COMMENTARY

Will Political Ad Spend Remain High For Linear TV?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 3, 2022

The U.S. stock market is seeing rapid declines. War is raging in the Ukraine, with the possibility of expansion to other parts of Europe.

And some specific U.S. advertising channels are suffering.

But for local TV stations, we have the midterm elections starting up -- with the prospect of pulling more record hauls than they did during a similar period four years ago.

Kantar estimates that local linear TV could take in $5.5 billion from political advertising in 2022 -- up from $4.5 billion in 2018.

Not to be outdone, political advertisers will also grow on digital media platforms.

This potential political advertising spending may just be some dessert to complement overall weakening in the long-lasting meals.

When including all media platforms -- local broadcast, local cable/satellite, radio, digital and OTT -- Kantar's latest estimate projects that political advertising could total $8.0 billion this year -- up from $7.8 billion in an August 2021 projection.

Those earlier estimates put broadcast TV at $3.8 billion (vs. $3.05 billion in 2018), and cable TV/satellite TV at $1.4 billion ($1.2 billion), digital (FB/Google) at $1.2 billion ($900 million), radio at $215 million and OTT/CTV, $1.2 billion.

Viamedia, an independent cross-media local advertising company, last week said first-quarter 2022 midterm political advertising is already up 42% in the markets it covers versus the first quarter of 2018 across all political categories -- including House, Senate, gubernatorial, local races and issues -- looking at Viamedia's footprint across the country.

Big gains have already come to North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, and Ohio.

Perhaps there will be an even better picture for local TV stations when they look to punch up streaming and other OTT platforms -- those locally derived streaming channels, or new digital ad-selling business that package linear local TV advertising time with locally targeted OTT apps.

But this could gloss over the bigger picture when it comes to “core” local TV station ad revenues. Seemingly easy ad money politics -- which continues to grow and hit new records -- can seem like a false measure of local TV advertising health.

This all leads to the question of what the new NextGen (ATSC 3.0) standard -- full of digital media like “business outcome” promise, interactivity and all the rest -- could mean for TV stations, especially for digital-first advertisers.

But not so fast. Viewers need to buy ATSC 3.0-capable TV sets or set-top boxes that connect to the new stand.

More near term, we wonder whether political advertising on local TV stations will still be something to hang your hat on while we wait for TV stations and viewers to get on the same new TV standard wavelength.

COMMENTARY

With Abortion Rights In The Spotlight, National, Political TV Advertising Expected To Heat Up

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 7 hours ago

Political advertising on TV could take on dramatically different look now that a leaked draft of an upcoming Supreme Court decision seems poised to reverse the landmark ruling on legal abortion.

News of the leaked draft was revealed in a report in Politico.

We can expect much more abortion-related political advertising for the next seven months leading up to the midterm elections in November -- both for Democrat and Republican candidates.

Thirteen states have trigger laws that would automatically make abortion illegal. Nine other states have restrictions on the books that would basically bar lawmakers from protecting abortion rights to to ban abortions after six or eight weeks.

Sixteen other states would have strong abortion rights laws -- but could look to add more protections.

That would total 38 states where political advertising messages could be bought for, against, and everything in between --- marketing that would benefit local TV, radio and other media.

Susan B. Anthony List group, which opposes abortion, is putting $72 million toward elections to support anti-abortion candidates. At the same time, pro-abortion groups are fueling much higher $150 million in ad support for pro-abortion candidates, according to CNN. And this was revealed before the leak of the draft decision.

This comes on top of an expected $5.5 billion or so dollars for local TV stations in 2022, according to Kantar.

What will that creative look like?

In May 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union ran a national TV spot on MSNBC and CNN to “stop abortion bans,” starring actress and influencer Busy Phillips, as states like Texas and Mississippi were slowly ramping up efforts to restrict abortions. Creative included forthcoming anti-abortion legislation.Previous to this political advertising analysts believe the Democrats were murky and vague when it came to what overall political messaging they would have for the midterms.

