As if the current television environment isn't challenging
enough with flat expected revenue, expanding linear viewing choices, audience
fragmentation, cross platform viewing, VOD, DVR, and commercial ratings, there
is apparently a new set of challenges eroding potential ad dollars according to
the DPAA at its recent conference.
This challenge to media ad dollars may be coming from the most unlikely places - a taxi, an elevator or even a gas pump. In this ever expanding and developing area of digital placed based media, any place where the consumer journey takes place is an opportunity to reach them via a screen. And digital placed based media is already recognized by brands and advertisers as valuable opportunities to reach their target consumer. As Jack Haberman at Colgate Palmolive says, "Video is the new day part". That means that viewers are no longer tethered to the home screen… or any one based device... or by any time of day. Prime time can be any time and any place; morning at the gym, lunchtime at your desk, commutation in a cab or train.
Consumers Rule
This challenge to media ad dollars may be coming from the most unlikely places - a taxi, an elevator or even a gas pump. In this ever expanding and developing area of digital placed based media, any place where the consumer journey takes place is an opportunity to reach them via a screen. And digital placed based media is already recognized by brands and advertisers as valuable opportunities to reach their target consumer. As Jack Haberman at Colgate Palmolive says, "Video is the new day part". That means that viewers are no longer tethered to the home screen… or any one based device... or by any time of day. Prime time can be any time and any place; morning at the gym, lunchtime at your desk, commutation in a cab or train.
Consumers Rule
The proliferation of screens into all aspects of everyday
life, both inside and outside the home, presents both opportunities and
challenges for media companies, advertisers, brands and data companies.
According to Francois De Gaspe Beaubien, chairman of the DPAA, "Consumers
are spending most of their time out of the home. People are interacting with
screens outside of their homes." That means that there is more competition
for attention and more of a consumer driven environment for placing content.
And with prescient content owners like HBO deciding to go OTT, it looks more
and more like the content delivery chain, like everything else in media today,
is fragmenting and morphing. More native advertising, more binging, more multi-tasking
is coupled with less reliable measurement, less concentrated viewer attention
and less control of the chain by the old television guard.
Who is to Blame?
There is certainly enough blame to go around. Technology
certainly plays a large role in this disruption. Jack Myers gave an inspiring
talk about how technology is forever changing media habits. He says, “The
fundamental culture of our business is changing. Every minute of every day,
consumers’ media habits are radically different than they were last year, two
years ago, ten years ago and certainly dramatically different than they were 20
years ago.”
But in addition to technology, traditional media’s way of
doing business also contributes to the viewers’ changing habits. Ad time within
a TV program can be more than 25% of the program run time. Commercial pods are
getting longer, encouraging viewers to find ways to avoid ads. BTIG’s Rich
Greenfield noted that “Binge viewing drives more binge viewing. We are learning
to watch in a certain way. We are training consumers to avoid ads.”
Challenges – Measurement, Privacy
and Fraud
However, digital placed media has a few challenges as well.
For one, there is no standard accredited measurement across all OOH platforms.
The current Nielsen measurement consists of audience studies that are conducted
as proprietary research with each study funded by the measured network. Nielsen
then takes these studies across all measured nets and compiles into one report
that is issued quarterly to the marketplace. According to MediaVest’s David
Shiffman “A few years back, the DPAA issued specific guidelines for their
members to follow for audience measurement with the goal to help ensure some
standardization in what gets measured and how it is measured.”
There is also the privacy concern. Deutsch’s Anush Prabhu
noted that “there is a lot more data available today. We can tell your geo
location from your phone which is cool but also creepy.” Microsoft’s Natasha
Hritzuk added, “Consumers are aware that their data is being collected. It is
the lack of transparency as to how we are using the data that is the problem.
We need simple conditions that we can opt into and a clear value exchange.”
Fraud is another concern. As Barry Frey, President and CEO
of the DPAA remarked, “Kraft has said that 75-85% of their data is fraudulent
and they will not use it.” Companies are responding to this challenge. According
to MEC’s Shenan Reed, “We are going to 100% viewable which is higher than the
industry standard. We will only pay for something that is 100% viewable.”
Ultimately, the DPAA conference was a high note for digital
placed based media. As Frey concluded, "We received terrific feedback on
this year's Video Everywhere Summit from many of the record 700+ people in
attendance. The sessions covered not only issues specific to the rapidly
growing digital place based media sector, but those of importance to the
overall media and advertising ecosystem as well. It's always rewarding and
exhilarating when so many months of planning coalesce into a worthwhile day for
so many people." See a video of some of the highlights of the DPAA
conference here. (insert link or embed)
