The Impact of Digital on Traditional Media

Today we’re looking at three recent industry developments that indicate that the time is now for advertising in digital media.

Think your audience isn’t on digital? They’re consuming more digital media than ever.

A study by eMarketer indicates that the average American adult will consume more digital media than television for the first time in history. A combination of mobile (non-voice) and online (desktop/laptop) usage will cause digital media to surpass the TV consumption rate, clocking in at a little less than 5 hours per day.

Think big brands aren’t committing to digital? Ad-spend reports say otherwise.

Procter & Gamble Chairman-CEO A.G. Lafley estimates that up to 35% of P&G’s marketing budget goes to digital. P&G (the world’s largest advertiser with huge brands like Downy, Olay, Pampers, and Tide) is setting a precedent by devoting over a third of advertising dollars to digital. A giant like P&G leading this type of commitment is a sign that other big players in the space will also show an increase in their digital spend.

Think digital doesn’t have the same reach as TV? Time to hit the mute button on those thoughts.

Just look at Coke’s all-digital “Ahh” campaign, an effort that brought 4 million consumers to Coke properties and kept them engaged for an average of 2 minutes. There is ample opportunity for success in digital, it just isn’t quite written out in black and white as it might be for TV.

Think big-ticket media items will stay on TV? They’re moving online.

Google and NFL executives recently met to discuss various topics, among them the NFL Sunday Ticket service. Sunday Ticket provides coverage to every single NFL event and is currently locked in to an exclusive deal with DirecTV. However, the deal expires next season, opening up possibilities for the NFL to explore online content providers, such as Google’s Youtube.

DirecTV currently has 20 million total subscribers with about 2 million Sunday Ticket holders, which is a separate package that costs DirecTV customers extra during football season. So the question is: could a streamed version of NFL games, using video ads to support them, reach more than 2 million people? Youtube gets over 2 billion unique visitors per year in the US. If we take the same percentage of football fans (10%) for the Youtube audience, that sets the online video giant at 200 million potential NFL viewers. Looks like the NFL sees an opportunity.

This type of deal would be a colossal shift for digital. One of the biggest-ticket media items in the US today would be online, potentially in an a la carte style offering, giving cord cutters even more reasons to split. And if it’s not football on Youtube, perhaps it’s more non-traditional content creation and other upsets in the entertainment industry.

The bottom line: if your marketing plan includes digital merely as an ancillary channel used for testing the waters, it’s high time to jump in. Your customer’s habits indicate that digital marketing is a critical, big-spend item just like TV. Digital has mass reach, is more measureable, and sees far more engagement. If your marketing plan doesn’t give digital the serious attention it demands, your brand may get left behind.

What’s your digital marketing challenge? Contact us today and let us know how we can help.