Now, all that could change. Democrats believe long-term polls on abortion are in their favor -- when it comes to supporting safe and legal abortions. And many political followers believe this could be the start of states beginning to enact other laws restricting other rights for citizens.

Watch your TV for new ad mood swings.

 

AUTOMOTIVE

Consumers Have Mixed Reactions To Automotive Innovation

• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

While about half of U.S. consumers surveyed express interest in electric vehicles and autonomous driving technology, there is also high satisfaction with more traditional technologies. 

That’s according to a survey conducted by global consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners, which includes answers from 1,529 U.S. consumers as part of a global study that reached 10,000 consumers across 14 markets. 

Vehicle price drives purchasing decisions, ranking as the most important purchase criterion for respondents. Price was followed by more value-based criteria, such as technology, brand and design, per the survey. 

Conventional dealerships still come out on top when it's time to make a purchase. Eighty-seven percent of customers still prefer car dealerships, with 75% identifying the test drive as a key priority, says Peter Harms, partner at Simon-Kucher.

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“However, there is certainly room for adaptation as the landscape shifts,” Harms tells Marketing Daily. “Digital tools that simplify and streamline the purchasing process should be considered opportunities rather than threats.”

Dealerships should in turn view themselves as “experience centers” that embody the virtues of their brand, he says. 

“This means embracing technology and employing modern sales practices, while providing a space that delivers an opportunity to experience the forward-thinking technology that OEMs incorporate into their vehicles,” Harms says. 

A majority (80%) of respondents reported overall satisfaction with the current sales processes. While negotiation is the top reason for dissatisfaction, 69% of respondents say it’s still important to be able to engage in that process to get better pricing.

Attitudes are slowly shifting around data-sharing. About 2/3 of respondents are open to some form of data-sharing, especially regarding vehicle data (such as fuel consumption and technical conditions) rather than more personal data (such as destination). A majority (60%) are willing to share personal data based on varied levels of compensation and restrictions. 

Electric vehicles are gaining acceptance but will need to power up to boost sales. While a key trend globally has been the increasing acceptance of EVs -- driven by sustainability concerns and fears of increasing regulatory restrictions on conventional vehicles -- 90% of U.S. respondents currently drive gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles and will consider a gas-powered vehicle for a new-car purchase.

Price, range, and charging infrastructure are the key reasons given by respondents for not considering an EV. On average, respondents expect a driving range of over 343 miles, according to the survey.

Reactions to autonomous driving technology remain mixed. Forty-five percent of respondents indicate excitement about the technology, while 32% admit fear of autonomous technology. System malfunctions, failure to react to human behavior, and the possibility of the car being hacked or externally controlled are the top concerns.

Though the overall view is that autonomous technology is a positive move technologically and will become standard in the coming years, most respondents strongly perceive autonomous vehicles as a luxury and believe they are too expensive.

 

IAB: Digital Ad Revenue Jumped 35% In The U.S. In 2021

• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, 7 hours ago

Digital ad revenue in the U.S. rose 35% to $189 billion last year as marketers spent more to reach consumers, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released Tuesday.

David Cohen, CEO at IAB, believes that an increase in consumer use of online services and growth of small and mid-sized businesses during the pandemic fueled the increase in digital spending — specifically in digital audio and video.

“We expect this digital migration to drive the continued growth of a healthy and competitive digital marketplace driven by innovation and entrepreneurship,” he stated.

A Harvard Business School study commissioned by the IAB notes that the internet economy has grown seven times faster than the U.S. economy during the past four years, and now accounts for 12% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). 

While search revenue grew substantially — 32.8% in 2021 — it did not grow as strongly as other areas, leading to a slight decrease in total revenue share, down 0.8 percentage points.

Search maintains the largest share — at 41.4% — but digital video saw the most growth in revenue.

Digital video continues to be one of the fastest-growing channels — up 50.8% compared with last year, when total revenue hit $39.5 billion.

The growth seen in 2021 demonstrates that the future is in streaming, which experienced 50.8% year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth in digital video — inclusive of connected television and over-the-top.

