from the taking-advertisers-out-behind-the-watershed dept.
TV advertising's watershed moment: It is finally becoming more like digital - Digiday:
Typically, TV networks have sold three-quarters of their national advertising inventory for a given month before that month begins. However [in the USA], as of late March, only roughly one-quarter of that inventory had been booked for April, according to a TV advertising industry executive familiar with the matter. Then less than a week into April, more than half of the national TV ad inventory for the month had been booked, said this executive who took the shift as a sign that advertisers are prioritizing flexibility when spending their money at the moment.
[...] TV advertising's supply-demand dynamic began to shift in March as advertisers with businesses more directly impacted by the pandemic, such as travel-related companies, pulled their ad dollars from the market. In April, it has shifted up a gear. "For the most part, the bigger clients started to cut in April, and I think April will be the biggest [inventory] holes for the networks. In some cases, clients shifted back [to run campaigns later in the year]; in some cases, they cut in totality," said the second agency executive.
TV networks have scrambled to deal with the current supply-demand dynamic. They are working with advertisers to redirect ads meant to air during live sports. They have filled programming holes left by the live sports hiatus with re-airings of classic games and live specials. They are having their internal creative services teams work with advertisers to create new ads for advertisers that are better suited to the current cultural context. And in the case of NBCUniversal, they are reducing the volume of ads on their networks, though an NBCU spokesperson declined to provide figures for that reduction.
"All of my members are basically in 24/7 rework," said Sean Cunningham, president and CEO of industry organization Video Advertising Bureau, whose members include major TV network conglomerates, such as Disney, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS.
[...] Agency executives also see a potential long-term benefit to buying ads in April. "If clients are staying on air during March and April, that gives us a better opportunity to go back later and say, 'Look, we partnered with you during the tough time. How about helping us out in the last part of the year?" said a fourth agency executive. This person said that clients will look for either programming upgrades or lower CPMs "just to make it fair that we continued to be partners during the tough time."
Related Stories
If you're looking to buy a TV in 2025, you may be disappointed by the types of advancements TV brands will be prioritizing in the new year. While there's an audience of enthusiasts interested in developments in tech like OLED, QDEL, and [Micro LED], plus other features like transparency and improved audio, that doesn't appear to be what the industry is focused on.
Today's TV selection has a serious dependency on advertisements and user tracking.
[...] One of the most impactful changes to the TV market next year will be Walmart owning Vizio. For Walmart, the deal, which closed on December 3 for approximately $2.3 billion, is about owning the data collection capabilities of Vizio's SmartCast OS.
[...] In 2025, buying a Vizio TV won't just mean buying a TV from a company that's essentially an ad business. It will mean fueling Walmart's ad business. With Walmart also owning Onn and Amazon owning Fire TVs, that means there's one less TV brand that isn't a cog in a retail giant's ever-expanding ad machine.
[...] Further, Walmart has expressed a goal of becoming one of the 10 biggest ad companies, with the ad business notably having higher margins than groceries. It could use Vizio, via more plentiful and/or intrusive ads, to fuel those goals.
And Walmart's TV market share is set to grow in the new year. Paul Gray, research director of consumer electronics and devices at Omdia, told Ars Technica he expects that "the new combined sales (Vizio plus Walmart's white label) will be bigger than the current market leader Samsung."
[...] 'Walmart has told you by buying Vizio that these large retailers need a connected television advertising platform to tie purchases to," Martin told Bloomberg. "That means Target and other large retailers have that reason to buy Roku to tie Roku's connected television ad units to their sales in their retail stores. And by the way, Roku has much higher margins than any retailer.'"
[...] TV brands have become so dependent on ads that some are selling TVs at a loss to push ads. How did we get to the point where TV brands view their hardware as a way to track and sell to viewers? Part of the reason TV OSes are pushing the limits on ads is that many viewers seem willing to accept them, especially in the name of saving money.
[...]Still, analysts agree that even among more expensive TV brands, there has been a shift toward building out ad businesses and OSes over improving hardware features like audio.
"This is a low-margin business, and even in the premium segment, the revenues from ads and data are significant. Also, the sort of consumer who buys a premium TV is likely to be especially interesting to advertisers," Gray said.
[...] In 2025, TVs will continue focusing innovation around software, which has immediate returns via ad sales compared to new hardware, which can take years to develop and catch on with shoppers. For some, this is creating a strong demand for dumb TVs, but unfortunately, there are no immediate signs of that becoming a trend.
As Horner put it, "This is an advertising/e-commerce-driven market, not a consumer-driven market. TV content is just the bait in the trap."
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(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2020, @11:00AM
Come the last part of the year:
Client: "Programming upgrades or lower CPMs plz, just to make it fair that we continued to be partners during the tough time."
TV network: "LOL, we're a cable company. We just raised your rates 10%. Pay now or fuck off."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2020, @11:30AM (1 child)
I want my ... I want my ... I want my CBD!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2020, @05:21PM
Afghani Bullrider. Tried it for the first time by taking 2 huge puffs. Big mistake.
Better find a seat and hold on, you won't be able to move for about 3 hours. It's a creeper. It creeps higher and higher. At one point in the ride you tell yourself that's high enough, I don't want to get any higher. And the ride says fuck you... you get even higher. Then you start laughing.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Friday April 10 2020, @12:19PM (1 child)
Beijing might want to buy up all that ad time to apologize for destroying the world.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Friday April 10 2020, @01:18PM
They have other ideas:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/04/05/china-floods-facebook-instagram-undeclared-coronavirus-propaganda/ [telegraph.co.uk]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2020, @12:29PM
Oh, yeah, she bolted a while ago.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2020, @12:36PM
This means the talk show 'news' stations are going to get MORE screechy. Gawwwd.
(Score: 5, Funny) by SomeGuy on Friday April 10 2020, @12:58PM
It's the end of the world, civilization has collapsed, total apocalypse, but of course Domino's Pizza is still in business due to an odd surplus of road kill. Now, for a limited time every order includes FREE Soylent sticks!