May 16, 2008
How many hours will a television be on in your home today?
If you are a member of an average American household, that figure, according to Nielsen Media Research, will be comfortably north of eight hours. You personally, according to the nation's leading source of media metrics, are statistically likely to be present for a good 4.5 hours of viewing. Historically, both figures have never been higher.
For those whose lot in life it is to reach consumers, these figures are well worth reflection. So much has been written in the past decade regarding new and shifting media platforms that one might be led to assume we have entirely abandoned channel surfing for Web surfing and we are increasingly content to watch our favorite shows on the tiny screens on our electronic handheld devices. Well, not so fast.
Chris Rohrs, president of the influential trade association Television Bureau of Advertising (tvb), sounds almost amused when he considers all of the obituaries for TV that have floated around for the past few years.
"The press likes a different story and ‘TV is dead' is a cool story," Rohrs neatly summarizes. "But nobody has given the word to the consumer that TV is out. So they just keep watching."
Rohrs is certainly not blind to the fact that there have been changes in the media landscape, particularly with regard to the Internet. But today's world is not one of either/or media choices but of simultaneous usage. Rohrs makes a valuable point when he stresses that all the new platforms represent additions to, not a displacement from, TV.
Even in the younger demographics coveted by the quick-service industry, Rohrs' observations remain valid. Notwithstanding some noteworthy evolutionary youth trends—the growth of the Internet as a conduit for social connectivity; the use of non-traditional technology to watch TV shows at times other than original air times; and the growth of cable viewership versus prime-time network channel fare—the figure for 18- to 34-year-old TV watching is statistically consistent with everyone else's 4.5 hours and 3 percent per year growth. Interestingly, the fastest growing rate of TV watching is found among teenage girls, who are increasing their viewing hours at the rate of 6 percent per year.
Currently, much of the discussion one encounters on the advertising role of television versus alternative media platforms focuses on the level and kind of involvement the consumer has with each. Internet marketing proponents tend to advance the case that online activity is far more visceral and interactive, while TV is a passive pastime that fails to engage viewers' attention. Yet TV advocates are quick to respond that much of what is encountered on the Internet, particularly with respect to marketing, is experienced as noise, and that if one is attempting to build a brand, nothing beats TV.
Brad Wahl, vice president of marketing for Krystal, confirms "TV is still the No. 1 medium." This is a significant assertion as the 400-unit Krystal chain is particularly focused on a youthful demographic and has made major strides in the employment of Web-based promotional and brand-building activities. The real appeal of TV, Wahl says, is that it is the medium least dilutive of customer focus.
"In interactive media," Wahl explains, "people are performing multiple tasks and taking in multiple tracks of information so that ad content tends to become lost or diluted. If the question is making a brand impression on the customer, the most focused visual and audio input I can get is through television. The notion that came around four or five years ago that there was this big shift and that nobody was watching TV, it's just not come true."
"Hogwash," says Larry Weissman, vice president of marketing for Cousins Subs, when asked if he believes TV is a dead or dying medium. "Every time you read an article that says mobile phones are the future of media, you can bet that the guy who's most aggressively pushing that notion is selling mobile phones. TV is where the people are."
Right now, what really worries some interested marketing industry observers is that a lot of the best and brightest creative input is being diverted away from TV toward alternative media. The result is an increasing number of commercials that provoke boredom or outrage or just overall lack of effectiveness. According to TVB's Rohrs, marketers seem to have stopped asking, "What is this spot actually doing for us?"
"I'd love to see a recommitment to TV ad creativity," Rohrs says. "This could happen if marketers rediscovered that the most important discipline is focusing on the consumer and their medium of choice. My message to advertisers is, ‘Don't get swept away by people who are under enormous pressure to be out on the cultural edge.'"
