If you go looking, there's no shortage of articles claiming that TV is dead. This is nothing new, of course. TV has been on life support, according to critics, for years. Yet, despite this constant fear mongering we know that TV is actually thriving, with more and better content available than ever before, and more companies trying to enter the space in spite of negative headlines touting its demise.
This same type of obituary is now being written for TV advertising. COVID-19, after all, has affected nearly every facet of our lives, from travel to retail to sports to the movie industry, so reported declines in broadcasting buys may lead some doomsayers to predict this is the end of the road. After all, no one wants to be left behind if a real paradigm shift is happening.
But this is like looking at a snapshot and using it to predict the future. It encourages readers to harvest fear from this current moment of volatility and ignores both the efficiency and the value of TV advertising. Worse, it ignores the likely post-pandemic surge as live events resume and political advertising kicks off, as well as missing entirely the opportunities inherent in this crisis period: medical and insurance categories, home office and entertainment services, to name just a few.
As the virus slows and businesses understand how to better navigate this new reality, there's no evidence that TV advertising will remain sluggish. After all, viewership is strong across streaming and live TV; where eyeballs go, ad dollars will surely follow.
Probably the biggest indicator that TV advertising is going to show a massive uptick is that this is an election year, with politicians having unprecedented amounts of cash to spend before November. The abridged, one-sided primary means even more money will be on hand. And while digital spending will obviously be a large part of their strategy, few campaigns are going to ignore the power and reach of television.
Now, this doesn’t mean that we will magically return to advertisers pouring money into broadcast or that it’s going to be a cakewalk for broadcasters. Instead, new, innovative ideas will allow brands and networks to make the best of this situation, and these will require new, innovative tools.
Any network can see who is buying and who isn’t; survey data offers little in the way of new insights. Instead, both networks and advertisers need to see which ad content is working and why. This is the power of Resonance AI.
Advertisers that use the Resonance AI platform quickly see which elements of their content impact audiences, positively and negatively, giving them an in-depth understanding of what works and what doesn't. Networks can use the same platform to see which opportunity categories will go over well in each market.
This kind of analysis will not only help networks and advertisers best utilize existing advertising, but promote innovation. Experimenting with new ad formats, styles, focused ad breaks or new categories of advertising is risky if you can’t determine what works. But with Resonance AI, both networks and advertisers will receive quick, accurate, critical insight on what will keep their audience engaged.
Television and advertising are alive and well, thank you very much. And with Resonance AI, both can respond nimbly and intelligently to this continually changing marketplace.
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