Your TV watching habits have probably changed a great deal over the last few years, so you can guess that ad buying, and its measurement, has too. But how does that affect what you need to be doing for your brand?
I run our Video Investment team with Scott Drake, so this is a conversation we have all day.
There are three main points you need to know – let’s sum them up quickly!
1. We’re in the “era of the pluses.”
How many TV subscriptions do you use at home? AppleTV+, Disney+, Discovery+, Paramount+, ESPN+, Peacock, Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Roku, YouTube, Tubi, Vudu, Fubo, Britbox…. Whew. It can be exhausting to figure out where to watch something. And expensive.
That’s why it’s not unusual for users to share logins. Subscription fatigue is real.
2. Content wars – and ad wars – are underway.
Historically, subscription services justified their price with award-winning original content. Meanwhile, other services were ad-supported, but offered older or second-rate content. Today, though, those lines are blurring.
While premier services like Netflix (who famously said they’d never have ads) are now hastening to add ad revenue, free content services like Roku are now getting into the production business with A-list talent. Big-budget content and advertising dollars are no longer at opposite ends of a spectrum. Everyone’s trying to do everything.
3. Handling this confusion requires a new approach.
We call this approach fluidity. It’s a seamless, screen-agnostic, direct-buying model that gives our clients the best of the best. It blends traditional linear TV and advanced TV tactics, blending a focus on content with a focus on audiences, to give results across all of the possible areas our partners air content.
We work with parent companies to buy the best inventory across every type of property. With Disney, for instance, that could include ABC, ESPN, Disney+; it could include your TV, phone, tablet, and desktop; it could include programming, social media, and more.
And it’s much more than choosing off a menu. Our role involves a great deal of legwork – data crunching, graphing, mapping – to determine what actually is the best of the best, to safeguard our clients’ brands, and to negotiate to get them the best possible use of their ad dollars.
If you’d like to learn more about how our Video Investment Center of Excellence can help your brand, contact your EVERSANA INTOUCH team!