Page 27 - Adnews magazine Sep-Oct 2022

(l-r) Married at First Sight. 10’s Melbourne Cup. The Masked Singer.
Linear TV audiences have been in decline since around 2015 and, while there was a resurgence at the start of COVID, overall FTA viewing has lapsed back.
Paul Wilkinson, head of com- mercial for independent media agency, Half Dome: “There are isolated properties such as live sport – the Olympics being an example – which continue to per- form well, but the halo effect is not long lasting. Further, the downward pressure on audiences driven via the CTV/BVOD space is more than likely ongoing – as such, I expect the downward trend to continue through 2022 and beyond but be made up, at least in part, via BVOD.
“At the start of the pandemic, we saw some phenomenal value across TV, driven by the increase in viewers and the drop in ad spend – effective prices dropped due mainly to the ‘no-charge’ net- works were able to provide to those advertisers still active.”
This was short-lived, how- ever, as demand skyrocketed and unprecedented levels in inflation – in some demos, high double digits.
“In my experience, this kind of market is often short lived – the bubble will burst or at least deflate – and ultimately only the market can decide when it’s too much.”
The challenge that lies ahead is viewing and the fragmentation of audience. “It’s not exactly a long bow to draw to expect Netflix, Stan and Prime ... to start introduc- ing an advertising model in the next couple of years. Content is always going to be the key and advertisers will always follow the eyeballs. Then it becomes about making the trading model simple and transparent across all plat- forms – I think we’re making good progress in that area,” he says.
Despite its challenges, and for all the claims that TV is dead (it’s not), the reality is that it’s an incredibly important channel for advertisers, Wilkinson says.
“It’s still the only place we can reach two million people in 30 sec- onds. Our approach and ultimately our definition of ‘TV’ simply has to continue to adapt to the changing landscape,” he says.
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