Why Data-Enabled TV is the Biggest Thing Since Programmatic Ads
Some may think digital is slowly killing television. But when you take a close look at numbers and charts, the conclusion might be very surprising. Learn more in this in-depth analysis.
Among the main traditional media channels like print, television, radio and OOH, TV seems to have been the least affected or concerned by the expansion of digital advertising budgets. Top brands are still devoting a large share of their budgets to television ads.
Nonetheless, that reality is changing fast, and there are a number of reasons why. For one, as many of you may already know, 2017 was the first year in history when digital ads beat TV in terms of media spend among marketers. As it happens, eMarketer predicted exactly this back in 2016.
But keep in mind, the numbers above can be deceiving without proper context and a more comprehensive analysis. Any digital marketer who expects to see clients start moving dollars from TV spots to 300×250 desktop banners has another thing coming. As you are about to see, this is far from the case.
The above assumption is actually a misreading of the current trends. What’s really happening, is that television is going through its own digital transformation. In truth, a significant portion of the dollars we see moving from TV to digital are actually traditional TV dollars being converted into digital TV or digital video in general.
The same transformation is taking place with traditional radio and OOH slowly morphing into the digital stream. Digital marketers and media agencies need to be aware of this transformation and embrace it in order to maximize its full potential.
The following factors should give you a clearer understanding of why TV is not a dying channel, and show how, through a digital resurrection, TV may in fact become bigger than ever before
When you factor in digital, TV is bigger than ever
In light of all the above, when we benchmark the eMarketer chart against the Zenith/Magna research, we can see how mobile digital advertising will eat away at desktop digital advertising, much more than TV.
Based on the above figures, most of the growth is in mobile. But what is interesting to note is that TV is the second highest-growing channel in $$ (millions) from 2016-2019.
Humble yet stable growth is also seen for outdoor, radio and even cinema. The channels getting hurt the most by the rise of mobile in terms of linear growth (this is not the same as proportional growth) are digital desktop ads, newspapers and magazines. In fact, desktop is taking the biggest hit. And… it’s digital.
In linear and insular terms, TV maintains overall stability of dollars in relation to itself over time. As mentioned earlier, it even gains dollars relative to itself over time.
The blind spot in the above chart is the ratio of digital spend that will actually go toward TV or TV-like channels like streaming apps, DETV, addressable, set top boxes, etc. When we look at things from that perspective and aggregate all the numbers of digital and traditional, television may in fact become bigger than it ever was, thanks in large part to mobile.