19 Feb 10

TV is Dead...Don't believe the hype!

By Neil Watson, Account Manager

The death knell has sounded many times for DRTV, often rung by some overzealous digital practitioner, claiming traditional TV is being usurped by its persistent online nemesis.

You may be forgiven for thinking the end is nigh. There are all too many examples around that would suggest this might be the case. Take people like Lindsey, a 21 year old student who hasn’t watched TV in the traditional, linear fashion for 4 years. Whose media consumption is all about i-player and on demand, doing anything to avoid those pesky adverts and she certainly doesn’t respond on the phone.

But all might not be as it seems. Thanks to research from Think box, and some econometric wizardry from MediaCom London, it seems that TV is very much alive and kicking; it just needs to be measured differently in the digital age.

This different approach works across both brand and DR. However the DR implications are most interesting to this particular blogger, who has sat in many a results presentation with gloating digital practitioners scoffing at my TV CPL and CPA figures.

The linear DR model is dead! No longer do you run your spot, shout out your telephone number and brace your call centre. The shift onto web as a response mechanism has been seismic. On average 60% of response to traditional DRTV campaigns is coming through on-line channels1. This has massively skewed our traditional ROI measures and also means our traditional optimisation decisions are being made using smaller and smaller data pools; the traditional last contact (usually click) wins approach to response measurement is blinkered. We need a holistic understanding of response to effectively optimise our campaigns and media selection.

Now, pay attention - this is the science bit. With the help of econometric modelling, we can asses the true effect of each media, including the interactions and multiplier effects that we see when we employ cross platform campaigns. Time and time again through our own econometrics analysis and now backed up by Thinkbox we see that TV is one of, if not the most efficient media’s in a DR mans toolkit.

So what does this mean? Not only is DRTV not on its deathbed, but the same principles apply to other media channels damned to the scrap heap by some digital gurus.

All very interesting on a macro level, but DR is about actionable changes, testing and learning.

Where can we go in terms of testing? Here are a couple of examples.

Traditional DR thinking will tell you that call response drops off at the weekend and as such you don’t run weekend activity. Well this research would suggest that the on-line response is just as strong on Saturday and actually peaks on a Sunday. The test, give your call centre the weekend off and test an online only call to action and tap into new audiences and response streams.

It’s not just the day of the week that offers new avenues previously untapped by DRTV advertisers. Traditional daypart strategy is changing; the days of declining call volumes throughout the day are still evident. However when we take into account the web effect we see that response grows throughout the day, and providing you can minimise cost implications there is potential to hit new audiences and drive response within peak airtime.

To the uninformed, DRTV would seem to be working against a tide of reduced response levels and dwindling ROI. However using our extensive sweet of analysis tools and econometric knowledge MediaCom has and will continue to move with the fragmenting market place to ensure we maintain our place at the cutting edge of DR expertise. This position at the cutting edge has lead us to challenge commonly held perceptions and explore new frontiers to drive the best possible solutions for our DR clients.

So next time your agency says TV is dead, Google is King, Don’t believe the hype!!

1 http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.1245