Published: Tuesday 25th July 2023
There’s no doubt that TV advertising is the best and most trusted method of communicating a message with potential customers. However, with the emergence of strong digital platforms and media offerings, we believe it would be beneficial to compare the differences and similarities of traditional (or linear TV) with that of digital.
In this article we investigate the benefits of Adsmart (by SKY Media) versus that of traditional TV (or linear TV as we call it) and which one would be most appropriate for you, depending on your product/service, business size and industry.
Linear TV
Without sounding ageist, linear TV generally appeals to a more mature audience simply because that is the media they grew up with. The more mature generation (of people aged 40+ years old) tend to prefer watching programmes on TV than smartphones, tablets, laptops or computers. Now don’t get us wrong, we are fully aware that digital platforms such as YouTube and even web browsers can be accessed on a number of modern TVs (widely available on today’s market) but for the purpose of this article we will assume that all forms of digital content will be viewed on devices other than the TV. Cable and Satellite TV channels will also be excluded from the linear (traditional) TV conversation.
Due to the nature of linear TV, people tend to plan their activities around catching their favourite programme (as you cannot rewind or pause the programmes on live TV like you can with digital media). So this has the added benefit of gathering your audience at a specific time to enjoy their show (so during the day you know you will be targeting people who aren’t working a traditional 9 – 5 job for example). It also has the additional benefit of ensuring that most of the adverts aired during the advert break are viewed, simply because the audience don’t want to miss when their programme restarts (this is why advertising positions 1, 2 and the final slot are more expensive because they are the most likely to be seen).
As previously mentioned the linear TV audience do not have the functionality to fast-forward the programmes which they are viewing (as these programmes are broadcasted live), this has the added benefit of ensuring that the adverts aired during the break are seen, (as the audience will most likely have to sit through these adverts so that they don’t miss their show) however, the downside of linear TV is the accuracy of the quantifiable data (it is hard to definitely measure how many people will actually watch your advert using linear TV).
Similarities
It is possible to advertise regionally in both sets of options and this is appealing to local business and SMEs with a strict budget but wish to have a presence on TV.
AdSmart
AdSmart is a revolutionary offering from SKY Media which provides advertisers with truly targeted advertising across all its channels. The level of targeting is so precise that a household next door to yours could be viewing a completely different advert during the same programme. So when considering demographic data AdSmart can take this to another level as it marries its customer data (like age, Home ownership & location etc..) with habitual data (like affluence etc..) which is obtained from sources such as Experian and other data partners including TwentyCI, Companies House, MasterCard®, Boots, Game, Nectar, Dunnhumby & DVLA) to create a detailed profile.
AdSmart TV campaigns are extremely affordable even to new business start-ups, with campaign costs starting from as little as £3,000.
Once an advert has been approved by Clearcast and the target audience identified (using a multitude of customer attributes and household data) it is sent to the media box of the household via satellite. When a programme (which is popular within the household and/or relevant to your product or service) is identified the box will select the advert during the break to deliver the best possible engagement for the business.
Unlike Linear TV which uses the CPT (cost per thousand) metric to price its campaigns, AdSmart bases its pricing on cost per impression (CPI). This metric is beneficial to the customer because an impression is only counted when at least 75% of the advert is viewed. If the advert is skipped for whatever reason before it reaches the 75% threshold then it is not counted as an impression within the campaign.
A recent Adsmart survey (across a panel of 500k households) reported a 48% drop in channel switching during ad breaks (because the ads were more relevant to the viewing audience), a 10% increase in ad enjoyment (again due to ad relevance), 13% higher emotional response and 35% increase in ad engagement.
To summarise, AdSmart is ideal if you are a business wishing to engage with your audience on a local basis e.g. you are a single site, family run car dealership or kitchen company with a relatively small catchment area. You might also have a very specialist product e.g. an IFA who wants to reach those of a specific age on a national basis.
Linear TV has the benefit of reaching a much larger audience because the geographic areas it uses are much larger but with less audience detail. A linear campaign would better suit a brand that has multiple sites across a BARB region whose audience is fairly broad e.g. a carpet company.
As technology improves and data becomes more accessible, the lines between linear TV and AdSmart are becoming more and more blurred, with most modern day advertisers opting for a strong marketing mix incorporating the use of both.
