Defining the media landscape

So-called ‘traditional’ media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor, cinema) commanded well over 90% of global expenditure in 2007 and look set to do so again this year. So for all that digital is changing consumer behaviour, its share of global ad spend is still in single digits.

In the US, people spend 29% of their time with non-traditional media like mobile and online, while the internet only makes up 8% of spend (fig. 6). This reveals a significant discrepancy between behaviour and where advertisers are putting their money.

Fig 6: US adult media consumption vs. media advertising spend

Source: Forrester

Of course, one online display ad carries a very different cost to a 30-second spot during peak time at a top commercial television broadcaster. But it does show that advertisers – and perhaps some media owners – need to catch up.

Catching up means even more rapid growth in the digital sector and a period of intense learning for businesses as every industry rushes to understand and capitalise on potential competitive advantages. Agencies and the market research sector are both ideally placed to advise and provide the insight described above.

For the marketing industry, these changes can seem daunting. But they will make the agency model more relevant, not less. Creating time with consumers is at the heart of a marketer’s challenges: not just interacting with consumers over an eight week campaign, but for seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. In an ‘on-demand’ economy and culture, the consumer has much more control of the agenda, and opportunity to disrupt it. Traditional advertisements, which interrupt what a consumer is doing to bring them a brand message, are more likely to be skipped, ignored or disregarded.

This means that communications have to go beyond consumers’ expectations. They must be targeted, relevant and engaging, not an interruption. The role of advertising agencies will be to provide brand stewardship, based on consumer insight gained from intelligent data analysis; the creation of compelling, engaging properties; delivering measurable, high ROI-generating execution across multiple channels.