Bridging the Media Fragmentation Gap: What's on the Horizon? (Part 2 of 2)

Media fragmentation refers to a range of media options that has more options and content sources than ever before.

Today’s fragmented media playing field is a result of, among other forces, an ever-increasing amount of choices and devices that deliver media to each of us. This presents a “good news/bad news” scenario.

A recent ADOTAS discusses blogs, ad networks and all sorts of solutions. One solution, SRDS, has been used within the ad industry in recent years. It has been recently updated and is now equipped with an improved function and online tools allowing media buyers to navigate the fragmented media environment more effectively.

Media buying and planning solutions. Many seasoned (and newcomer) companies are also offering media buying and planning solutions. They include media research tools and other valuable resources to fit various advertising channels – online, print, events, outdoor, mobile and more.

These solutions include the ability to provide advance planning, knowledge, management and communication features like SRFI and RFP functions for contacting publishers directly.

Media fragmentation will continue to challenge the advertising industry, but new technologically advanced tools along with the increasing number of organizations providing innovative solutions are making great strides toward bridging the gap.

Bridging the Media Fragmentation Gap: What's on the Horizon? (Part 1 of 2)

Media buyers and sellers are constantly trying to determine the best solution to deal with media fragmentation and the departure from the traditional buying model that advertisers followed successfully for years.

What causes media fragmentation? Consider the following:
• According to Neilsen's “Television Audience 2007” report, the number of TV channels has increased over 53 percent from 1985 to 2007 going from 18.8 channels to 118.6.
• Blog tracking authority, Technorati, reports that every day more than 175,000 new blogs are created.
• A July 2008 Netcraft Web Server Survey reveals that there are more than 175 million unique websites, and the Internet is increasing by 3 million new sites per month.

As these figures show, the media explosion over the past 20-plus years has left both buyers and sellers ill-equipped to deal with the growing number of media options available. It is difficult for media buyers to reach every available media outlet. Media sellers are also left to figure out how to represent an increasingly fragmented audience and guide them towards the relevant buyers.

Ad networks. Ad networks were once heralded as a solution. Buyers would benefit from the way ad networks aggregate smaller audiences and provide much more impressions cheaply for a single purchase. The sellers benefited from how ad networks aggregate buyers, offering a simple process for monitoring any left over inventory.

Still, ad networks were only a short-term solution. They don't effectively deal with the root issue behind media fragmentation. Networks provided no solution for making targeted media purchases more efficient in spite of media fragmentation.

How an Infomercial Can Generate Thousands of Leads

The perception of the infomercial has changed tremendously since the 1990s.

Now, many mainstream businesses in the mortgage, healthcare and insurance industries can maximize lead generation by producing an infomercial as long as the product presented is good and resonates well with American viewers.

Thousands of leads. Daytime advertising spots are very popular for “nine-to-five” industries like mortgage, healthcare and insurance. A good product and infomercial can generate thousands of leads within the first 10 to 15 minutes that it’s aired.

At least 30 to 40 percent of DRTV infomercial orders are placed online. Most consumers choose to place their product orders online because they have already spent some time on the web getting more information about the product and company after seeing the spot advertised on TV.

Each customer who purchases a product or requests additional information is a viable prospect and a qualified lead. An infomercial is a powerful tool for lead generation because it attracts such a wide audience.

Consider these statistics: Ninety-eight percent of U.S. homes have at least one television, and 60 percent of all television viewers have some cable service providing a much larger channel selection.

According to Advertising Age, 23 percent of women ranked watching TV as their number-one leisure activity. Advertisers are responding by targeting their ads to these (and other relevant) demographics to increase lead generation and, ultimately, sales.

Measuring Audience Engagement

Measuring Audience Engagement

Some advertisers are starting to look at audience engagement, instead of viewership (eyeballs), as a measurement of the effectiveness of TV programming in connecting with viewers, according to the April 28 issue of Broadcasting & Cable (B&C). Chief Marketing Officers are under pressure to come up with new metrics to measure advertising initiatives and the engagement metric is apparently more acceptable than ROI among general advertisers and their agencies.

IAG Research has come up with a ranking for the top 12 programs by engagement. This ranking reveals some surprising findings. A CW series One Tree Hill is ranked 184th among primetime network series among adults 18-49, based on ratings, however it is tied for sixth place in the IAG engagement rankings. More familiar shows comprise most of the other slots in the top rankings, such as Heroes (ranking #1), Lost, Prison Break and 30 Rock. However, there are other, lesser-known shows, such as Welcome to the Captain and Chuck that also make the list. Heroe’s had an engagement index of 121, which means that viewers of this series are 21% more attentive than viewers of the average primetime series, according to B&C. It’s interesting that Prison Break has more than twice the audience of One Tree Hill, but they are tied in terms of audience engagement.

To read more visit our media buying archives.

DRTV Ads Viewed More Than Others

More sophisticated marketers, TV networks and their media-buying firms will start looking at data from multiple sources, including Nielsen, TNS and TiVo to better assess viewing patterns. The increased competition may be forcing these companies to improve their measurement techniques. TiVo is recruiting viewers who are willing to provide demographic data, so they can report viewing patterns by demographic groups. Nielsen is working on something called "Anywhere Anytime Media Measurement" that measures all forms of video media consumption. And Nielsen is now measuring DVR data, which looks at programming and commercial minutes most watched in real time and up to seven days later. Even CBS recently teamed up with TiVo to develop new ways to deliver better results for advertisers.

