LONDON: There is a positive and complementary relationship between TV and social media, which means advertisers should not regard them as mutually exclusive, a leading researcher has argued.
Matt Hill, the Research and Planning Director at Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, said that consumers love to share their TV experiences on social media.
But they are very different from an advertising perspective, and recognising their differences will help advertisers to get the best out of them.
Writing in the December edition of Admap, Hill explained that the interruptive and unblocked format of TV is imperative for brands to gain exposure and, generally, viewers do not mind the interruption, especially if the ads are good quality.
What's more, TV ads are trusted, and Thinkbox research has found that 42% of UK consumers believe TV is the medium where they’re most likely to encounter ads they trust – a proportion three times higher than the next most trusted medium.
On the other hand, social media ads are far more avoidable, which constrains the channel’s potential for brand building.
But, argued Hill, "when a TV campaign is of high interest to a specific target market, social media can be used to seed a campaign".
As an example, Hill pointed to Samsung's successful campaign to promote its Galaxy S6 smartphone that was timed to coincide with the Rugby World Cup in 2015.
As sponsors of the England team, Samsung wanted to use the association to drive brand love and its campaign centred on "the Samsung School of Rugby" that featured comedian Jack Whitehall attempting to learn the sport in a light-hearted way from former England captains Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio.
Each video was released on social media 48 hours before its debut on TV and this enabled Samsung to maximise shares before the videos were broadcast on TV.
With this approach, social media delivered 26.3m views, followed by 312m views on TV, of which 85m were within the Rugby World Cup on TV.
"The campaign was a huge success, with Samsung achieving some of its best scores by the end of the tournament," said Hill.
Matt Hill, the Research and Planning Director at Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, said that consumers love to share their TV experiences on social media.
But they are very different from an advertising perspective, and recognising their differences will help advertisers to get the best out of them.
Writing in the December edition of Admap, Hill explained that the interruptive and unblocked format of TV is imperative for brands to gain exposure and, generally, viewers do not mind the interruption, especially if the ads are good quality.
What's more, TV ads are trusted, and Thinkbox research has found that 42% of UK consumers believe TV is the medium where they’re most likely to encounter ads they trust – a proportion three times higher than the next most trusted medium.
On the other hand, social media ads are far more avoidable, which constrains the channel’s potential for brand building.
But, argued Hill, "when a TV campaign is of high interest to a specific target market, social media can be used to seed a campaign".
As an example, Hill pointed to Samsung's successful campaign to promote its Galaxy S6 smartphone that was timed to coincide with the Rugby World Cup in 2015.
As sponsors of the England team, Samsung wanted to use the association to drive brand love and its campaign centred on "the Samsung School of Rugby" that featured comedian Jack Whitehall attempting to learn the sport in a light-hearted way from former England captains Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio.
Each video was released on social media 48 hours before its debut on TV and this enabled Samsung to maximise shares before the videos were broadcast on TV.
With this approach, social media delivered 26.3m views, followed by 312m views on TV, of which 85m were within the Rugby World Cup on TV.
"The campaign was a huge success, with Samsung achieving some of its best scores by the end of the tournament," said Hill.
Data sourced from Admap
