Research: What to Know About Next-Gen TV
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“Today’s marketers need to adopt an omnichannel strategy, and TV has only increased in value with more consumers cutting the cord and moving to streaming options during the pandemic,” Stacey Hawes, U.S. chief revenue officer at Catalina, said in a recent media release from the company. “In fact, more than one in four households no longer have a cable box, so you cannot reach them with traditional linear TV buys.”
Total video – which encompasses everything from linear TV to data-driven addressable TV to streaming video – is evolving into the next generation of TV. It’s where consumers are going and where brands need to be, according to Salesforce community and digital platform The CMO Club and its latest “CMOSolutionGuide,” which was produced in thought leadership with shopper intelligence company Catalina.
The guide, titled “The Unstoppable Evolution of TV To Total Video: Everything You Wanted To Know About Next-Gen TV, Video and Streaming, but Were Afraid To Ask,” cites several statistics that point to how the next generation of TV is poised to lap both linear broadcast and cable TV in the future.
The landscape includes the likes of Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as an array of niche streaming services. In this new data-rich environment, marketers can now target segmented audiences based on things like interests and purchasing habits, not merely demographics.
To fully understand the current and projected state of video marketing, it’s important to know new terminology that’s emerging as TV evolves and marketers adapt to next-gen TV. The CMO Club and Catalina’s guide highlights four primary TV/video advertising opportunities: traditional linear TV, data-driven linear TV, addressable TV and connected TV/over-the-top (OTT). (See graphic below and the guide’s extensive glossary for “Total Video.”)
The solutions guide was based on responses to a quantitative survey of more than 100 marketers across a wide range of B2B and B2C organizations who were asked where they are on the spectrum of video streaming mastery and investment, how they are adjusting ad dollars and how they are building their internal muscle and agency relationships as they progress into targeted data-driven total video buys. Some key findings from the guide:
- A slim majority of chief marketing officers surveyed (58%) said they are comfortable/very comfortable developing and executing their TV buying strategy in this increasingly complex environment.
- Ad dollars are shifting to streaming. Linear/broadcast TV still draws substantial media spend (a third dedicate 25% or more of their budget to it). However, over the next 12 months, 52% of marketers plan to increase budget for connected TV (smart TVs, gaming consoles and connected devices), 34% cite dedicating more dollars to addressable TV (cable, telco and satellite providers), while 25% are looking to decrease their linear/broadcast TV budget.
- Marketers rely on agencies for expertise and execution. Although CMOs are comfortable navigating TV, 80% turn to their media buying agency or consultant to gain insights or guidance on effective TV buying strategies and 42% said their agency strategy team is primarily responsible for developing TV strategy. To increase reach and effectiveness of TV dollars, 44% seek to hire external partners or agencies in the next year.
- Developing internal talent is critical. CMOs look to their internal brand leaders to develop TV strategy (43%), handle the TV buying (36%), and gain insights or guidance on effective TV buying strategies (40%). Forty percent plan to hire in-house talent (digital/media/analytic) in the next 12 months.
- Targeting with demographics still leads, but behavioral insights are not far behind. While demographics are still largely utilized to target TV buys (78%), with the increasing popularity of advanced TV opportunities, behavioral targeting (e.g., pet owners, auto enthusiasts, social followers of a brand) is a strong second (64%).
The CMO Club’s latest Solution Guide was also informed by interviews with marketing and business executives from leading and emerging brands including John Alvarado, former senior vice president of marketing, Beer Portfolio, Constellation Brands; Sean Barrett, SVP of marketing, Albertsons Companies; Gareth Mandel, chief operating officer, eHarmony; Kim McBee CMO/SVP of customer experience and brand marketing, Papa Murphy’s International; and Andrew Rebhun, CMO, El Pollo Loco.
