How hybrid moving image planning increases advertising impact

How hybrid moving image planning can increase advertising impact

Even though the use of moving images has changed considerably in recent years, the daily viewing time in Germany is still high. Especially the use of streaming and video platforms is steadily increasing. When planning moving image campaigns, it is therefore no longer enough to think only of linear TV. For promising campaigns, moving images must be thought of in a hybrid way in order to reach different objectives, KPIs or usage situations of consumers.

At our JOM IMPULSE event on 19 April, Sai-Man Tsui, Managing Director JOM Group, Roland Köster, Managing Director JOM Group, and Stella Freymuth, Senior Business Consultant Media Analytics Nielsen, therefore shed light on how moving image is currently used by advertisers in Germany, which trends are emerging in the moving image market and how a combined moving image strategy can be developed from this.

JOM IMPULSE in a Nutshell

Stella Freymuth: What is the current media usage in Germany?

The figures from the current Nielsen spring study on media use in Germany show that there is a slight decline in use across all media, as people are increasingly pursuing other activities again after the Corona pandemic. Nevertheless, the smartphone and the television remain the constant companions of Germans and occupy the first and second places of the most popular media.

Current developments in the use of moving images

In fact, the majority of Germans like to have a choice of moving image offerings. For example, 43 percent of households now use at least two streaming providers. So it is hardly surprising that 70 percent of those surveyed stream at least once a week. Among younger people, i.e. 18 to 34 year-olds, the figure is as high as 91 percent. Video platforms and video streaming services are used equally. Most respondents also state that they use video streaming services for 1 to 2 hours a day. The majority of classic TV users also consume 1 to 2 hours a day. However, it is interesting that the proportion of heavy users, i.e. those who consume more than 2 hours per day, is higher for classic TV than for streaming.

The most popular content here includes series, films and news programmes, followed by reports, sports shows and documentaries. In second place are tutorials and reality shows, followed by children’s programmes. However, there are differences between the various age groups: tutorials and reality shows as well as children’s programmes are clearly more popular among 18 to 34 year-olds.

There are also differences between the age groups in the choice of device for consuming moving images: Most people consume moving images via a smart TV, followed by the smartphone and the TV without internet connection. For younger people, on the other hand, the smartphone is in first place and the smart TV is in second place. What is also exciting is that with each edition of the media usage study, consumption via TV without an internet connection declines slightly.

The most popular streaming providers in Germany are Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Although Netflix was able to gain 18 per cent of new subscribers this spring with its advertising-financed model and thus already has 26 per cent of users of the cheaper version, almost all providers are recording a slight decline.

What do Germans think about advertising?

Younger people in particular trust advertising more than older people – across all channels. This also applies to personalised advertising: the younger ones not only remember better having received personalised advertising before, they are also more likely to agree that personalised advertising matches their interests. However, they also feel observed by personalised advertising and have the feeling that they are being served too much advertising.

Roland Köster: How can users be addressed in an attention-grabbing way via linear TV?

Although the amount of time spent watching moving images is continually decreasing, it still accounts for the largest share of daily media consumption at 5 hours and 26 minutes. However, once again there is a large gap between the age groups, because the under-50s are generally spending less and less time with moving images and only half of them can be reached at all via current moving images. This puts the individual moving image channels in the area of tension between reach, profitability and attention.

Often, however, media planning still discusses how performance can be achieved with decreasing reach, which channel brings the most favourable advertising contacts or how the ROI is as high as possible. What is actually important for media planning is how an optional effect can take place in moving image planning. Because first and foremost it is about gaining the viewer’s attention. And that is a real challenge. Because while the number of commercial breaks on TV has quadrupled since 2010, viewing time has dropped by 12 per cent. With five hours of media consumption, around 84 minutes of advertising are broadcast – and only 9 minutes of that is actually perceived. This means that 90 per cent of the advertising does not reach consumers at all. Media planners must therefore ask themselves how they get into the selective perception of consumers. The advertising impact can be expressed with the following formula:

Advertising impact = visibility of the advertising format x relevance for the target group.

Factors that contribute to the visibility of the advertising format are, for example, the screen size, the advertising format of the advertisement or distraction possibilities. The relevance for the target group is influenced by the media environment, such as the content or the usage situation.

In classic television, these factors can be influenced by targeted environment planning. Relevant environments are, for example, a high share of the target group in the audience or the reach of the individual programme in the target group, but also a high dwell time of the viewers in the programme and a low zapping during the commercial breaks. On TV, the relevant environments should determine the channel.

Sai-Man Tsui: How can users be addressed in an attention-grabbing way via digital moving images?

Often, linear TV is planned as the basic medium and non-linear is used as a supplement to incrementally increase reach. Yet we know that especially the under-30s are no longer reachable via linear TV on a daily basis. Only hybrid planning enables synergies in terms of buying and planning efficiency. Because a complementary moving image planning leads to the fact that the advertising pressure within the target group can be regulated through the targeted addition of digital media: For example, non-linear moving images can be used to strengthen the young age cluster through targeting or to create a regional balance.

In addition, smart TVs provide a lot of data and information about the users, which makes it possible to identify target groups such as streamers or heavy streamers and to address them via data targeting on other devices.

Basically, non-linear moving images offer several approaches for integrated campaign management by means of data targeting:

Incremental or amplifying: The coverage is built up in addition to linear TV via those who consume little or no classic TV or in addition to linear TV.
Contact class optimisation: With the amplifying approach, linear contact classes can also be balanced and optimised through technical targeting via non-linear TV.
Performance and thematic communication: The targeting of moving images is done through more specific data targeting with reference to certain topics and products.
Second screen: The control takes place parallel to the linear TV spots on another device.
The attention of moving image campaigns can also be increased in digital. Since the devices can be controlled individually, this can be done via the big screen or by addressing the users in lean-back situations such as watching Netflix. In this way, the involvement and thus the advertising effect can be strengthened. Placements on digital beacons such as YouTube Masthead can also generate enormous reach.

Furthermore, it is important to note that the subsequent content of a pre-roll ad also determines the quality of the placement. For example, care should always be taken to ensure that the environment of a commercial is thematically appropriate.

As in the linear moving image, the advertising impact in digital can also be determined by the formula

“Advertising impact = visibility of the advertising medium x relevance to the target group”. The visibility of an advertising medium is ensured by attention-grabbing video formats or by considering the playout on the big screen. While relevance to the target group is ensured, for example, by placing it in environments with high target group affinity.

Conclusion:

Overall, media usage has recently declined or has returned to pre-Corona levels. In addition, a kind of saturation has occurred in the streaming sector for the first time, so that no provider can register any more growth. Nevertheless, the ad-financed models of the streaming services are becoming increasingly popular. However, some differences can be seen across age groups, both in the time spent watching moving images and in the choice of device used for consumption, or in the content that is watched. It is therefore important for advertisers to know their target groups.

In addition to declining reach, the information saturation of consumers also presents advertisers with great challenges: Only about 10 per cent of moving image advertising is noticed at all. Therefore, the moving image strategy should be cross-device and attention should be understood as the new media currency. In this way, perception can be determined via environments (also in the digital sector). The correct planning of environments, advertising formats and contexts is crucial for the visibility of campaigns on all devices.