Effective Linear and Digital Advertising in Uncertain Economy Requires Investments in Cross-Platform Integration and Accountability
It is a business truism that advertising and marketing budgets are often the first line items to face scrutiny when boardrooms and senior executives face economic uncertainty. In the process, leaders tasked with bringing their offerings to market must urgently address a single question: How can we do more with less?
The question is once again front and center as concerns about inflation and recession cloud the outlook for 2023 and beyond. The answer to this question, however, is likely to be far different today from the path pursued in past downturns, according to Walt Horstman, senior vice president of monetization with TiVo, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi Inc.
"We have moved into a period of economic uncertainty forcing brands and marketers to reevaluate their media spend. It represents a dramatic shift in the business landscape since the industry has not seen a major cyclical economic downturn since 2009," says Horstman.
Over this period, the media landscape has changed dramatically, and new technologies have given rise to a profound set of capabilities that previously did not exist. COVID-19, for instance, had an immense impact on the advertising industry.
"It accelerated the adoption of Connected TVs (CTVs), elevating the importance of digital advertising and creating an imperative for organizations to integrate this rapidly growing category into their linear engagement strategies. The pandemic dramatically altered how consumers access entertainment and how they are exposed to advertising messages," he explains.
This confluence of factors – the turbulent economy, changing consumer attitudes and the emergence of new technologies – has heightened interest in accurate, real-time analysis as brands seek evidence to prove performance and validate target audience reach.
Evidence-Based Defense of Ad Spend
The good news is that premium content promoters, advertising agencies and corporate brand managers now have access to an unprecedented amount of data that can be analyzed by increasingly sophisticated tools that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to defend and justify a more precise approach to bringing their value propositions to market.
"It contributes to more accurate and effective message development and targeting. As a result, advertising budgets can now be allocated in ways that drive higher levels of efficiency, performance, accountability and incremental reach," says Horstman.
This is important when budgets are scrutinized, especially in today's fragmented media landscape, where scores of streaming services coexist with more traditional pay-TV and broadcasting offerings.
It turns out, however, that the key to improving incremental reach is to capture audiences' attention by tapping into data about consumers' digital behaviors from multiple sources to construct models and media plans that are more accountable through the rigorous measurement of performance across mediums.
Hybrid Campaign Strategies
Coming to grips with the complexity of today's heterogeneous media environment will require a hybrid approach to research, planning, measurement and execution.
"Linear television – which is still a workhorse for many, if not most, big brand media plans – must find ways to harness the deluge of data generated by digital entertainment channels. It is increasingly clear that campaigns – even those that use linear television as a foundation – can greatly benefit from understanding how streaming media properties drive incremental reach. This carries significant implications for content promoters, advertisers and brand management leaders," Horstman says.
In the past, broadcasters purchased time on the top channels and ran promos on their own channels to drive premium content viewership. This was expensive and often inefficient. Today, technologies are available to construct specific target audience profiles across mediums.
There are now tools – based on automation, machine learning and data analytics – that work across broadcast channels and streaming that enable the industry to create highly dynamic and targeted campaigns.
"We are steadily moving away from the days when linear TV and digital content providers spoke completely different languages. Today content providers, brand managers and advertisers can utilize data and analytical technologies to effectively plan hybrid campaigns that make the most of those scarce advertising dollars," he concludes.
To listen to the full podcast interview with TiVo’s Walt Horstman, please visit:
https://bit.ly/TiVo_Horstman_MediaBuyingStrategies