Spending on Advanced Advertising to Rise: Survey

A significant number of marketers and ad agency execs surveyed on behalf of Videology said they plan to increase their spending on several forms of advanced advertising.

The poll, conducted by research company Advertiser Perceptions, found that 29% of respondents said they would increase their spending on OTT and connected TV, with just 6% planning to decrease spending. The rest said they’d maintain their current spending.

With data-enabled TV advertising, 22% said they expected to increase spending, compared with 5% who expected a decrease.

Addressable TV was expected to get increased spending by 24% of those surveyed.

Related: Videology Sees Increase in Advanced TV Ad Campaigns

But when it came to linear TV, just 12% said they were going to increase spending, while 21% saw a decrease coming.

In another measure of how advertisers and agency execs view linear advertising, 51% said it was “core” to their strategy. At this point only 31% said they considered OTT and connected TV core to their strategy. For data-enabled TV, 24% said it was core, and 22% felt that way about addressable.

The survey found that 29% of respondents said linear TV was not part of their investment strategy.

Though money may be moving toward data-powered TV advertising, the numbers show strength for TV advertising, even linear TV, according to Videology.

“Despite predictions about cord-cutters making linear TV advertising less relevant, we are seeing the opposite," said Scott Ferber, founder and CEO, Videology. "Advertisers are not eliminating screens, but rather trying to find the best mix of screens and data strategies that allow them to leverage the best of each. TV is still the ultimate channel for reach and awareness, and when TV advertising is brought to the next level with data and targeting, it’s unstoppable.”

The advertisers and agency execs were also asked about difficulties facing TV advertising and 51% cited the need for consistent cross-screen measurement. Other problems included how to best leverage data, how to divide budgets among screens, transparency, and a lack of understanding about what's plausible, the report found.

Advanced TV, which uses data to better target appropriate consumers, has been a big talking point in the TV business for more than a year. It is being billed as a combination of TV scale and digital analytics.

According to the study, 55% of participants said that within in the next three years, TV will be measured by the same performance metrics as digital.

“The promise of digital, and the promise of data, has always been better measurement to drive better results,” said Ferber. “One of the most beneficial aspects of advanced data strategies is the ability to tie ad exposure to business outcomes. Bringing these capabilities to TV in a scalable way takes an already great medium and makes it that much better.”

Videology said the survey is based on more than 300 interviews conducted by Advertiser Perception in December 2017.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.