Shifting From Older to Newer Media Advertising Strategies

Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Columnist Network series, which explores tactical thoughts and actions from Adweek’s community of high-level experts. Today, Kristina Shepard at Roku shares insights on transitioning strategy from TV to TV streaming. The challenge With infinite choice within a different ecosystem, advertisers are not sure how to get the most value from their investments. The process There are two things we can always rely on from advertising: It is ever-evolving, and its spending typically lags—sometimes significantly—behind consumer habits. We first saw this happen with the shift from print to digital, then from digital (desktop) to mobile and, most recently, from linear to streaming. Consumers typically choose a new medium years before advertisers have the chance to adjust. Over the last several years, while eyeballs have shifted from traditional TV to TV streaming, this same transition has not been as clearly reflected by media budgets. However, with double-digit declines in TV viewership across live events such as this year’s Super Bowl, March Madness and The Oscars—and similar upticks in their respective streaming TV audiences—advertisers recognize that the time to adapt is now. One of the primary reasons for the often delayed transition to new, growing media is the necessity of test and learns. Prior to allocating large percentages of budgets to new verticals, advertisers need to understand what tactics will yield optimal success. In the case of traditional TV versus streaming, what is the right balance between tried-and-true tactics and new and innovative strategies? Can clients apply the same strategies that have worked effectively for decades in linear, or do they need to change their ways for the environment? The first significant challenge many advertisers face in streaming is whether to mirror TV with a channel-first strategy. Does it make sense to buy top channels individually to scale up, or is it more effective to go direct to the platforms? The latter often allows for the most hands-on approach, as it provides access to first-party data and priority access to inventory. Increasingly, brands seem to be embracing this approach. Though it represents a stark departure from their traditional TV strategies, it often provides more value—particularly from a data perspective—while also allowing for both scale and unique ad experiences. Long gone are the days where media buyers needed to purchase individual channels without any probabilistic data to help target. They no longer need to repurpose a standard 15 or 30 seconds across an entire buy. Instead, advertisers can now communicate and target far smarter by embracing a platform-first approach, utilizing all the unique tools that come with it—including universal frequency management and access to first-party data. As marketers heed the lessons learned from early streaming spends, they begin to rightsize their budgets—albeit still lagging behind the shift in overall audience. With brands starting to realize the real business impact of their now-smarter spending, that transition will no doubt accelerate in the weeks, months and years to follow. The takeaway TV streaming and traditional TV have more differences than they do commonalities. More and more, we’re seeing brands opting for a platform-first strategy, which enables them to get the reach, first-party data, premium content, unique ad experiences and universal frequency management.