Effectv Advice: Balance Your TV Spending

That39s the new message Comcast39s advertising unit Effectv will circulate early March through a whitepaper authored by the unit39s senior director of Audience Insights Heather Coghill pictured below In that document Effectv suggests that although overthetop is a valuable and growing pathway for ad spending the media avenue is most effective when used in conjunction with more traditional advertising platformsOverthetop or OTT amp8212 as defined by Effectv amp8212 is premium video transmitted through the Internet and displayed on smart television sets by LG Samsung Vizio and others and via TVconnected devices such as Amazon Fire TV Google Chromecast and Roku as well as on mobile phones personal computers and tablets quotWe include premium in our definition because we39re dealing with the delivery of quality content and advertising in that premium environmentquot Coghill explains Cable and satellite operators offering TV Everywhere services where customers can get individual channels or channel bundles on any device through an authentication process also falls under this OTT classificationThe issue for advertisers and media buyers as Coghill observes is getting the widest audience reach with their campaigns Although OTT amp8212 and in particular connected TV CTV amp8212 is growing in appeal as an ad medium especially for reaching young adults and millennials it39s far from fulfilling reach targets exclusivelyquotAdvertisers need to engage audiences across multiple platforms in a premium video environment not only OTT but also in settopbox originating videoondemand as wellquot Coghill says quotAnd most important in linear TV eg broadcast cable and multicast networks to maximize reach in this fragmented environmentquotThe whitepaper also covers what Effectv deems myths about the current state of OTT The biggest myth in Coghill39s view the magnitude of OTT inventory available to advertisers quotThere39s this feeling in the marketplace right now that OTT viewing is at similar levels to linear TV It39s just not the case especially when you pull out the nonadsupported services given that some of the biggest streaming players don39t carry adsquot she saysOTTdistributed services account for less than 20 percent of total TV usage according to Nielsen39s latest Total Audience Report published earlier this month Almost half of that usage is going to services such as Netflix and Amazon that do not take ads Coghill notesAnother myth is today39s misperception that linear TV is unable to provide the targeting and attribution precision of OTT for today39s audiences watching their big screen TV Coghill explains quotThe power of today39s datainformed linear TV is that it can do essentially everything marketer39s love about OTT amp8212 at scalequot she assertsquotThere39s no doubt that OTT is a huge growth areaquot Coghill adds quotThere are lots of new players platforms and services coming in It39s an exciting space and we know that younger audiences especially are watching these products to consume content in new flexible ways We also know that even among these younger audiences OTT39s relative scale is smaller than linear TV39s In most cases viewers are using OTT as a complement to traditional linear television and we think advertisers should do the samequotWith that top of mind Effectv39s whitepaper recommends that advertisers and agencies develop comprehensive TV plans that balance linear TV with videoondemand and OTT The exact percentage of spending for each medium depends on the advertiser39s specific campaign goalsquotWhat makes the most sense for a given advertiser is to use data to pull together a crossplatform campaign It39s the best means to find target and reach engaged audiencesquot Coghill says quotIf you start with your foundational linear TV plan then layer on OTT and videoondemand it will complement linear by building incremental reach as well as helping to balance frequency in low viewing TV householdsquotCoghill hints that Effectv will continue to bring a variety of crossscreen tactics to advertisers throughout the year that will help to maximize reach and business outcomesDon39t stop now Stay in the know on Comcast Advertising Effectv and FreeWheel with more from Comcast InSites The full whitepaper is available hereClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Effectv Advice: Balance Your TV Spending

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Simon Applebaum

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