As the holiday season approaches and the year comes to an end, we are shamelessly putting the spotlight on ourselves. This week’s egtabite features our New York study trip and International TV Sales Directors’ Meeting which took place early November this year.

The senior management from egta’s membership and colleagues from around the globe gathered in the epicentre of the media world for a unique opportunity to exchange expectations and future perspectives on (y)our favourite medium. Industry experts shared their insights on how to reinvent their business models and discussed why the future is bright for TV. Before you start watching your favourite Christmas ads or wrapping up your holiday gifts, scroll down to see what the thought leaders have predicted for TV in the coming year. You can find the link for the 16 short video interviews conducted by Beet.TV here.

What is TV?

TV is much more than linear, it is a truly total video environment. However, the rest of the industry does not perceive it as such yet. Christian Kurz, SVP, Global Consumer Insights at Viacom, confirmed that: “ TV ad sales people across the world agree: TV is much more than linear.” Kurz continued: ”However, the perception of TV can be quite different – TV is linear while all the rest is digital – which isn’t the case. Premium video content from broadcasters like us, in the consumers mind is all television. The question is how do we change that perception for the rest of the industry?” Misjudgement and preconception about TV as a medium remain a challenge among clients.

Together we are stronger

Today, most of the challenges and opportunities of TV are not only European, but very much international. That is why Katty Roberfroid, egta’s Director General emphasized the need to come together, exchange new practices, explore new avenues and finally show the better face of TV.

On that note, Stéphane Coruble, RTL Adconnect’s CEO, confirmed that RTL in fact collaborates with 400 industry partners to fight current challenges. “The point is to get strong together and leverage our strength”, Coruble said.

Moreover, Channel 4’s Head of Agency and Client Sales, Matthew Salmon said that UK broadcasters are collaborating whenever possible. “We all want the same thing. We want to make TV easy to plan, buy and measure”, he confirmed.

À propos industry challenges, Jean Mongeau, GM, Revenues, CBC Canada added that: “We need to be thinking locally and act globally. In today’s world, I think we need to be much more active on the global scene than less. Ultimately, we need to be raising the bar so that advertisers now look at TV through a unified lens and a more global lens, and therefore enhancing their decision making in that process to be able to counter the challenges and the thoughts that they have around execution of the media mix”

Strive for improvement and simplification

Industry experts agree that constant technological innovation is necessary for TV broadcasters to keep up with the rapidly changing digital ecosystem they operate in. “If we want to attract new clients to television, we do need data,” said Canal+ DDG Marketing and Strategy Fabrice Mollier. “If we collect more data, I am convinced that TV is the most powerful medium for advertisers”, he added.

In most of the cases, keeping up with technological advancements does not happen in a day, as illustrated with SBS’ addressable advertising technology. Peter Quaghebeur, CEO, SBS Belgium confirmed: “SBS can replace standard linear ads with targeted ones for a percentage of viewers in the target group”. “You have the advantages of the digital media combined with the efficiency of TV which is really a big plus in the world of today”, he added. Another benefit is that viewers will get much more relevant advertising. The effectiveness of addressable TV advertising is also proven by several cases of advertisers taking their money from social media (for example Facebook in Belgium) and bringing it back to TV.

Considering big changes in targeting and revaluating inventory, Frank Volmer, GM, Ster Netherlands explained their courageous move towards the simplification of their TV and radio inventory: ”We introduced one fixed price that was volume independent. For smaller advertisers and bigger advertisers, everybody has the same price. We stopped with all kind of rebates and discounts.”

TV works in all parts of the funnel

Kurz summed up a message that was repeatedly mentioned over the four days:
”From the advertising perspective, TV works well on both sides of the funnel – it works really well for brand building as well as for the immediate tactical decision-making and that is why direct response advertising has worked for centuries.“

In addition, Jan Isenbart, Chief Research Officer, ARD-Werbung Sales&Services Germany stated: “Others (digital players) are not yet where we are today, but they’re just claiming to be the future. We have realized actually that TV is probably the only medium that delivers on both sides of the funnel – on short-term sales and activation on the one hand, and a long-term brand building and also long-term sales effects on the other. It’s a very, very strong combination.”

Today, tomorrow: TV

Prominent industry experts firmly predict a bright future for TV, with plenty of opportunities in targeted advertising and addressable TV and online video.

Finally, the mass reach of TV and the impact on huge crowds is something that advertisers should keep in mind.“If you want to build a brand from scratch, and make a name for yourself quickly, we believe this total video environment is the place to be” Katty Roberfroid concluded.

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