According to an eMarketer analysis of an Epsilon and Conversant report conducted in mid-September, a significant gap between cross-device priorities and capabilities has taken shape.
Indeed, marketers have been presented with some interesting challenges as they attempt to pinpoint consumer behavior as they switch between devices.
How can radio and television sales and marketing executives best digest this information?
Perhaps it simply involves sticking with the traditional, tried-and-true messages that have made radio and TV attractive to advertisers and successful for brand managers for years.
As seen in the graphic below, data from Econsultancy, in partnership with Epsilon and Conversant, found in a September 2016 customer recognition study that marketers that seek to gain sales through digital means are struggling with matching their priorities to their capabilities.
This is particularly difficult with analyzing conversions, and understanding customer behavior:
The September report comes six months after Ecoconsultancy took a deep look into the gaps between digital priorities and capabilities at companies across North America.
The March 2016 survey showed that nearly 75% of marketers believed “matching customers across multiple devices” was a digital priority. Yet, only 14% of marketers in the same survey said their company had the capability to handle such matching.
What does this have to do with a radio or TV station’s sales and marketing teams?
More than you think.
As marketers continue to pour money into digital, budgets are not growing. In many cases, they are shifting dollars to digital from “traditional” media including print publications. Radio budgets may also be impacted, while long-term spot TV projections may become cloudy.
As eMarketer notes, marketers intend to make cross-device attribution a priority in 2017. With more time, and resources, devoted to how they can best capture consumers via digital technologies, broadcast radio and television companies should respond by explaining to marketers that, while such digital solutions are important, they can be sure to expect strong ROI and proven results via their existing — and successful — technology.
This brings us to digital data and metrics, and Facebook.
The social media giant recently disclosed that it overestimated the viewing of sponsored video viewing … for two years.
To say this is troubling — which Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice stated in a Sept. 29 blog posting — is a bit of an understatement.
What if your radio or TV station overestimated its reach and frequency, or shared faulty Nielsen Audio estimates?What if that went on for two years?
While the ANA recognizes that “mistakes do happen,” it also recognizes that Facebook “has not yet achieved the level of measurement transparency that marketers need and require.”
Exactly. Radio and television have.
Liodice also notes that Facebook metrics are not accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC).
“Accordingly, an audit of Facebook metrics has not been completed,” he says. “With more than $6 billion of marketers’ media being directed to Facebook, we believe that it is time for them – and other such major media players – to be audited and accredited. That is the standard of accepted practice that marketers and agencies have relied on for decades.”
Liodice noted that in late 2015, the ANA conducted a study of its members on the “critical need for accredited third party measurement for viewability of digital advertising.” The study concluded that “in a time of intense scrutiny on transparency and accountability,” all digital media owners allow their inventory to be measured for viewability by a third party.
The survey findings revealed that 97% of marketers believe digital media owners should allow their inventory to be measured by a third party.
In a column appearing in its Oct. 6 editions, Guardian Media & Tech Network columnist Jerry Daykin examines the definition of a “video view” and what this means and “how that needs to increasingly influence our creative direction.”
He writes, “They’ve won great plaudits for their ability to get video content in front of phenomenally large audiences but it’s never really been a secret that many of those people are watching just a few seconds of what’s shown to them, and often don’t have the sound on as they do so.”
In contrast, Daykin points out, YouTube offers a TrueView advertising format designed so viewers have to watch at least five seconds of an ad. Advertisers don’t pay a dollar until the consumer has watched at least 30 seconds of the video.
Thus, Daykin says, “Any attempt at reporting video ‘views’ which casually throws together Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as if their metrics are comparable is a flawed approach, and some level of calibration is essential. This is before you even begin to have a measure which brings parity with TV advertising, or countless other platforms. This is why forward-thinking media agencies are focusing such resources on tools which can help them truly unpack impact across different platforms.”
Until digital metrics are fully vetted and realized, radio and television’s tried and true performance metrics should be brought front and center to Madison Avenue, which has focused perhaps a little too much on digital media because the individuals controlling the budgets are more likely to be digitally savvy New York City commuters who don’t drive — thus lowering their natural exposure to AM and FM radio. They may also be individuals that fit the definition of “cord-cutter,” again because of their urban lifestyle.
