NEW YORK: Television advertising is truly succumbing to the “digital revolution”, and is likely to strengthen its long-term position as a result, a study has argued.

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the industry body, and Forrester, the research firm, surveyed 126 members of the ANA earlier this year – and provided room for optimism for television’s future as an advertising medium.

“TV’s resistance to the digital revolution is finally crumbling,” the study argued. (For more, read WARC’s in-depth report: Television advertising reaches a revolutionary digital “inflection point”.)

Such a process is being driven by the ability of advanced TV advertising (which uses precise media and audience data) and addressable ads (information about matters like product usage or family composition) to reach precise consumer cohorts.

While 42% of interviewees said TV ad effectiveness had declined in the last five years, fully 70% of participants agreed it remains effective as a tool for achieving their long-term brand building goals – the highest score of any medium.

Such figures prompted the ANA and Forrester to predict that television can turn the expenditure tide that has long been moving in favor of digital.

“Advertisers have been shifting money to digital video for the past three years, but advertisers don’t believe digital video is as effective as TV,” the study said. “Data-driven TV buying will compel advertisers to rethink this budget migration.”

The term “television” may benefit from undergoing a rethink, too, as the divide between linear, on-demand and over-the-top viewing is increasingly an artificial one – and new ad solutions are offering greater flexibility than ever before.

“As marketers master data-driven addressable-TV and advanced-TV techniques that make TV buys more targeted, the efficiency boost will revitalize the ad medium that they already believe is the most effective,” the study said.

“And as they gain confidence in the improved efficiency and effectiveness of these techniques and seek the right mix of channel, content, and devices for an omnichannel video strategy, they will help reverse the flow of money from digital to television.”

Sourced from WARC