Access all audiences

Media channel and consumer viewing fragmentation shows little sign of slowing, throwing up ongoing challenges for advertisers eager to reach consumers effectively at scale. But there are new opportunities for advertisers looking to harness the future of TV. Now’s the time to test, learn and take commercial advantage.

One of the most exciting emerging channels for advertisers is, of course, video-on-demand, and in particular subscription video on demand. While there are many data sets out there tracking engagement, the most recent Australia Government’s Television Consumer Survey shows that online subscription services were the leading type of platform for screen content in Australia over the past year. Per that dataset, the most common platforms were online subscription services (66 per cent), free video streaming services (58 per cent), and commercial free-to-air TV (excluding on-demand TV, 53 per cent). However, these audiences are only valuable if we reach them with brand messaging.  

As audiences on subscription video on demand (SVOD) platforms have continued to rise and exclusive content on these platforms form part of water cooler conversations, one of the common refrains amongst media professionals has been: “when can we get our ads in front of streaming audiences?”

It’s not rocket science. We know that SVOD platforms are attracting audiences at scale. We know that they have built an environment that, by its nature, ensures audiences are highly connected to premium content. The question is, how can we best access this environment for our clients, to ensure that consumers can have authentic opportunities to engage with brands?

So, when we first heard that Foxtel’s BINGE platform was about to offer ads on its entry-level tier, we knew it would be a chance for our clients to test this, with the opportunity to engage audiences that were traditionally harder to reach.

Streaming ads at scale

For Australian media, BINGE is the canary of the coalmine as one of the first streaming services locally to offer ‘at scale’ advertising opportunities to brands. We know more platforms are coming. Globally, three-quarters of SVOD networks plan to introduce ads by 2025. Perhaps counter-intuitively, it isn’t expected to impact platform audience reach. In fact, US data shows households are adopting ad-supported streaming services at a faster rate than purely subscription-based options.

At OMD, we are constantly scanning consumer behaviour and activity to be able to advise our clients on new opportunities for engagement with their messaging. Having the ability to add SVOD platforms, including BINGE, is exciting. It means adding another way for our clients to reach their key audiences, including reaching those who may be spending less time viewing on free-to-air channels.

The potential for SVOD is clearly the opportunity to reach audiences in a low clutter, high attention environment. Attention is very much part of our planning framework, and the data suggests that attention is high on platforms like BINGE. We know that consumers are also spending a large proportion of their viewing time on these platforms, making them another key touchpoint across the marketing mix for brands to connect, engage and excite.

Test, learn or lose momentum

The mass transformation of channels available to advertisers is creating a very interesting time. Change isn’t only happening in the screen space but also across other channels such as digital audio, including podcasting, and programmatic out-of-home. The movement across all media is into the digital space. Digital is no longer just a channel, but a means of distributing high quality engaging content.

One thing that is worth reminding ourselves of that forces of change shaping our industry continue to accelerate and are outside of everyone’s control. Consumer behaviour and macroeconomic factors are driving clients down particular paths. The strategy to evolve our trading team to investment at OMD has been key. Enabling the team to think strategically and bringing our media and behavioural knowledge to the table is helping clients make smarter decisions. By acting now to test and learn across new channels, brands can future proof themselves against the forces of change. They can also take advantage of new opportunities to build campaigns the deliver, not only cut-through, but measurable business results.

As a result, a lot of experiments are taking place across various platforms. We’re still in the early days of testing and learning. So, it’s vital that advertisers have measurement systems in place when trying new platforms. We have two of OMD’s largest clients onboard with our initial campaigns on BINGE. We are looking at how SVOD fits in with the screen strategy that’s already in place, and what role this new platform, and its reach, can play within that.

BVOD-SVOD alignment required

It's been encouraging to see clients excited to dip their toes in the water and trial these new platforms, despite the fact that we are still in “beta mode" in Australia. SVOD platforms are yet to fully prove their value and there’s a premium associated with trialling ads in these new environments – so the key to ongoing success will be demonstrating and proving the business impact they provide. 

Measurement will be the piece of puzzle that really unlocks the potential of advertising on streaming platforms. Once we understand the how and why, we’ll know what other levers to pull. The nirvana for everyone will be having a unified measurement across BVOD and SVOD platforms – and a solid link between streaming investment and business impact.

The proliferation of streaming ad options will also help to drive creative opportunities. In these early stages, brands are no doubt repurposing broadcast creative, but it may be that new and different forms of creative will be most effective for SVOD. Likewise, SVOD offers the potential for innovation across areas such as geo-targeting, and audience or genre-based targeting, as well as how ads are delivered. There’s so much discovery to be done.

Advertisers will need to rapidly evolve their thinking to make a purposeful decision on whether – or not – to be present on a platform. Ultimately it comes down to the business objective and what a brand is trying to achieve, be that a long-term brand message or a short-term retail play. From an agency perspective, it inevitably comes down to the basics: understanding your clients and choosing the right partners to collaborate with to best explore the new frontiers of advertising.

But robust, like-for-like numbers would help.