No one can challenge the fact that TV is a revolutionary technology with wide influence and reach, but are advertisers still paying it much heed?
TV advertising is very costly while social media advertising could potentially be free or at the very least, affordable. Moreover, social media could be much more effective than TV with people spending more and more time online and finding social media content to be far more engaging.
To me, TV advertising is not yet fighting a losing battle. Here are the reasons:
Quality and status are still associated with TV
Since TV remains to be one of the more expensive advertising platforms, consumers relate brands that can afford it to be more superior and well established. Brands that appear on TV also appear to be more credible – If they are willing to invest so much, they’re probably pretty darn sure of their product.
Whether that’s actually true doesn’t matter at all, it all depends on the mentality of consumers. Online advertising, including social media pales in comparison in terms of consumers’ perception of quality and credibility.
TV influence proves to remain great on youths
We would think that TV is losing its appeal to youths and hence, would be less effective in bringing advertising messages across to them. According to a study, “A Beta Life Youth” conducted by MTV Networks International (MTVNI), 1 out of 4 youths (12 – 24 years old) said they get to know of brands and products through the TV. 6 out of 10 of them also said that the TV influences their purchase decisions.
The reason?
Youths are more mature than we thought. Quality rather than “coolness” plays a big role in their decision-making. As mentioned earlier, TV conveys just that of a brand.
Not everyone’s online
Just to name a few, some housewives, elderly and young children do not use the Internet as often as TV. Hence, brands targeting them such as those for family usage would be more effective on TV, especially when it elevates quality of the brands.
TV advertising is changing
With the threat of social media like Facebook having a more targeted approach to advertising and more accurate performance measurement, can TV pit against it? Besides, the biggest challenge posed to TV advertising yet is content. Content is what drives consumer interest.
Social media content is great especially when users can generate it themselves. Businesses can create videos with their desired messages and post it online, free of charge. They can also engage consumers through forums, contests, polls and games.
What is TV to do? Change of course! To keep people watching, TV is handing the control to consumers. Through simple voting viewers can now be involved in the fate of a show’s storyline and ending. Similar to social media, it’s all about interaction and engagement. Businesses can also play a part in the transformation. Instead of having ads during TV breaks, they can make their own shows; subtly revolving around a message while keeping consumers entertained. An example would be ESPN’s Nokia Football Crazy TV show.
Lastly, with TV and its advertising also going mobile on the public transport, its reach and influence is still unswerving.
We still love TV
All in all, we still love our TV programs. With popular TV shows such as Gossip Girl, Lost and 24, how can we ever leave TV? Just like how the feel of reading a real book compared to doing it online is different, watching TV programs with our wide screen TV cannot be replaced by online TV watching.
What’s more, watching TV with family and friends is still a great past time! As long as we are watching, advertisers will not leave.
TV and social media advertising need each other
To hold the attention of consumers, businesses got to keep them across all media platforms. This means working print, TV and online ads all at once. TV and online advertising for example need each other for better traffic and results.
Instead of rivaling with the Internet, TV is embracing it to promote interaction with viewers. It is driving voting, contests and games online to keep viewers engaged everywhere. The only way to make them come back is to first let them go. The Internet makes voting and contests, which encourage TV viewing possible.
TV activity is also responsible for directing traffic online. It all boils down to it conveying better quality and having more influence.
Here’s Volkswagen using TV ads to drive traffic to Facebook, where they replaced their corporate website address with their Facebook URL.
Smart businesses would grab the opportunity of this great combination and as it appears, TV advertising is not dying in anyone’s hands just yet.
