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by Online Editor | Scotland

on Aug 14

The results are in ... are the tables turning on TV?

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There's been quite a bit of discussion this year about the the traditionally dominant TV industry losing some of its advertising spend in favour of other channels that continue to grow, such as outdoor, experiential and, of course, online.

I was curious to find out what Australia's marketing community thought about this, so we asked, and you guys answered.

The results are in, and the once mighty TV's ad pulling power looks to be a little shaky in the face of new spending options.

A staunch 21 percent of you are loyal to the medium that continues to deliver the largest number of mass eyeballs, but a larger percentage are at the other end of the spectrum entirely.

27 percent of you have boldly declared the TVC dead. But the remaining 52 percent voted that we still have a few years of ad-skipping yet to come. The message is that whether the viewers really care about that big ad you've produced or not, the industry isn't ready to write off the television just yet.

A shrinking market?

According to research released by Free TV, the industry association for free-to-air TV Australia, in late July, the metropolitan television advertising market shrank more than 15 percent compared with the previous six months in the first half of 2008. The Free TV research highlighted a 1.4 percent fall in Sydney and Crikey reported that radio was also feeling the squeeze in the harbour city:

Macquarie Radio Network revealed last Friday that radio ad revenues in the Sydney metro market had fallen 1.17% in the year to June in downgrading earnings by 15% to 20%.

All this came off the back of the announcement in June by Channel Ten that a sharp pullback in demand would cut its television earnings by 10 percent this year.

Of course, the media buyers were quick to downplay the revenue wranglings from Nick Falloon and Channel Ten - makes sense really doesn't it - and Harold Mitchell led the charge, saying "We haven't seen any signs of external pressures as indicated by Channel Ten, and the market is still growing."

But industry analysts since have not been quite as bullish as Mitchell, with some even predicting the figures released by Free TV in July.

Andrew Anagnostellis of Deutsche Bank forecast that metropolitan TV advertising spending would rise 1.2 percent this year, compared with 7.6 percent last year, and Free TV's figures don't even suggest that level of growth in 2008.

So what does the future look like for TV?

Let's not kid ourselves - the TVC still has a powerful hold over a mass audience, and there is still great TV creative coming out of Australia. My question though, is how much longer can we continue to sell the idea of a mass audience to advertisers, when the conversation has shifted far more towards the benefits of accessing a highly-targeted audience?

We've been talking about media fragmentation for years, but it's worth pointing out that with TiVo entering Australia, the launch of dedicated 24-hour HD channels through Foxtel, and the introduction of the iPhone into Australia, the very idea of a mass audience being targeted has become quite laughable anyway.

I've all but given up watching television anyway. Aside from the occasional doco, I am now watching almost nothing but TED talks. The ideas discussed in those are really worth switching on for.

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8 Comments

Tony@TacticalTV
  • Wrote on 15 Aug, at 02:55PM
May I quote Harold Mitchell?

"Internet is no threat to TV, it is a great ally. The passions that TV fires are satisfied with the informational depth the internet provides. Never before have we had the opportunity to influence the emotional and the rational as we have with this communications combination.”

Smart marketers combine old and new, rather than choose one or the other.
Editor | Scotland
  • Wrote on 15 Aug, at 03:36PM
Snap! Excellent quote Tony.
The Marketer
  • Wrote on 15 Aug, at 04:47PM
Yep...I agree!
Juicebox
  • Wrote on 18 Aug, at 03:08PM
Radio still wins over TV for me...but I'm from a radio background and still very passionate about the medium.
Nothing beats an integrated Radio and Web campaign at the moment though, just look to what Austereo is doing across Australia with it's radio and online bundling...

The bottom line is you can't watch telly and the Internet at the same time.

But as you said Tony, smart (and wealthy) marketers would be combining all the media available.
Wags
  • Wrote on 19 Aug, at 01:16AM
If the commercial TV networks continue to treat their viewers they way they have been, then theyll continue to see their ratings plummet. For example, in the USA, NBCs Olympic Games coverage debacle has put another nail in the coffin, simply driving increasing numbers of their viewers online.
Editor | Scotland
  • Wrote on 19 Aug, at 08:18AM
Would you be prepared to elaborate a bit on this Wags? Have you got a link to some info on the NBC debacle?
Wags
  • Wrote on 19 Aug, at 02:54PM
Try this for starters: ClickZ - The Gods of Olympus.
Editor | Scotland
  • Wrote on 19 Aug, at 04:14PM
Amazing stuff Wags - can't believe that NBC still haven't understood the different consumption patterns of users online. We keep talking about how the game has changed so rapidly and how the big networks are having to catch up, but seriously, how long is it going to take these lumbering oafs to reorganise their ideas, reformat their businesses?

Simply taking your existing TVC real-estate and jamming it at the front of every piece of video you put up online is just plain greedy, not to mention short-sighted. To me the whole thing smacks of laziness.

"Oh, cool, another space to stuff our ads into. Let's get some TVCs compressed for the web ..."

"uh ... don't you think, er, that you should, um ... consider the way people like to access content online. Perhaps. I dunno, just putting it out there."

"What's that? People like to access content online? Hell yeah, that's just what I was saying!"

"Um, no, what I mean is ..."

"My teenager is always on the interweb doing the Facebook and stuff. All her friends will find it so cool when they can watch our ads online."

"Have you considered, perhaps, the, uh, idea that maybe they don't want to see your ad again?"

"Don't want to see our ad? Don't want to see OUR ad? Are you kidding? Do you know how much our ad cost to produce? Have YOU seen our ad? You should watch this ..."

"Eurrghhh ..."

And to make things more interesting, here's another global sign o' the times:

ITV reassesses strategy as it slashes revenue forecasts.

This isn't the doom and gloom, apochryphal end of the road for TV. This is an impassioned plea from someone who hopes that the quality of TV will improve in the future, and that the quality of thinking about advertising solutions around online content also improves.

And no, it's not just the networks who are at fault. Brand managers of the world, unite and start driving for innovation around your brands. Force the rest of the industry to keep up with your demands, rather than just rolling over and letting the same tired old rerelease stand in for genuine, consumer-driven innovation.

This has been a public service rant, brought to you by the editor of marketingmag.com.au. Please feel free to wake from your slumber, pull your fingers out of your proverbials, and tell me where to go.

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