Recent reports suggest that some marketers might be overdosing on digital ad spending. According to Ad Age, a number of major advertisers who have been moving more and more of their ad dollars out of TV and into digital may actually be suffering sales losses as a result.
The allure of digital advertising is multi-faceted – it delivers better cost efficiency in terms of exposure opportunities per dollar, its impact on consumer behavior is much easier to measure than TV, it’s more targetable, and, yes, it’s more trendy. It seems so yesterday – and so fiscally irresponsible – to say that you’re using more TV than ever to support your brand.
Granted, much of the money spent on TV advertising is wasted. But this is largely because a lot of TV advertising is poorly executed, not because TV as an opportunity to engage and persuade is necessarily bad. TV advertising does have its weaknesses – including time-shifted viewing and distracted (often by the second screen) viewing. Also, did I mention that it’s harder to connect a dollar spent to a dollar gained in media whose objectives are closer to the top of the purchase funnel?
What seems to have been lost on many who are throwing more and more dollars into digital is that medium has disadvantages too. As some advertisers are beginning to learn, even when your ads actually appear on the screen, most viewers never even glance at them. With viewer engagement being what it is, it’s unlikely that you’ll convince them to actually spend more than a second or two with your brand. Despite the fact that everyone is online these days, it’s incredibly hard to generate the breadth of awareness with a digital campaign that you (still) can with a good old-fashioned TV campaign.
As we’ve reported on Trends in Advertising before, and on our website, digital advertising provides some great opportunities to engage and persuade. Just don’t overdo it, or the hangover could come in the form of those pesky revenue declines that everyone (your boss, Wall Street…) hates.
