Linear TV Means Consistent Ad Revenue

Every year brings a bit of trepidation in the media marketplace about rates and budgets. Will CPMs hold or increase? Will there be consistent ad revenue? Now there is the possibility that a recession, per Adweek, could impact the media ecosystem entirely.

However, these fears are unfounded: Even if the overall economy restricts, it only means that marketers will have more of an incentive to get their brand propositions in front of consumers to bolster revenue goals. And many look to television as a safe, verifiable must-buy.

Popularity and Reach

Despite the proliferation of viewing choices, there are many advantages that linear television offers advertisers. Linear television still enjoys great popularity and reach, even among younger viewers.
According to a recent Nielsen Total Audience Report, linear commands a majority of viewing time across all age ranges. CMO.com reported that most people are still watching traditional, scheduled television, including younger generations. Linear still constitutes half of Gen Z and millennials’ viewing habits, according to the Nielsen report.

Measurement Confidence

With currency measurement and internal content standards, linear offers advertisers placement safety and viewability as well as measurement confidence. You know where your ad will run and who viewed it, offering consistent ad revenue.

Live Events

Live events, especially sports, drive viewer interest and attention: Sixty-six percent of adults watch live TV on a regular basis, according to the NCTA. Further, when it comes to long-term viewing habits, twenty percent of viewers are watching more live TV than five years ago.

Data-Rich and Granular

Television is becoming more data-rich and granular through the addition of big datasets such as set-top box data. According to Capital Media, this “has allowed the industry to rely on addressable TV, which allows advertisers to go beyond basic demographic information and more narrowly target households based on data.”

The interconnectedness of TV and data—including online indicators, like website visits—provides increased visibility to conversion analytics and attribution, according to AdExchanger.

2020 Forecast

Stayed tuned for 2020, which is shaping up to be a robust time for media in general and linear television in particular. Political advertising spend alone is expected to reach $6 billion, according to Forbes.

Linear is not going away, according to Betsy Rella, vice president of research and data at NYI. With the explosion of content and the engagement of viewers in this content across platforms, television still stands tall.

“We see it in the campaigns. We see it in the data. Television still has massive reach over other platforms,” Rella concluded. “It is still a big portion of what’s driving consumers to take action.”

This article first appeared on the Videa blog