This represents the second-highest YoY growth rate by ad format in 2021, behind only digital audio. Revenue totaled $39.5 billion, and digital video’s share of digital revenue grew to 20.9% — up 2.2 percentage points from 2020.

The growth of video was consistent across devices, as digital video revenue grew 58.2% on desktop and 47.8% on mobile.

Social media advertising was up 39.3% to $57.7 billion, as consumers continue to engage with Meta platforms, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter.

Digital audio captured the highest YoY growth — up 57.9% to $4.9 billion. The majority of digital audio growth came from mobile devices, as revenue increased 66.1% YoY and mobile’s share of revenue increased to 85% from 81%.

Mobile advertising revenue reversed a three-year trend of slowing growth — 13.4% growth in 2020 versus 24.0% in 2019 versus 40% growth in 2018.

The increase of mobile video and gaming, as well as the continued adoption of mobile ecommerce, were key contributors to the growth of increased revenue streams.

About $7 out of every $10 ad dollars went to mobile — now comprising 71.3% of overall ad revenue, up from 70.3% last year.

COMMENTARY The Supply Chain Crisis Broke The Marketing Rules. You Should, Too

 

Great opportunity for local-direct businesses to reaffirm their brand among current and potential consumers. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

COMMENTARY

The Supply Chain Crisis Broke The Marketing Rules. You Should, Too

• by Rich Bina , April 8, 2022

There's an adage often attributed to Winston Churchill: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” A crisis is a gift, permission to break rules and build something better. So let’s examine the supply chain crisis and how to break the rules for your business and build something better.

Yes, expectations should be properly set with customers in all channels, gift cards should be considered as a purchase alternative, and efforts should be made to keep people in the current product until supply returns. Those, and similar actions, are critical, but also comparatively obvious and much discussed at this point.

Stop, step back, and acknowledge that supply chain disruptions have likely turned the fundamentals of your market upside down. Demand now exceeds supply. For many that’s never been true before, certainly not to this degree.

Most advertisers have a balance of retail advertising and brand advertising, and for most, the retail budget is significant and unassailable. Here’s the gift of the crisis: It’s time to reduce retail ad spend and increase investment in brand advertising. This is imperative. It’s impossible to drive extra share or sales right now. But it is possible to drive higher sales, share, and profit in the long term.

We know brand campaigns are key to building long-term sales, share, and profit. Indeed, when it comes to building business over time, brand campaigns are about three times as likely to drive share growth, and twice as likely to grow profits.

And yet, marketers usually feel beholden to a certain, often elevated, level of short-term demand building because it’s what they feel the business needs. Making a greater investment in brand advertising is the business opportunity to come out of the crisis stronger than when it began.

There are those who might disagree and instead say a supply chain crisis is the time to drastically cut budgets or go dark. Much has been written on this topic. Most recently, an examination of Procter & Gamble’s increasing marketing and revenue during COVID, while Coca-Cola did the opposite, provides the latest evidence: Invest in the future to build a business, especially during a crisis.

The idea of investing in long-term growth amid a supply crisis can be difficult to embrace. But there is a synergy in the emotional advertising needed to build long-term demand, and the short- to medium-term business objectives of a supply crisis.

Emotional advertising has longer-term effects because emotions last longer than rational thoughts. The brand advertising needed during a supply chain crisis must have an emotional effect so that effects last until there is more product to sell.

BUT emotional advertising ALSO generates stronger loyalty and pricing effects. Right now, there is doubtless worry about customers having to pay more and/or wait for products to become available, and that those customers could instead choose to purchase a competitive product. Emotional advertising, captivating the audience and reinforcing brand love so competitors are spurned, is exactly the kind of advertising needed during a supply crisis.

8 Tips To Help End Sales Slumps

 

8 Tips To Help End Sales Slumps

Sara Sparrow

April 11, 2022

Sales teams can be chugging along when everything suddenly stops. It feels like no one is buying anything and you realize you have entered into the dreaded sales slump.

It is not uncommon for salespeople to go through a slump. Everyone who works in sales goes through a slump at some point. It can happen at any time, and it is important to know how to get out of it as soon as possible. Here are eight tips that will help end sales slumps.

