Consumers and marketers differ on media channels

When it comes to advertising, consumers prefer in-person media channels – sponsored events, cinema, OOH – but marketers remain largely wedded to digital ones, such as online video, video streaming, and social media. 

That’s according to Kantar’s Media Reactions 2023 study, based on insights from some 16,000 consumers and 900 marketers around the world. “All of the channels in our top [consumer] rankings now carry advertising that you need to go out and experience in person,” co-author Jane Ostler told a webinar.

Why advertising formats matter

Consumers rarely seek out advertising, Ostler pointed out, but they do have strong and evolving opinions about ad formats and the places where they find advertising more or less acceptable. That in turn affects how much they trust ads in different environments and how much attention they’re willing to give them. 

The report is, effectively, a net promoter score for advertising formats and environments. Crucially, campaigns are seven times more impactful among more receptive audiences, Kantar finds, so marketers should take care to ensure they understand the media landscape holistically and are not dazzled by developments in digital channels. 

Takeaways 

• Sponsored events is the leading channel in 11 markets out of 23 measured, including the Philippines, Mexico, Japan, China and Argentina.
• Sponsored events is also the number one channel for Generations X and Y; it stands out for being trustworthy, better quality, fun and innovative and doesn’t have many negative qualities.
• Cinema is the preferred consumer channel in the US, Australia and the Netherlands; point of sale leads in Germany and Greece; OOH, which also has few perceived negatives, leads in India and the UK.
• TV has fallen down the rankings of marketer preferences, partly because of a lack of innovation. Only a net 6% of marketers say they’ll increase spend in TV next year.
• Kantar sees a 90% correlation between media channels that consumers claim capture their attention and those in which they prefer seeing their advertising. Conversely, there is a 97% negative correlation for preference with ad formats they try to ignore.

Key quote

“Even if [media channels] don’t necessarily stand out in a lot of ways positively, a lack of negatives can carry them and act as a powerful platform for good advertising ideas well executed” – Jane Ostler, MD Media & Digital at Kantar.

Sourced from Kantar

[Image: Kantar]