrinking, and consumer purchasing proves it.

Part 1: Surviving the TV Advertising Rollercoaster

New technologies and paid media methodologies are emerging as a result of these trends. Some of the forces driving changes in TV advertising include:

  • Programmatic inventory availability
  • Advanced multi-touch attribution capabilities, and 
  • Automatic content recognition (ACR) ad delivery.

How will these shifts affect your TV media strategy for the coming months?

Marketing Doctor’s POV 

The very definition of what constitutes TV has changed and challenges us to provide our clients with a better path to reach their goals. Each piece has its place from broadcast TV, Cable, CTV, online video (OLV), user-generated content (UGC), and so on. The goal is to balance costs with performance and be able to prove it. Today’s media planners and buyers cannot simply apply Cost per Point (CPP) to a schedule, buy evenly across dayparts, get some added value, and call it a plan. More attention needs to be placed on allocating budget across video tactics. Providing a comprehensive overview of the true reach, frequency, and attributable action taken by unique viewers is also essential. Even brand awareness can be tied to a measurable KPI with data backing it – executing at this level is our job now.

TV advertising remains a dominant force of connection between brands and consumers. That being said, we’re all feeling the fragmentation arising from streaming TV. What’s the solution? A fully integrated media approach with pooled resources, holistic reporting, and cross channel attribution. Reporting solely on GRPs and the number of spots that aired won’t cut it. Instead, we must gather attributable data to gauge linear TV performance and analyze it in conjunction with other platforms in the customer journey (e.g. CTV, paid social, display ads).

In part 2 of this series, we’ll explore each twist and turn – from escalating media costs to programmatic media buying. Want to learn more in the meantime? Contact us.

Spots and dots are going the way of the dodo. TV advertising is rapidly evolving to reflect the new media landscape and consumer preferences. Advertisers and media experts need to pay constant attention to these changes and prioritize finding the best channel mix to achieve omnichannel success. 

According to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), CTV ad spend is expected to grow 21% in 2023; this trajectory is 61% faster than other forms of digital video advertising. Meanwhile, Linear TV viewership is decreasing, with only News and Live Sports programming driving live viewership. Samba TV’s State of Viewership report confirms this trend, highlighting that less than 50% of U.S. adults have a monthly cable or satellite TV subscription. Connected TV is growing, linear is shrinking, and consumer purchasing proves it.

New technologies and paid media methodologies are emerging as a result of these trends. Some of the forces driving changes in TV advertising include:

  • Programmatic inventory availability
  • Advanced multi-touch attribution capabilities, and 
  • Automatic content recognition (ACR) ad delivery.

How will these shifts affect your TV media strategy for the coming months?

Marketing Doctor’s POV 

The very definition of what constitutes TV has changed and challenges us to provide our clients with a better path to reach their goals. Each piece has its place from broadcast TV, Cable, CTV, online video (OLV), user-generated content (UGC), and so on. The goal is to balance costs with performance and be able to prove it. Today’s media planners and buyers cannot simply apply Cost per Point (CPP) to a schedule, buy evenly across dayparts, get some added value, and call it a plan. More attention needs to be placed on allocating budget across video tactics. Providing a comprehensive overview of the true reach, frequency, and attributable action taken by unique viewers is also essential. Even brand awareness can be tied to a measurable KPI with data backing it – executing at this level is our job now.

TV advertising remains a dominant force of connection between brands and consumers. That being said, we’re all feeling the fragmentation arising from streaming TV. What’s the solution? A fully integrated media approach with pooled resources, holistic reporting, and cross channel attribution. Reporting solely on GRPs and the number of spots that aired won’t cut it. Instead, we must gather attributable data to gauge linear TV performance and analyze it in conjunction with other platforms in the customer journey (e.g. CTV, paid social, display ads).

In part 2 of this series, we’ll explore each twist and turn – from escalating media costs to programmatic media buying. Want to learn more in the meantime? Contact us.

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