Benefits and advantages of TV Advertising

Though online streaming services and video platforms, from Netflix to Youtube, are grabbing more and more eyeballs by the day, it’s a mistake to listen to the naysayers and their rhetoric that TV advertising is dead. Television still accounts for 37% the average UK resident’s media consumption. More than that, it accounts for 95% of all video advertising that’s actively viewed, lending it a reach and mass-media potency that the internet still has a long time to catch up with.

On average, a UK viewer will see 41 TV ads on any one given day. As such, TV advertising is still the most effective kind of video marketing around. Here’s we’re going to look at the benefits of TV advertising in the UK, and how it’s something that businesses of all shapes and sizes could tap into.

TV Advertising is not just for huge brands
When you think of the advantages of TV advertising, you’re likely to think that surely, it’s only the biggest brands that will get the full mass-media reach on offer. There’s no denying that the bigger your budget and the bigger your audience, the more you’re likely to see in return. However, that doesn’t mean that small and mid-sized businesses can’t benefit and reap their own share of the rewards, too.

Regional TV Advertising in the UK
Besides advertising on local channels such as; London live, That’s Swansea Bay or Bay TV in Liverpool, there are ways to use nationwide UK TV networks regionally too. ITV for example is broken down into regions such as Anglia, Granada or STV (Scotland). You can even buy specific transmitters to further improve your local targeting within those regions as well, although you need to consider the cost here as local level inventory is traded at a premium.

Another way to buy regional TV is via Sky AdSmart, which targets viewers in different locations, of different ages, lifestyles, and other factors. Sky Adsmart can be bought and targeted at even smaller audiences and areas such as cities or towns. The role of data in marketing is allowing large advertising platforms, like Sky, to offer a more tailored approach that ensures that smaller brands can still get in on premium viewing environments.

Thinking about advertising on television? We can help your business to get onto TV, regional campaigns, satellite only campaigns and national terrestrial TV campaigns. Find out more about our TV Advertising Services and packages.

What is DRTV?

DRTV, or direct response television, is a specific way of utilising the power of television in order to cost-effectively generate responses to a particular call to action. That could be a phone call, a website visit or some other form of direct call to action such as a sale. The essence of DRTV is measurement and optimisation. Ratings (the numbers of your target market that are watching the ad) are closely monitored compared to response. As the intended result is largely immediate or shortly after seeing the TV advertising, results are compared to the particular spot and an ROI can be calculated.

It takes an experienced team with industry-leading tools to produce DRTV campaigns that deliver. But deliver they do and once an ROI has been calculated a steady stream of calls or sales can be forecast and in turn delivered.

Why advertise in TV?

TV advertising delivers a huge business advantage. It can drive market share, people trust TV and it provides scale and reach. It also provides you the ability to buy the exact amount of ratings (or numbers of viewers) that you need. Whether it’s a winters evening and everyone is cozy’ing down around the television to watch the latest ‘big hit’ or in summer when less people are glued to the box, you buy a specific amount of your target audience and that is what the station or network has to deliver you.

TV also creates word of mouth. How many times have you heard the saying, ‘did you see that TV advertisement for…’ the other night? Particularly around Christmas when the big high street advertisers are rolling out their 30 second epics and Christmas campaigns. There are many other advantages to TV advertising and we look into some of those benefits in more detail below.

The Advantages of using TV Advertising

Reach a larger audience
Simply put, not other kind of media allows you to reach as many people with a single advertisement – TV Advertising is incredible at reaching large audiences with frequency, quickly. In the UK, TV advertising can reach as many as 70% of the population in a single day. We’ve already shared that TV makes up for over 90% of all video advertisement engagement. While mobile devices and PC use are becoming more common, they’re still not quite as ubiquitous as the TV in the living room. When you consider that most UK families have more than one TV in the house, that only increases your reach further. One of the greatest strengths that TV benefits from, is the opportunity to scale your marketing and reach potentially huge audiences. Fast and with frequency.

Better at influencing customers
Another of the advantages, especially when compared to other video marketing platforms, is that TV still regularly sees some of the highest engagement rates available. When looking at website data for companies using TV advertising, Television advertising often contributes to more than 35% of all visits to the total number of all visitors. Furthermore, global studies have shown a 60% likelihood of buying a product when influenced by TV ads, compared to a 40% likelihood for online and social media advertising.

TV advertising still has the air of prestige and quality that online marketing platforms haven’t quite got to, yet. This is in part due to the impression that anyone can advertise on the internet, while the TV is considerably more exclusive which is, to some degree, true.

