Nov 5, 2018

Where Are We in Addressable TV? Myers Polls Agencies and Marketers in a New Study


With addressable television advertising poised to reach $3.04 billion in 2019, the media industry is now beginning to take a fuller look on its impact on the marketplace. But, despite the enthusiasm for addressable TV, a recent MediaVillage survey released by Jack Myers TomorrowToday, found that there is an industry knowledge gap that needs to be bridged to facilitate its adoption progress. 

Myers surveyed of 1200 advertiser and agency executives, asking them to rate their overall knowledge of addressable TV, the importance of it in the future for media generally and TV specifically, the current level of interest and the top performing companies in the landscape.
The industry is working hard to dispel the myths of addressable TV. Brett Hurwitz, Business Lead, Advanced TV, Oath, noted that there is a misconception that addressable is better for marketers with narrow population targets and that addressable TV CPMs carry a premium which makes it too expensive for advertisers with broad targets. But, higher CPMs are actually more efficient considering addressable’s targeting capabilities and its ability to avoid all of the waste in traditional TV advertising. 

Level of Knowledge and the Importance of Addressable TV
But are industry executives sufficiently knowledgeable in the advantages of addressable TV? The Myers study found that, among those polled, 38% of advertisers and 35% of marketers reported that they were sufficiently knowledgeable on the advantages of addressable TV versus linear (top 3 boxes on a 10 point scale). Many fell in the middle range indicating that a little more education could help accelerate addressable TV’s growth.

Notably, addressable’s messaging has penetrated agencies more effectively than at brands. The study found that generally speaking, agency executive felt more secure in their knowledge of the format with only 9% reporting low (bottom three boxes) understanding while 22% of marketers felt that way. There is obviously more work to be done at the brand level.

Yet, no matter what their knowledge comfort level was, both agency executives and marketers recognize the importance and high value of addressable TV for their industry and agree (63% for agency and 49% for marketers) that this format will be important and relevant to their future business. Notably, very few (4% and 8% respectively) felt that this advertising form had low importance. But the differential in high importance between the 63% for agencies and the 49% for marketers indicates that more work needs to be done to reinforce the value of addressable TV among brands and get them off the fence.

“It's logical that agencies are more knowledgeable,” explained Jack Myers, Media Ecologist and Founder of MediaVillage, “But the disconnect among marketers between using addressable and their knowledge is notable.” The industry could be doing more outreach among marketers to insure that they feel confident in their knowledge of addressable that will then reinforce their advertising decisions in the format.

Level of Involvement on Addressable TV
Because of the recognized importance of addressable, the study revealed that more and more of the industry is moving towards this type of advertising with 43% of agencies and 51% of marketers currently highly involved (top two boxes) in it. But there is still a significant percentage of executives (27% and 29% bottom two boxes) who are still on the sidelines which represents an area of opportunity for the industry.

The approach for outreach might be guided by the recruitment of the study itself. “The agency respondents reflect individual executives at different levels so comparisons cannot be made between agencies and marketers. A marketer respondent would represent a company; an agency respondent would be reflecting personal experience,” stated Myers.

The Best Companies in Addressable TV
Which are considered the best companies in the addressable TV space? According to those polled, DirecTV leads the field with 60% of agencies and 51% of marketers ranking them high (top three boxes) in industry leadership.

While actual rankings varied slightly between agencies and marketers the top ten companies were the same for both groups:

Top 3 Boxes
% AGENCY                                          %MARKETER______
DirecTV                60%                        DirecTV                 51%
Comcast/NBCU    55%                        AT&T                     51%
AT&T                    54%                        Verizon/Oath          50%
Verizon/Oath         50%                        Comcast/NBCU     47%
DISH                     47%                        Disney/ABC           46%
Disney/ABC          44%                        Spectrum                45%
Spectrum               37%                        DISH                      44%
FOX TV                36%                        FOX TV                 44%
CBS                       26%                        Charter                    35%
Charter                   24%                        CBS                        34%

The following companies have some work to do in increasing their presence and perception as addressable TV leaders among agencies and marketers. These companies received the highest percentage in the bottom three boxes for leadership:

Bottom 3 Boxes
% AGENCY                                          % MARKETER______          
Altice                     21%                        Altice                     19%       
Sinclair                  19%                        Sinclair                   16%       
Cadent (one2one)         15%                        Cadent (one2one)          17%       
CBS                       12%                        CBS                        13%       
Charter                   12%                        Charter                   13%       

Conclusion
In this first study by Myers, it is clear that there is work to be done in the industry to more clearly state the value of addressable TV and raise the level of knowledge (and therefore comfort) in the advertising format. But overwhelmingly, the industry agrees that addressable TV is the future as a valued and important advertising format. Now we have to work hard to dispel any remaining myths and raise the general level of knowledge.

“As audiences shift to OTT platforms and as advanced technologies accelerate the reach potential of addressable media, television will have a new communications and commerce application across the consumer journey,” explained Myers. “It’s important to understand how effectively the changing value proposition of television is being understood. This initial outreach is the first in a series of studies,” he concluded.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

No comments:

Post a Comment