September 6, 2017

Analysis by Thinkbox (the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK) of the UK’s video consumption in 2016 reveals that TV is still the dominant channel, accounting for 74.8% of video viewing. Perhaps more interestingly, this is only down 1.2% compared with 2015, despite repeated reports of TV’s rapid decline.

More importantly for the advertising industry, 93.8% of the average person’s daily video advertising views are on TV (full screen, most likely with the sound on). This means that in 2016, the average person in the UK watched almost 19 minutes of TV advertising each day, compared to just 8.4 seconds on YouTube. For advertisers attempting to appeal to a mass-market audience, the importance of TV advertising cannot be overstated.

But for those brands who want to reach those not gathered around the television screen, what are the options? Out of home opportunities (including digital viewing and in locations such as the pub or gym) are not measured by the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) so brands must either keep their fingers crossed that they are reaching their target audiences or look to other forms of measurable advertising.

An improving picture

The issues are widely recognised and BARB initiated Project Dovetail to combine the data that it collects from its representative panel of people with data collected from the devices used to watch this content. Once the project is fully operational, advertisers will have viewing data for online and catch-up TV but timings are not yet confirmed and in the meantime, media planners remain stuck between a rock and a hard place with online measurement. Reported lack of transparent business practices (largely centred on rebates between media agencies and other parties in the supply chain) and concerns around viewability of ads in the various digital “walled gardens” have resulted in a severe loss of faith with online measurement.

Although Project Dovetail had been considered to be the answer to online TV audience measurement, it is now less clear whether this will adequately plug the gap. Sky AdSmart is targeting ads at consumers watching different things at different times and now that platforms like Virgin Media have signed up to deliver target advertising via AdSmart, how advertisers measure the effectiveness of campaigns delivered in such a targeted way is anyone’s guess.

Plugging the gap

As the ways in which TV can be consumed multiply, advertising opportunities proliferate but the industry must be able to effectively measure results. The platforms with the ability to evaluate the opportunities and their effectiveness are those that are likely to plug the gap first.