Improved audience targeting
One of the major, frequently mentioned advantages of digital marketing is just how specifically you can target them. Advertising platforms, such as Google, Facebook, Youtube, and so on, collect more and more data on how their audience engages with platforms, as well as key demographic information and location, which allows advertisers to make sure that they’re reaching the right people as frequently as possible when marketing on those platforms. However, that strength isn’t unique to online marketing.

Targeted marketing has long been a part of TV marketing, such as advertising at certain times of day and on certain channels to make sure you’re hitting the people who are likely to be watching that channel at that time. Your campaign would be targeted at specific audiences such as Men, Women or Children. You can also target them based on their socio-demographics or whether they are upmarket or ABC1 or downmarket (C2DE).

Here’s a useful guide that may help you in planning your TV advertising. It details the target audiences available, how many of that target audience there are. The reach and many other useful facts for planning and buying your next Television campaign.

Source: Thinkbox

Yet, it’s getting even more sophisticated. As mentioned when looking at Sky AdSmart, targeted marketing is becoming more and more integral to TV advertising as well. Now, TV has the same level of in-depth targeting, right down to the individual screen.

The captive audience factor
As mentioned, when it comes to recorded or on-demand TV, there is some potential for ad skipping. However, most people still watch some live TV every day, and platforms are getting better at positioning ads in front of on demand content to ensure that they get the attention you pay for.

Unlike almost every other medium except, perhaps, the much less widely-used radio, TV advertising delivers a captive audience. They’re free to get up and make a cup of tea when the ads come on or switch channels, but the majority will remain in their seats, allowing your ad to enjoy its time in the spotlight. If the programme that they are watching has been recorded and they skip the ad, no problem. You won’t get charged for that anyway.

Brand legitimacy and trust
One of the important parts of successful TV advertising is that you allow the cost, effort, and time it takes to develop an ad that’s suited for such a widely viewed platform. However, that cost is almost always worth it because viewers tend to trust TV more than other mediums. They also engage with it more than other mediums.

When it comes to establishing a sense of legitimacy and trust to your brand, TV does it better than any other platform. Furthermore, it does it to such a wide market, that brand recognition is almost guaranteed to increase after a single TV ad campaign. Many of the most viral TV ads today had modest beginnings, just think of the Go Compare jingle that has been in use for over a decade now.

TV and online can work together
Believe it or not, TV does not have to be compared directly against or in competition with online forms of marketing. In fact, taking a multi-channel approach with the same branding or campaign can further stimulate brand recognition and growth. Furthermore, TV can be watched from all devices precisely thanks to the power of the internet.

TV advertising has also been shown to better engage users with your online content. Whether it’s a multimedia marketing campaign they get involved in, or simply by sending them to your site, your TV advertisements can prompt them to get involved with your online efforts much more. Furthermore, the viral nature of the internet makes it easy for an ad to get shared and seen thousands, if not millions, of times. You can also use your TV commercial on video platforms like Youtube. This is a great way to extend the reach of your TV campaign and get even more value out of your creative.

There are no ad blockers
Make no mistake, ad blockers are a serious roadblock to digital advertising that has marketing teams like ours scratching their heads to figure out. More and more websites are using an opt-in system, where users must white list the website and accept the use of advertising, before they’re able to use that content. However, this is an issue that simply doesn’t exist on TV.

Live recording does enable some viewers to fast-forward past the ads. However, 91% of all viewers still watch live TV at least once a week. On-demand is fast growing, but some platforms are looking to incorporate unskippable ads that have to be watched to view the on-demand content. Since the broadcasters control the medium, it’s much easier to ensure that their audience simply doesn’t zip past the ad.

Convinced on the importance of TV advertising?
TV is not only the most widely viewed medium for video advertisements, it’s getting more diverse and welcoming of small and mid-sized businesses as well as the more traditional larger traditional TV advertisers. Now, more than ever, your business can take advantage of a TV appearance and start to use this medium to promote your products and services using this most powerful channel. At Improve Marketing, we can help your business navigate the entire process, from creating and shooting the ad, to getting it in the right media channels, for the best chances of success. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want your brand to become a TV star, drive sales and grow your business with effective TV advertising.

Improve Marketing is a full service marketing agency. We help businesses to be better by improving their marketing. If you would like to get your business or brand onto TV why not contact us and let’s chat about how we can help you to make that happen.