ADOTAS — It’s amazing how technology has changed the media landscape. Smartphones, tablets and connected TVs are all at – or approaching – critical mass in what has seemed like the blink of an eye, considering it took a daunting 25 years for television to stake its claim with the masses. The lines of content are blurred across these various new digital media, and content convergence is here with different content formats being consumed digitally on the same device. Now if only the media industry would converge its planning along with the content, it would make all of our lives a lot easier.
This whole argument and evolution really makes you wonder if this could be the end of the standard definitions of media as we know them, and how that will affect our media planning. For example, is the term “watching television” still relevant in 2013? Is watching “House of Cards” on your Connected TV or iPad even still considered “watching TV” since you’re not – after all – viewing it on a television set? And what is it called if you’re watching HBO Go on your mobile device? And it certainly isn’t correct to say you’re “listening to the radio” if you’re streaming music on Pandora or your favorite station’s website on your desktop, so is it any more correct to say that you’re reading a magazine if you’re technically reading magazine content on your e-reader?
Is “watching TV” even watching TV… if it’s not on a TV?
When planners are considering TV for media plans, they now need to consider not only whether it is local or national TV that is appropriate and what GRP levels are required to break through, but also how much of that weight needs to come from digital video given the exponential growth of time spent viewing videos cross-platform. This does not come naturally for the media planning industry currently and reflects a shift in behavior that must occur. Traditional reach/frequency tools don’t include a “digital video” option, so planners must use their instinct to know how much is the right amount.
Let’s take the Upfront market as an example. With the proliferation of TV content being viewed and streamed online and through mobile devices, planners and buyers can no longer put national broadcast and cable buys together without digital video being a part of the mix. In fact, according to Interpret, “The Evolution of TV Everywhere,” more than half of respondents streamed TV content online and almost a third through a mobile device. That’s where the Newfronts have come into play, but the question remains as to whether digital video will receive its fair share of the video media allocation this year. Not to mention that you can’t put a broadcast buy together without factoring social media into the mix. Digital is such an integral part of video behavior. In fact, Google and Sterling Brands Ipsos reported that 77 percent of all media interactions in multi-screen households were simultaneous interactions, but only select brands use multi-screen strategies to capitalize on this fragmented viewer attention.
Print gets a second chance… if it takes it.
Right now the majority of planners plan print in a very basic, reach-driving way. Traditionally, the print medium was not meant to engage and interact with the reader; therefore, print advertising was comprised of basic key art and copy. Today, with the growth of tablet and e-reader versions, magazines have the ability to have a dialogue with readers, offering a deeper level of engagement like never before. As magazine tablet offerings evolve, planners need to rethink the role that print plays in the media plan by tapping into strong reader affinities and adjusting the messaging to suit the medium to take advantage of this new opportunity.
While it’s no secret that the print industry has been hit pretty hard over the past few years, even those in these industry segments could benefit from the proliferation of digital tablets and e-readers if they can do it correctly. A Pew Research shows that approximately half of tablet owners said they are reading more news than before owning a tablet. Since the larger tablet size is easier to read than other mobile devices, their growth could very well be what “saves” the print industry. So now we just need publishers to get fully on board and embrace the digital platform. There’s no excuse for a one dimensional, static magazine experience via a tablet; but, unfortunately, there are still magazines whose electronic version mirrors their print product. In order to thrive in this market, publishers must embrace the digital world by offering a fully interactive and engaging content experience rivaling other digital experiences, since that is what print has become.
Even radio has gone digital
The industry approaches radio planning in a similar fashion to TV planning, in a very traditional GRP-driven way. Digital radio is usually not considered when buying against GRP goals because the industry has not figured out how to assign GRPs to digital offerings. Digital offerings have even changed the radio landscape in a huge way. Spotify and Pandora’s reach is now on par with many leading radio stations, making a no-brainer to factor digital audio into radio plans.
It’s a little crazy to think that the words “TV,” “radio,” “magazine” and “newspaper” could in little as five years be antiquated terms that may very well go away and be replaced with a more comprehensive term for consuming content across devices. (How does “Digital Content” sound?) The best advice I can give planners and buyers today is to make Digital Content an integral part of every communications plan and not a separate 10 to 20 percent media afterthought. Whether the marketing objective is awareness, purchase intent or increased sales, consumers are choosing to engage with content digitally, and that is how they should be marketed to as well.