The Future of TV is bright
The Future of TV Global 2023 event, held last week in London, served as a platform for industry experts, thought leaders, and enthusiasts to come together and discuss the ever-changing landscape of television. As a participant, I had the opportunity to gain valuable insights into the trends shaping the future of this dynamic medium, and I left with a renewed sense of optimism that our industry, whilst changing radically, is in rude health. A fantastic closing presentation from Peter Field, once again proving out that TV is at the heart of effectiveness in marketing was the cherry on top of a fantastic event - one which shows that TV is diversifying, evolving, but is still as good as ever, both for viewers and advertisers.
The event showcased a diverse range of presentations, panel discussions, and workshops, exploring topics such as:
The rise of CTV and the growing popularity of both subscription and ad supported streaming services
The need for innovation in the way that we measure TV in this hybrid linear + streaming world
How we can change the way that we talk about and sell TV advertising, giving it the credit it’s due and to put it on a level playing field with digital
The evolution of TV advertising and the role of data-driven targeting
My Top 5 Takeaways:
The need for TV to get into the outcomes business to compete with the big digital players who have products which allow brands and agencies to plan and buy vs outcome metrics. TV advertising offers far greater quality, transparency and attention for advertisers than digital, yet we often shoot ourselves in the foot by only offering products and services which plan to reach or scale, rather than outcomes - something which Google offer as standard (and advertisers love!)
The Shift Towards Streaming: Streaming services are gaining significant momentum, offering viewers a wider variety of content, greater flexibility, and personalized recommendations. This shift is putting pressure on traditional linear television providers to adapt their strategies and embrace a more streaming-centric approach. It’s likely that with the advent of Amazon Ads going live and instantly having 12m households to serve ads to, it won’t be long before they overtake the major broadcasters from an ad revenue from streaming point of view. It will be interesting to see how the likes of ITV and Channel 4 respond.
The Rise of Omnichannel Viewing and the need for an alternative currency to allow us to effectively measure linear, VOD and streaming holistically, as currently BARB is not fit for purpose to answer this question, and advertisers nor consumers see a differentiation between linear, avod, bvod or FAST - so why should measurement? TV is TV and it’s high time that we were able to measure Total TV robustly and effectively.
The addition of lower cost ad tiers to the major streaming networks has seen a rapid proliferation of lower income households buying subscriptions, opening a wealth of opportunities to advertisers and agencies - not only is there more scale than ever before on these kind of services, but there is a far greater range of demographics consuming the likes of Netflix, Disney and Amazon since the inception of Ad Tiers.
Why TV is still at the heart of advertising effectiveness, thanks to delivering the highest attention metrics of all marketing channels, in a premium, brand safe, full screen, sound on environment
Conclusion:
The Future of TV Global 2023 event provided a glimpse into the exciting and transformative journey that lies ahead for this dynamic medium. As technology continues to evolve and consumer preferences shift, television is poised to evolve into an even more personalised, immersive, and engaging experience. It remains the go-to place for high impact, high quality, high effective advertising and whilst the landscape is ever changing, TV is certainly not dead, dying or dormant. It’s just changing.