It’s a question posed by Borrell Associates and partner RevContent, and here’s what they’ve found: Older businesses and businesses with bigger ad budgets are pulling back. But, could this mean new opportunities for over-the-air television station owners?
“The makeup of broadcast TV advertisers will change this year,” says Mike Cassetta, Director of Business Development at RevContent. “Eighteen percent of those that bought TV last year say they plan to make cuts this year or will eliminate TV spending completely.”
That’s the bad news. But, there is another 18% out there — a completely different group of people that plans to start spending money on TV or put more into the medium.
What’s the difference between the two groups? The ones making the cuts are the more traditional TV advertisers, Cassetta points out. “These are bigger companies,” he says. They have bigger budgets that are generally more focused on branding campaigns. The ones that will start spending more — or start pending, period — are smaller independent companies that may be more focused on getting the word out about a product or specific type of transaction, rather than branding.
How can broadcast TV sales teams benefit? Cassetta says this requires them to have “a different tact” when working with these two different types of customers.
Overall, he believes this is a “positive movement” for broadcast TV. Why? “It means we have a new crop of advertisers.”
