The sustained growth of the Internet as a marketing platform has, over the past decade, caused businesses to ever increasingly marshal their assets on the side of digital advertising. Online promotions have seen budgets that were until now unimaginable, and this trend seems to only be gaining inertia. As a matter of fact, since 2016, digital ad spending reached the majority share of total US ad spending, achieving a staggering amount of 72 billion dollars.
In the face of this information, it is easy to draw the conclusion that more traditional mediums of communication (such as TV) are fading into obsolescence. Though these mediums mightn’t have the market share they used to, they are far from antiquated, and you ignore them at your peril. Here are some reasons as to why TV is far from irrelevant, and why it should still be valued.
Working in Tandem
One aspect that is often overlooked in the whole Television vs. Online debate is that the either/or distinction is false to begin with. Though budgets need to be distributed across mediums in accordance with what maximises profit, very often the combination of these mediums have synergistic effects. For instance, TV advertising on average results in increased traffic over all digital assets, including websites and social media. Individuals have been shown to be far more likely to click on Adword terms after witnessing the product on TV, rather than seeing them in YouTube videos or banner ads. As such, resources spent on TV can help buttress online campaigns, rather than simply draw resources away from them.
Reach
TV viewership is still near ubiquitous in a way that online use isn’t yet. TV has access to demographics (for instance the above 60 market) that remain relatively unpenetrated by more contemporary means of advertising. Furthermore, TV viewership still remains commonplace amongst the younger market, as a plurality of the 18-39 age demographic still claims to watch TV regularly. Overall, commercial TV reaches 71.4% of the population in just one day; 92.8% every week and a massive 98.2% in one month.
Effectiveness
While TV commercials still remain the most expensive avenue for advertisers, it also remains their highest single generator of profit. TV advertising consistently outperforms other media in generating sales, and is reported to produce as much as 72% of all brand awareness. This argument is further supported by the fact that consumers are 11 times as likely to search for a product after they have seen it advertised on TV rather than online. TV carries with it a kind of allure other mediums have not quite managed to capture. Individuals seem statistically more motivated to buy products once they have appeared on TV rather than on the Internet. Therefore, even though TV remains a very expensive avenue for advertising, it achieves a higher return on investment than any other medium.
The Old and New
Though rapid technological shifts may tempt businesses into abandoning more traditional forms of advertising, the truth is that it is ill advised to sink all of your resources into the most recent advancement in marketing. Radio has not been at the technological forefront for over half a century, and it is still used successfully as a means of marketing. Advertising requires a cross pollination of mediums, as a message is most likely to be received if it is diffused as widely as possible.
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