 |
 |
|
"Koeppel Direct's media buying expertise has played an integral role in making my company successful. Koeppel generated so much business for our company, occasionally we have to limit their media buys, in order to handle all of the new business." | |
| - R. Gregg Marketer of Senior Products |
|
MEDIA BUYING DIRECT RESPONSE TELEVISION (DRTV) ARTICLE ...... |
Zap! Everyday More Viewers are Skipping through Commercials
|
| |
Personal video recorders (PVR's), such as TiVo, let TV viewers easily record
programming and fast-forward through commercials. PVR's will be in 30 million homes (30% of U.S. homes)
in the next 5 years, up from 3 million homes today, which represents an annual growth rate of 59%.
The rapid growth in PVR's is in part due to the fact that many cable operators and satellite
providers are giving PVR's away for free. And this trend should continue, since DIRECTV's
subscription cancellation rate is reduced by two thirds for subscribers with PVR's.
PVR Users Skip Through 70% of the Ads
More than 50% of people surveyed with a PVR say that skipping commercials is their favorite feature.
Viewers watch 20% to 30% more television once they get a PVR, but they use it to skip through 70% of
the ads. This trend could have a profound impact on DRTV response rates. A combination of rising
media rates, lower ratings and increased zapping through ads will potentially hurt ROI for both
short form and infomercial campaigns. Some might rationalize that PVR's will not affect infomercial
viewing, since they are only designed to zap through :30 commercials. However, when consumers have
more control over when and what they watch on TV, there will be less channel surfing, a primary way
consumers end up watching an infomercial.
Empowered Media Users
The way media is consumed is shifting from couch potatoes passively receiving whatever the networks
broadcast, to empowered media users controlling and shaping the content, thanks to TiVo, iPod and the
Internet, according to Business Week. Nielsen recently began tracking the viewing habits of TiVo users,
a sign that advertisers and the networks are concerned about PVR usage. PVR usage is highest among
18-49 year-olds, which is the key audience that sets ad rates for much of television
programming.
Countering Ad Zapping
The biggest challenge is going to be grabbing the attention of viewers, who are getting used to
having more control over what they watch. TiVo currently is offering several options designed to
prevent viewers from zapping through commercials, such as screen space on its programming guide page
and hard drive space for pre-recorded ads that offer sweepstakes and other incentives to entice
viewers to watch them. In addition, TiVo has created a feature called Showcase, which allows
advertisers to store a long-form ad for on-demand viewing. TiVo also plans to unveil a new feature
called video-to-video, which will bring web-like, interactive advertisements to TV. Testing and
utilizing the best of these features may provide DRTV advertisers options to counteract the ad
skipping trend.
Future Trends in Advertising
The future of advertising seems to be heading towards:
A convergence of TV watching and the web, where consumers will be able to order directly off their TV
by clicking icons.
A blurring of the lines between advertising and programming.
Consumers having greater control over access to programming and commercials.
The current advertising model is not going to hold up forever based on ad viewership trends. Perhaps,
in the future, consumers will be required to watch a certain number of ads in order to receive TV for
free. PVR's can track this type of activity. This type of arrangement has been offered by some
Internet service providers, who provide free service in return for the consumer being exposed
to advertising.
Even though the number of viewers using PVR's now is relatively small, this is a good time to
start formulating strategies to respond to the growing ad zapping trend. If the ad industry
and people associated with the industry do not address the issue soon, we could end up in a
position similar to what happened with the recording industry, which has seen their business
decimated by downloading.
|
| |
|
|
|