DRTV Ads Viewed More Than Others

One surprising finding from TiVo's data was that direct response TV ads were some the most viewed commercials. Who would have guessed that direct response TV ads would be viewed more than more expensively produced ads with celebrities? Todd Juenger from TiVo, "surmises that the celeb-laden commercials may not do well in TiVo because they tend to be purchased for maximum reach across a broad rather than targeted audience, and targeting appears to be a key ingredient for TiVo viewers," according to Jack Myers’ Digital Video Report.

It's encouraging to see several new companies now competing to provide a more comprehensive profile of TV viewing habits. Infomercial media buying firms armed with this type of data should be able to further improve their client's ROI in today’s more fragmented media environment.

Direct Marketing Success Story Pt. 6

JDS: What are your thoughts about having and/or dealing with business partners? Some businesses partnerships seem to thrive, while it destroys others.

Peter: In the previous ad agency I worked with I was one of four partners. We each had our own area of expertise, so each partner provided unique talents to the company. We all started off as friends, but I found that over the nine years we worked together we started to grow apart and egos got in the way of working effectively together. I think you need to choose your partners carefully and make sure you feel you can work with those partners through both the good and bad times and that you have similar philosophies about how you plan to manage and grow your business. A partnership is like a marriage, so you need to be prepared to live with your partners over an extended period of time.

JDS: What's the best advice you've received?

Peter: My wife told me it was a great idea for me to start my own business and go out on my own. At the time I started my business I had a fair amount of anxiety and fortunately she had the confidence in me to know I had what it takes to make my business a success.
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JDS: What most impresses you about a person?

Peter: I admire people that are self-starters and who work hard to achieve their goals. We've had several people in our company who started out as receptionists and worked their way up into important positions within Koeppel Direct. My COO started working with me as a college intern and eventually worked her way up to a top position in my company. I'm also impressed with entrepreneurs who have a great idea and are able to do whatever it takes to bring that idea to market. Often this type of person has the ability to bounce back from rejection and has the ability to maintain their drive and desire to succeed through some trying periods.

JDS: If you had it to do all over again, would you do anything differently?

Peter: I probably would have started our online division sooner than I did, looking at the tremendous growth in online advertising over the last five years. I also would have invested in an advanced, direct response media buying and tracking system sooner than I did. The system we have today gives Koeppel Direct some definite competitive advantages.

JDS: Who inspires you now?

Peter: I think that Donald Trump and Donny Deutsch are two successful entrepreneurs that have some good advice for people looking to start or grow their own business. I'm also think that Steve Jobs is a marketing genius and the guys that started Google seem to have a real vision and the resources for growing their business over the long term.

JDS: Do you have any pointers or words of wisdom to give Entrepreneurs and small businesses that want to follow in your footsteps?

Peter: Get involved in a business that you enjoy, since it will consume a big part of your life. Also, surround yourself with smart people that you like to work with and understand their strengths and help nurture those strengths.

JDS: I would like to thank Peter for taking the time to share his insights and story with all of us.

Direct Marketing Success Story Pt. 5

JDS: How has today's technology helped you?

Peter: It helps us tremendously. We try to hire the best people no matter where they live. So this requires us to communicate with these employees through online and other technologies that weren't around when I started my business. For example, technology allows us to rapidly communicate ideas, strategies, results, etc. both internally and with our clients, which results in us running our business and our clients' direct response media campaigns more efficiently. New technologies have also enabled us to create a proprietary media-targeting platform that allows us to track, analyze and optimize results in real time, which gives us a leg up on our competitors.

JDS: How have things changed in marketing since you started, and how has it stayed the same? What do you think the future holds for marketing your company?

Peter: There's been a definite shift from offline marketing to online marketing over the last five years. I see the online portion of our marketing efforts continuing to grow. The media industry is undergoing profound changes. There's been a dramatic shift in the way marketers are advertising their products and services over the last 10 years. When I first got into the direct response advertising business it was generally thought to be a medium where people would sell slicers and dicers on late night TV. Today, marketers have seen the way that advertising can be measured on the Internet and now they are looking for this same type of measurement in their offline media, such as TV, radio and print.

In addition, the average tenure of a CMO is now only 23 months and they are under increasing pressure to deliver a ROI from their marketing efforts. So marketers are now looking for the type of measurable advertising programs we can offer through direct response marketing. Koeppel Direct's positioning in the marketplace has also evolved over time. We started off as a direct response television media buying agency. Now we've branched into offering our clients multi-channel direct response media buying, including TV, online, radio, mobile and print, in order to efficiently reach consumers through a wide range of media options available to them in today's more fragmented media environment.

JDS: What are your future goals for your company?

Peter: I feel that we are well positioned to capitalize on the trend of clients demanding more of a return on investment from their marketing expenditures, which should translate into continued growth for Koeppel Direct. However, there will always be new challenges that we will face, such as TiVo's affect on consumers viewing of commercials, Google's impact on the media business and consumers gaining more control over the media they consume. So we are constantly assessing theses challenges and adapting our business strategies to address these types of changes in the marketplace.

JDS: How educated do you think you have to be to start and build a business? Do you think you need a college education to be successful? Or do you think any average person can start and build a business in today's world, if they work hard and are persistent?

Peter: I don't think you necessarily need a college education to be a successful entrepreneur. There are many examples of successful entrepreneurs who didn't attend college or dropped out of college to start their company. Both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, who started Facebook, dropped out of Harvard and Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College. And all three of them are billionaires today. I went back to school to get an MBA because I didn't have a formal business background and I thought it would provide me with the basic business knowledge needed to effectively run a business. I also thought it would allow me to be considered for certain jobs that require that type of degree. A good business education can be helpful, but many people have built great companies without a college degree.