Media Matters goes beyond simply reporting on current trends and hot topics to get to the heart of media, advertising and marketing issues with insightful analyses and critiques that help create a perspective on industry buzz throughout the year. It's a must-read supplement to our research annuals.
Sign up now to subscribe or access the Archives
We recently came across GlobalWebIndex’s Brand Discovery Insights Report 2019, which featured some interesting (pre-COVID) findings about how people find out about brands by medium and by demographics. The company queried internet users aged 16-64 in the fourth quarter of 2018 about how they usually find out about “new brands, products or services.” They then compared it to findings from the fourth quarter 2016, to see how the results have changed by medium, as follows:
As can be seen, the numbers for brand discovery on newer platforms (mobile/tablet apps, pre-roll video and social media) were all up, while traditional media were down, with the exception of radio, which held steady. The findings aren’t too surprising, given that the sample was only internet users under the age of 65; traditional media would likely have shown less of a loss had older and non-Internet users been included.
Looking to 2020, we would expect digital platforms to remain on an upswing, and perhaps also TV and radio, as more people watched TV during the pandemic, and are now taking to the road in droves this summer. It’s hard to imagine that magazines and newspapers would see much of a turnaround (newspaper websites being the exception), as people without subscriptions would be unlikely to be running out to grab newsstand copies these days.
Demographics tell another story, however. Here, we see that TV still leads in brand discovery in all age groups except 16-24s, but even there, online only slightly edges out TV. With younger viewing up during the pandemic, it’s possible that TV’s numbers would be up, but so, too, would digital advertising in its many forms. The hardest hit would be “ads at cinema,” for obvious reasons.
These findings, while interesting, are hardly earth-shattering. The report, however, did present some data on ad receptivity that we found intriguing. When asked about ad receptivity (“% who say they tend to buy brands they see advertised”), younger age groups and more affluent respondents were more likely to agree with the statement. Given that these are the most desirable targets for advertisers, that’s good news.
We look forward to seeing an updated version of this report, reflecting the situation in 2020. We would not necessarily expect the brand discovery by medium results to be too hugely different (particularly as media habits return to normal levels), but with consumer mindsets and spending levels deeply impacted by the pandemic, the ad receptivity findings could be very informative.
A recent Freewheel report, “The Power of CTV,” got a lot of attention in the trade press for its claim that connected TV devices have an average 97% ad completion rate. While that sounds impressive, let’s remember that “completion rate” merely means that the ad ran, not that the viewer actually watched it. Anyone who watches Hulu, for example, knows that the ad will run in its entirety before you can watch the latest episode of a favorite show or movie. That’s the price you pay for AVOD. However, how many of us actually watch the ad? Certainly not 97%.
But let’s remember that traditional TV functions under the same assumptions. The comparable figure for linear TV—if you believe that the set being on equals commercial viewing—is probably about 93%. While nobody believes that people counted as "viewers" actually watch 93% of all TV commercials that make it to a screen and are shown from start to finish, it’s nevertheless the basis of Nielsen’s ratings (which only measure that a commercial ran, not whether someone watched it). And Nielsen’s ratings are the currency that everyone agrees to use for ad buying and selling.
From this perspective, the Freewheel report’s findings are good news for CTV, showing a slight edge over linear TV. Are people actually watching the ads? Who knows? But set usage is how television defines its audience and its value to advertisers, so it’s “good enough” until a better method comes along.