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The real threat of social media adverts to television advertising

Pascal Oparada

Social media has disrupted virtually our way of life. From what we eat and wear to how we communicate, places we go, every aspect of human life have been put under intense scrutiny.

Experts believe video advertising is moving from television to digital with the arrival of social media.

According to them, TV is not quite dead, but that digital is the new TV.

Ikem Okuhu, brand journalist, publisher and author, believes television advertising is not quite dead and is not going to die anytime soon as predicted. He believes television advertising has taken a major hit from social media.

“Television advertising cannot be doomed at least for now with the explosion of videos on social media. As much as this may have a significant impact on the share of advertising budget, television advertising will be with us for a long time to come, so long as there are still family hours at home and so long as the medium still provide news and entertainment values,” he said.

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A recent survey by Facebook shows that Millenials and Generation Z find television advertising intrusive, hence turn to their smartphones during advert breaks on television.

Okuhu believes they are not alone as this is an age-long thing.

“It is not only the Millenials that strive to avoid ad intrusion. If you check well, people also avoid a lot of ads when they are online. As a child, growing up, I also disliked some ad breaks, especially when enjoying my favourite radio programme. But I recall that there were some ads even at the time that had me singing along, sometimes dancing. I am aware that there are ads that also make the same Millenials drop their phones once their peripheral attention is tickled by these ads, prompting them to temporarily drop their phones until the ad break is over,” he said.

“Content Marketing has become the buzzword now and this has made it important for brands to invest in creating content that will attract the demographic or psychographic segment they need.

Campaigns must also be exciting with high entertainment value,” he said.

The last decade has seen a drastic move from television advertising to online or digital advertising.

During the first half of 2019, digital advertising spend reached $57.9 in the U.S. alone, according to a TechCrunch report which quoted a PwC survey.

The report said it is a 17 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2018, and the most spending Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has ever seen in the first half of the year.

That is the tip of the iceberg as live streaming platforms like Periscope, YouTube, Instagram Live and Facebook Live are all set to further disrupt video advertising.

Okuhu said brands need to brace up and become ingenious in how they drive advertising across these platforms in other to capture the restless Millenials and Generation Z demographics.

“Brands are aware of this. The problem is most do not have the depth of creativity that enables engaging ads. Advertising has to be engaging enough to sustain the attention of viewers. Key strong elements beside all the brand/product information and education include entertainment value and ability to wow and awe. Once you have a gripping ad, people will certainly watch.

According to him, “brands should have a balanced campaign plan strategically designed with the target demography in mind. Such planning should include determining the messages in ads designed even for the time of day.”

Already, newspaper advertising has suffered major setbacks because of digital advertising. Many brands prefer to place their adverts on digital or online platforms than on traditional newspapers. This has led to a drastic fall in revenue for most of them.

With advert exchange platforms, many advertisers prefer to use them to distribute their adverts across multiple channels at marginal costs and yet reach audiences television advertising would ordinarily not reach.

And with Facebook releasing IGTV on Instagram, the threat seems to be increasing for conventional or traditional advertising.

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In April 2017, Youtube was ranked the second most popular site in the world with 400 hours of videos uploaded to the platform every minute and one billion hours of videos watched every day. If used and optimised correctly, it’s a powerful way to promote your business.

Facebook users watch massive 8 billion videos every day, and in an industry report, 55% of marketers chose Facebook as their most important social media platform.

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg said that by 2018, 90% of the contents in your Facebook Feed will be video-based. If you want your business to be seen in the modern business world, video needs to be a priority.

Videos on Facebook also get the highest organic reach in the news feed, so learning how to utilise it is important if you want to generate a wider reach and drive sales!

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