Make sure each rep is in the right mindset to attack the sales slump.

“The most common reason behind a sales slump is a streak of lost deals” says Paul Lafayette, a technical writer at Writing populist and Fingerlakes1. This can cause a loss of confidence in abilities as well as lead to uncertainty.

Salespeople need to be able to sell themselves and their product with conviction. They won’t accomplish this by looking at lost sales as failures but by changing and reframing them into lessons learned – with a manager’s help. Refocusing the mind into a learning and growth mindset will help them pull out of the sales slump.

Decide what is working and what isn’t.

See if there are areas of a sales process that can be improved. Use metrics and analytics from your CRM and look what has been changing month-to-month. Have sales dropped due to taking less action?

Perhaps a rep needs to change their pitch or the way they are overseeing objections. Making changes to the process can help increase closing rate and end a slump.

Make a daily action plan.

Once you have looked at customers, competition and a rep’s process, it’s time to make a plan. This plan will be the roadmap to getting out of the slump. It should include what will be changed and how it will be changed. A daily action plan is a list of tasks that need to be completed on a given day. It helps a sales rep stay focused and motivated. Prioritize the action steps according to their importance and urgency. Finally, break down each task into smaller steps so they are easier to complete.

Be sure to set goals alongside making a daily action plan. Make sure goals are realistic, attainable and measurable. This will help you track progress and see if your reps are actually making any headway.

Learn who your customers are and what they really want.

This is an especially important step in the process because it helps a salesperson understand what is needed to get sales back on track. This is especially important for B2B businesses as customers are a bit harder to define. Targeting must strategic, and a business customer’s purchasing decision must be done in the best interest of everyone involved in the business. Start by asking these questions:

• What are the customers’ needs?
• What are the customers’ pain points?
• What are the customers’ goals?
• How can I help them achieve their goals?

Know and understand your sales pitch.

Reps need to know what they’re selling, why it’s better than the competition’s offering, and how it will benefit the customer. Customers can read any uncertainty, so make sure your salespeople are well-practiced and come across confident and sure of the product they are offering.

Use sales tracking software.

This is a great way to see where you are making sales and where you are not. By using sales tracking software, you can see patterns and target areas that need improvement. Sales tracking software is a great way to get out of a sales slump. It helps you track your sales, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and find the best time to make a sale.

Be ethical.

Customers appreciate it when they know they’re being treated in an honest fashion. Being dishonest could damage your reputation in the long run. If reps overpromise, they will end up with dissatisfied customers who will go to the competition instead.

Recognize when it’s time to ask for help.

It’s OK to ask for help if it’s becoming overwhelming. “Talk to people who are in sales and see if they have any advice or techniques that you can try” says John Schaeffer, a business writer at State journal and Write my essay. Read books and articles on sales techniques. See if there is anything that you can learn from them.

If you have sales team members who are in a slump, don’t despair, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Help them be persistent and take action, and they will eventually get out of it.

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Nielsen 'Evaluating' Plan To Stop Russian Operationsby

 

Nielsen 'Evaluating' Plan To Stop Russian Operations

• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

As more TV and media-related companies suspend or scale back their business with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, Nielsen says it is still working on an exit plan.

In a statement, the company said: “Due to the escalating situation in Russia and Ukraine, Nielsen is actively working with its clients and vendors in Russia to pause new business and evaluating a plan for its existing operations in Russia."

Nielsen did not provide specific details.

An increasing number of U.S.-based TV and media companies have suspended operations in Russia during the last two weeks. Most recently, Discovery Inc. said it was stopping operations, with 15 channels going off the air.

Other media companies including Netflix, WarnerMedia, Amazon, TikTok, Google, Apple, and Facebook have also suspended operations. Virtually all movie studios that had film productions operating in Russia have halted operations.

Major U.S.-based consumer brands are also suspending operations in Russia, as well as marketing efforts.

Earlier this week, the Association of National Advertisers said that of the estimated 23% of 180 ANA members that do business in Russia, 25% have suspended or reduced their media spend in that country.