Page 28 - Adnews Magazine May-June 2021

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back to brand building, as opposed to shorter-term sales boosts through digital advertising.”
Ben Willee, GM and media director, Spinach, says the pan- demic gave marketers an opportu- nity to reassess their activity.
“There is a lot of evidence to suggest that video formats are very powerful because they include sight, sound and movement,” he told AdNews. “Therefore it’s no surprise that TV and digital video formats are performing well.”
One of the main effects of the pandemic, from a media consump- tion perspective, was to accelerate the digitisation of viewership.
“As such, it has never been more important, both from an agency and marketer perspective, to take a holistic view of consumers’ engagement with, and experience of, advertising,” says Anthony Ellis, MD of Publicis Media Exchange.
Publicis Groupe has been at the vanguard of the “screen” approach. Linear TV and online video adver- tising should not be planned, bought or measured in silos.
“Recognition of the importance of this joined-up approach has accel- erated significantly over past years and is strongly reflected in the initi- atives being driven by the Australian television networks,” says Ellis.
Publicis Media Exchange has been tracking TV ad revenue growth numbers against a 2019 baseline. “From this point of view, growth across linear TV doesn’t look as strong — it is currently level with 2019 — and looks unlikely to reverse the trend away from ter- restrial advertising over the longer term,” says Ellis.
“What OzTAM’s Video Player Measurement (VPM) numbers tell us though is that TV content is absolutely not dead. Broadcaster VoD viewership continues to soar [still tracking at +35% year on year, at time of writing].
“This is clearly reflected in the networks’ revenue performances, too. In their last financial results, Seven’s digital revenue had grown 73% year on year. Meanwhile, dig- ital now accounts for 41% of Nine’s group EBITDA, which is hugely encouraging.”
Dan O’Brien, commercial director and head of strategy at
“Brands have moved back to television and invested more into TV.”
Rod Prosser, Viacom CBS
independent media agency Frontier Australia, says TV sits in a strong position heading into the second half of 2021.
“Advertiser demand has never been stronger, with no signs of slowing down — yet,” he says. “What remains to be seen is how long increased demand can be sustained alongside increased fragmentation of viewership. We’ve seen huge growth in the consumption of on-demand platforms during the past year. Total TV strategies can no longer be avoided.”
O’Brien says the economy is unquestionably doing well, with the exception of some categories such as travel.
“That breeds confidence, and confidence leads to spending, first, by consumers, and, second, by business,” he says.
“Brands that have recognised this have invested funds back into adver- tising to capitalise on it. And TV, being a platform that can very effectively reach audiences at scale, has been the beneficiary of this investment.”
Frontier Australia is predicting a restabilising of both audiences and advertiser demand post-Olympics.
“No doubt linear TV audiences will continue to see some decline given the increasing availability of on-demand content,” says O’Brien.
“This is where we need smarter measurement approaches to ensure we are activating against ‘Total TV’ audiences, not just linear. I look forward to when we don’t use the terms linear or BVOD. Isn’t it all just TV? That is a while off, but it is on the TV networks to attract viewers with compelling content running across all platforms, and it’s on all of us to make sure we are planning, activating and measuring effectiveness properly.”
O’Brien says the growth of TV, from a viewership perspective, relies heavily on content itself. “This is a significant challenge for the networks, however this is nothing new,” he says. “With the quality of content acces- sible via a growing number of on-demand platforms, getting this right consistently is crucial for TV publishers in Australia to make sure we have audiences to activate against, regardless of the platform.