With the Olympics and Paralympics having concluded, Rupert Beck, Strategy Partner at Carat UK, thought what better way to reflect on lessons of athletic achievement than by digesting the latest edition of Ofcom’s annual Media Nations report.
For the uninitiated, Media Nations is a research report providing a yearly snapshot of evolving consumer behaviours and key trends in media. At 74 pages, it’s a bit of a ‘marathon’ document, so we’ve pulled out a ‘sprint’ summary of the five key themes and take-outs for advertisers.
1. The importance of supporting quality UK content
Broadcast TV’s weekly reach continued its decline across all age groups in 2023. Whilst TV has been an ageing platform for some time, it’s worth noting that 22% of all TV viewing now comes from over 75s. Meanwhile, for the first time, less than half of 16-24s (48%) watched TV on an average week.
In parallel, Ofcom reported increasing dissatisfaction in PSBs (public service broadcasters) YoY, which was attributed to a perception that the quality of programming has declined. Whilst there are numerous factors contributing to this, the two core (interconnected) challenges are (a) reduced level of funding for programming (Ofcom records increased reliance on 3rd party funding for programming), which in turn is (b) squeezing the long tail of TV content with funding prioritising programming with a broad (global) appeal.
This presents a role for advertisers, particularly those with a national scale looking to claim a foothold in UK culture: With audiences of all ages valuing locally produced programming, brands should consider how they can support UK-relevant content, whether through prioritising TV advertising in channels that support UK content or by actively funding relevant programming through sponsorship and production of AFPs (ad-funded programming). Co-op Funeralcare is an excellent example of this, where we have worked with Channel 4 to develop a social-first branded entertainment series called ‘Celebrity Send-Off’, which looked to normalise conversations amongst Brits about funerals.
2. Re-orientating campaign storytelling beyond linear TV
Despite declines in linear, total video consumption continues to increase with just over 4.5 hours per day on average per person; daily viewing time across all areas (excluding linear) has increased with VSP (video sharing platforms, e.g. YouTube) and SVOD viewing rising to 49 & 38 minutes per day respectively.
PSBs are aware of the threat to their business model, where they risk generations growing up without ever having bought into PSB TV, and are looking at how to re-orientate accordingly (e.g., Channel 4 investing more into social/digital content, launching initiatives like Channel 4.0).
For advertisers, it heightens the need for a more holistic approach in both planning AV media and developing AV creative to account for this increased fragmentation. We recommend clients leverage the benefits of connected TV through our dentsu ‘Total TV’ solution that enables them to seamlessly maximise their reach across everything made for or on the TV screen (making TV more accessible for clients with smaller budgets) whilst also adopting a ‘digital first’ approach to briefing video creative, developing ideas that will live in digital channels as opposed to a legacy ‘TV-first’ approach.
As we’ll see in the next section, brands should also be thinking beyond the confines of video media.
3. Untapped impact to be found in audio
Live radio is now listened to by c. 50m Brits per week (88.6% reach), with commercial radio’s share of live radio continuing to increase to just under 60%; despite this, commercial radio’s ad revenue is still down by over 11% (versus 2019) when considering inflation.
It’s evident, therefore, that audio is being under-invested in by advertisers (despite its ever-increasing reach), and this is a classic example of where we’re encouraging our clients to design for people (our comms planning model) to steal a march on their competitors. Given that sonic brand cues deliver the most impact in terms of branded attention (Ipsos have measured this as having a multiplier of x8.5, higher than all other brand identifiers, including visual assets), there is an opportunity for advertisers to steal competitive advantage and drive impact in audio by allocating more of their budget to the channel. We worked with PureGym, who showcased this point by using audio to great effect and saw an uplift in performance across the purchase funnel.
And when we say audio, we should remember that…
4. The future of audio is online
All major forms of audio (live radio, online/on-demand, streaming, and podcasts) have increased their weekly reach YoY; radio listening continues to shift online, overtaking AM/FM for the first time in terms of share of total listening.
As with TV, audio listening is becoming an increasingly online affair. Where traditional radio currently may drive better performance for some brands, advertisers should be allocating budget to test online/streaming alternatives to future-proof their capabilities. This is true of all age groups, but none more so than 15-24s, who are the only cohort whose dominant form of audio isn’t live radio. Using our Audio Stack tool, our AV teams can identify the optimal approach for clients to reach their growth audiences.
5. The end of scissor-kick marketing
We started this article with a picture of high jump pioneer Dick Fosbury, providing an analogy for how marketers should react (courtesy of Simon Andrews of the Fixmedia newsletter). Fosbury was famed for revolutionising the high jump by inventing the ‘Fosbury Flop’ (i.e. jumping over the bar with your back facing the landing mat) whilst his competitors were still using the more traditional scissor kick method.
Fosbury observed that as landing mats had evolved to become substantial enough to make landing on your back safe, a new innovative technique was the way to win; he subsequently took gold at the 1968 Olympics and changed the sport forever.
When the landscape changes, the smart approach is to adapt accordingly, even if it takes time and patience to perfect. In advertising, the industry has had decades to perfect TV ads, so we need the same patience and commitment to perfect advertising in digital channels as well as traditionally less popular channels like audio to reflect continuing shifts in UK media consumption. Advertisers should embrace this challenge: with a continued decline of linear TV and fragmentation of audiences, brands shouldn’t shy away from investing in new or traditionally less favoured channels. By designing testing plans that drive iterative improvements in these channels, advertisers can future-proof their media plans.
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