LongTerm Digital conducts extensive market research across the quarter to identify the latest digital trends, understand market nuances and dynamics, and investigate specific areas of the industry. Our team of digital specialists combine detailed desk research, with qualitative and quantitative insight from face-to-face interviews with our impressive panel of buy-side experts. Below is a snapshot of the key commercial themes identified in Q1's market research.
Key Commercial Actions
The buy-side helped identify 5 key considerations that digital commercial entities could incorporate in their current proposition positioning and thinking:
1. PLATFORM RELEVANCE
Due to the current circumstances, channels, environments and platforms need to reiterate their role and relevancy in today's environment. Social platforms, in particular FB/Instagram and TikTok, are able to show their current relevancy both organically and via paid advertising; escapism, social connections, fun mindset environments and video usage increases, equate to relevant advertising opportunities.
2. ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS
Insights should be actionable not just interesting. Every media owner must provide insights that are unique and not readily available, that help the buy-side tailor their strategies. Understanding and sharing emerging consumption trends, providing WoW analysis and highlighting which trends are not short-lived is interesting; subsequently identifying the opportunity and then articulating how to maximise it at a category or brand level is actionable.
3. DEFINE QUALITY
The buy-side requires objective measurements and metrics to help define quality. The quality of the content created AND the quality of the platform itself are both equally important e.g. attention, dwell time, editorial credentials, UX, the volume of ads, ad positioning etc.
4. CONTEXTUAL TARGETING
Repackage and reposition the benefits of contextual targeting and provide supporting rationale. The buy-side requires more detail and justification to help sell into clients the benefits of contextual targeting vs. the historical focus on first-party data. Everyone in the advertising ecosystem will have to articulate and prove their value under greater procurement scrutiny.
5. BRANDED CONTENT
A platform and a canvas which enables brands to communicate with their target audience, beyond just impressions, will be required at the back-end of the year. Finding "unexpected visibility" in new digital platforms and environment consumption is key; understand the trends, identify the opportunity, articulate how you can execute and prove the value.
OOH
The most impacted channel due to the significant decline in footfall traffic resulting in key-worker messaging only and some limited road sign relevancy.
TV
Currently cost-efficient if brands feel they can be relevant and identified as the channel most likely to pick up OOH ad spend declines; but impacted by audience increases in AVOD & SVOD environments, loss of live sport and future production challenges (content and adverts).
Reduced physical circulation but significant increases in digital traffic; however, ongoing challenges around monetising “news / Covid-19” related content due to brand safety concerns.
RADIO
Assumed increases in listening and seen as a trusted channel; with more dispersed listening throughout the day, there is an impact on the valuable drive time/commuter opportunity.
DIGITAL
Expected increases aligned with audience engagement, coupled with the overall
benefits of digital as a channel: the ability to be agile, lower-cost entry points, cost-efficient reach and lower risk.
Within digital, ad spend increases are expected to align with audience consumption changes but there is normally a lag. Actual ad spend increases will also be relative to current spend levels.
Better planning, questioning and environment understanding for sections of digital that have historically struggled with representative levels of ad spend in relation to their audience engagement levels e.g. CTV.
Leading social media platforms are expected to be the biggest winners within any increases in video spend, as they are deemed to currently be the most relevant platforms and provide cost-effective scale.
Whilst BVOD platforms are safe and respected, they will not offset the linear decline.
Covid-19 has heightened brands
sensitivity around tone and messaging; therefore, most buyers do not deem the upside of reaching audiences around Covid-19 related content worth the potential brand safety risk.
The buy-side require greater packaging/re-invention of contextual targeting and the supporting brand safety tools to enable
improved micro semantic
targeting strategies.
Whilst spend on any larger integration or longer-term brand benefit solution will be significantly impacted in the short-term, branded content is expected to be needed at the back-end of this year; brands require a platform and a canvas to re-engage
with their target audience, which
cannot be done just through impression buying.
Media owner insights have never
been more valuable, needed and
used, but they must be actionable. Thought must be given to how the insights are delivered, through what type of mechanic (e.g. push vs. pull), and ultimately how to achieve stand out with the right teams vs. competitors.
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