Oh how the TV cookie crumbles!

Filed Under Digital Signage, digital ooh, humor, metrics

While everyone in DOOH has complained about how strictly we as an industry are held to audience metrics and ratings compared to other mediums at one point in time, it was only a matter of time before “marketers” started to demand greater accountability in who and how many people are actually WATCHING individual ads on other mediums, such as TV.

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Don’t take this the wrong way but…HA!

You gotta see this article over on Ad Age. Everyone I’ve ever spoken to in media has commented on how they know the rating systems in TV (even the new C3 ratings) are BS but they’re so used to them and the knee-jerk reaction to “Media Buying=TV Buying” that people just go with it. It’s easy to buy…why fix it?

Per the article:

What’s wrong with the current data? At a time when the web is revealing so much specific information about the relationship of consumers and their reactions to ads, marketers feel TV ought to do the same.

Apparently marketers, used to getting so much data from mediums like the Internet and mobile, are beginning to swing their attention more firmly on a real measurable currency for TV – one that’s never existed as a buying metric to date. (the article has more details wherein they get to encoding [embedding sound or other] standards for media)

Ah, but there’s a counter (there always is). Per Nielsen’s Gary Holmes:

Encoding “would require a lot of work, and it would also require some kind of cost-benefit analysis to see whether the benefits would outweigh the investment.”

umm…thanks Gary. I think we figured out on our own that a “cost-benefit analysis” is meant to “see whether the benefits outweigh the investment” …somewhat repetitive

He’s basically saying that they (Nielsen) are not willing to invest the time or resources against defining new standardization unless the brands pay for it and that they may find it’s not worth the investment anyway.

wait for it….

HUH???

“…whether the benefits (of defining, standardizing and understanding how consumers interact with a marketer’s ad) outweigh the investment…

OK.

Can you imagine if any of Internet, mobile or Digital OOH shut down trying to find the best measurement and ratings system defining the efficacy of our ads for our clients because they wouldn’t pay for it? We’d never even get off the ground! The burden of proof has always been on the shoulders of the one SELLING the media in the new mediums. It has to be reasonable, for sure, but… Who is going to take this one back to the major TV networks and Nielsen?

I understand that TV is the big swinging….800 pound guerilla in the room but, c’mon! That type of attitude is like listening to the RIAA try to stop consumers from downloading music. Generally, trying to SOLVE the problem proactively as opposed to burying your head in the sand generates a hell of a lot more goodwill in your markets and with your clients.

Based on the advertising I’ve seen on TV recently, EVERYTHING is direct response advertising – even things that shouldn’t be – and most of it has to do with some gecko who wants to sell me insurance or some guy who wants me to ship him all my unwanted gold. Do you guys want your major advertisers back like you used to have them in the 80s?

I wouldn’t be so proud of the advertising on TV right now or quite so blatant about your lack of willingness to help marketers find solutions or at least work towards them. Not only do we now have mediocre shows destroying the quality of television but now the ads are so painfully bad and repetitive (no one needs to see 8 Geico ads in the span of an hour long program) it almost makes you want to cry. The whole experience is just awful and could just keep spiraling into worse rates for even worse advertising because consumers don’t like the experience.

Many of the younger generations coming up through the schools and soon to be joining the media/marketer communities just aren’t as bought into the “no one ever got fired for buying TV” mantra. Think of many of the folks in Digital Agencies (yes, those agencies now winning full accounts from traditional agencies) who are byproducts of the Internet age. They’d much rather look at an integrated campaign involving drive to web + mobile integration + ongoing CRM + engagement, etc, etc where TV is a smaller “promotional” piece instead of the start of the media strategy. They are much more comfortable in buying the “other” mediums they grew up with and interact with every day…I could easily see a time when TV not having the aforementioned data simply won’t fly – at least with the next gen of marketers.

It would be wiser to try and address TV ad efficacy now as opposed to later – delaying risks more of a dip in marketer confidence in the TV medium and possibly some serious dollar seepage in a few years.

As Bob Liodice, President of the ANA said:

Current commercial ratings represent “an appropriate interim step,” he said, but “the industry is going to get there with or without Nielsen.”

The next ratings milestone is likely to come from a nontraditional source, suggested network executives and media buyers.

Anyway, I thought that may give some of you your morning smile. Traditional media is starting to get a taste of what “non-traditional” has had to deal with since day one – and I can tell you it isn’t going to go away.