NEW YORK – Even as multiplatform ad campaigns become the norm, traditional tenets – targeting consumers, and top-notch creative among them – are still the cores of successful advertising, a panel of industry insiders said Monday at the Advanced Advertising spring event.
“We are making sure we are providing content, viewers are where they want to watch it, and then building ad models around that,” Rob Klippel, senior VP of advanced advertising products and strategy at Spectrum Reach, said in the discussion, which focused on extending advanced-TV advertising across other platforms.
On the heels of its recent major acquisitions – Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks – Charter is testing improvements to viewer experiences across linear TV and digital, Klippel, a former Comcast Spotlight executive who joined Charter a year ago, said. “Those are the platforms that will then allow us to take our advertising business to the next level,” Klippel said.
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Christine DiLandro, senior VP and director of media and integrated marketing, U.S. Cards, for Citi, also operates under some long-standing business beliefs. She said she takes a “holistic” approach to media buys – for the most part, there are no broadcast or, say, digital-only campaigns anymore. None of that, however, negates the fact that success still boils down to what you’re putting in front of consumers, she said.
“At the end of the day, what we are delivering is content,” DiLandro said. “We are putting consumers first, and then making sure we are reaching them effectively.”
Tim Spengler, president and chief revenue officer at agency Simulmedia, touted traditional advertising as well. He said leveraging linear TV “is still really key” to successfully reaching consumers. “Why don’t you nail mass media, really get that right” before expanding to other platforms, he said.
Once ad buyers are ready do that, the benefits can be great, Spengler said, explaining that advertisers expand their reach exponentially when they advertise on broadcast and Facebook.
Julie DeTraglia, VP of ad sales research at Hulu, said her company’s findings underscore the continued value, and appeal, of watching TV on a traditional set – even if the content is delivered over-the-top, like Hulu does. “It doesn’t seem all that revolutionary,” she said.
According to research, about 75% of Hulu consumers watch content in the living room – a 233% increase since 2014 – and it's estimated 58% of viewing is done with someone else in the room (unlike the desktop-based audience Hulu attracted when it launched a decade ago). Hulu, in turn, is trying to maximize monetizing that audience by advancing audience measurement.
Keith Kazerman, Discovery Communications group senior VP, client solutions, said media companies have to make multiplatform advertising more desirable to sell it, including making it easier to do.
“It’s up to networks and content providers to set the bar of what people can expect from digital,” he said. That process is already underway, although not necessarily easy to accomplish, he said. “We know it’s complicated.”
The next Advanced Advertising event, produced by NewBay's Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable, will be in October as part of New York City Television and Video Week (#NYCTVWK).
