Are we facing the death of traditional advertising? Is digital is the only way forward, or is TV still the best way to communicate to the ‘mass’? MEC MediaLab’s Regional Director Jon Wright gives these questions some serious consideration
1 February 2008
Across the Asia Pacific region, the TV industry is experiencing differing fortunes by market, driven by increased media fragmentation in more developed markets and attractive costs of entry in less developed. From the 2007 ‘This Year Next Year’ report by GroupM, TV’s share of measured media is set to increase further in China, Indonesia and the Phillippines, while it is forecast to decline in places like Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and Hong Kong. Where media fragmentation is adversely affecting spot advertising, TV networks are diversifying to increase potential revenue opportunities from niche channels and content distributed through digital and mobile. Of immediate relevance is how the changing media landscape, and the changing consumer, are affecting how marketers think about their usage of TV, and all types of communications channels.
Let’s start with people and understanding how communications fit into their lives. At MEC, we recently conducted a global study to better understand when and where we should be communicating brand messages. This was done by focusing on people’s different states of attention - the theory being that when people are less than fully focused on a single (nonmedia) activity then they will be more responsive to brand communications. Findings showed that as people juggle more stimuli in an attempt to identify what is meaningful to them, the optimum role for commercial communication is not to work within ‘partial attention’ - where people are multi-tasking and constantly ‘scanning’ for something more important or more interesting - but to pull people out of it. To move their attention from partial to full, and to keep it there for the duration of their exposure to a brand touch-point.
If we believe that we can engage with people more effectively at times of partial attention, then context and content are more important than location for influencing people’s attention. No one channel or means of message delivery is in itself more engaging than another, but some channels can enhance the delivery of content within different contexts.
Most importantly, in today’s world where the consumer is in control, the over abundance of brand messaging, brands and their communication now receive only the attention they deserve, and no more. If brands are to ‘get through’ to people, they need to be in the right place at the right time, they need to grab attention and keep it there.
Does this suggest a renewed role for ‘interruption’ marketing and TV as part of that? Well, yes and no. If an audience is in a state of partial attention, they won’t disengage from what they are currently doing unless they are offered communication that is more relevant and engaging than the task at hand. This applies to TV as well as any other channel. But can we understand more about those people, those ‘interruptibles’ who are most likely to be fragmenting their attention across a wide variety of stimuli?
While anyone is likely to welcome an appropriate interruption if they are in a less focused state of attention, MEC’s study identified a group of people who offer marketers a greater number of ‘interruption opportunities’ than the average population.
This group was defined by their strong tendency to consume media simultaneously - known as media multi-tasking - versus the average population. An examination of their attitudes to information and remaining constantly connected to their different social and professional networks gave rise to their name: Networkers.
Networkers: “At work I am open to interruptions that are relevant to any of my projects, even if they are not directly relevant to the task I’m working on when I am interrupted…. I do not deliberately ignore any distractions, as they could be important.”
When compared to the general population, Networkers are more likely to be found either in senior management positions or within the 18-34 year old age bracket. They are always alert to ‘need-toknow’ information, so they like to be constantly connected to their social and professional network.
Even more interesting, is the amount of time Networkers spend consuming media, and the resulting communication opportunities that this offers. In percentage terms, this equates to their spending over 22% more time than other people consuming media.
This additional consumption is not focused on particular channels, but is spread across a wide range of channels, with all uses of the internet being most affected.
Networkers are a breed whose defining communication behaviour-multi-tasking, and the management of different networks simultaneously - has only been made possible by the internet. It’s no surprise therefore that the internet offers such a good opportunity to connect with them, because of the amount of time they spend using it in comparison to other channels. Interruption marketing may still be relevant (again, at the right time, in the right context), but needs to happen in a consistent integrated way across a broad spectrum of channels.
Is the effectiveness overall of TV reducing? In places where effectiveness hasn’t yet reduced, it will soon begin to. Are the same trends affecting other communications channels? Absolutely. Does this mean that TV no longer has a role to play in communications? Of course not, we just need to apply the same principles to TV as we do to all communications channels, and brand communications. Brands need to engage with people, they need to grab the attention, to be picked up, played with, talked about, be of help to people, maybe even make people smile, and brands need to do this consistently across all forms of communication channels. They need to do this in a relevant time when people will likely to be.
So what do TV pay-channels need to do? Of course continue to develop content which is engaging in its own right, but also to work with agencies and brands to provide opportunities to engage with viewers. To create innovative content, which can be accessed and engaged with through a variety of different channels to be able to maximize the likely interaction with today’s anytime, anyplace anywhere consumer. Especially those Networkers
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