Global marketers fall rapidly out of love with TV, according to Kantar study

TV failed to make an appearance among the top-five-preferred media channels both for the world's consumers and marketers, according to Kantar's Media Reactions 2023 report.

 

The medium, which has never been highly rated in the study by consumers, also took a bashing from the perspective of marketers in 2023, falling from third place in last year's ranking to 12th, while TV sponsorship plummeted 12th to 20th. Just 6% of marketing bosses said they would increase TV adspend in 2024.

 

But Lindsey Clay, chief executive of TV industry body Thinkbox, questions Kantar's research, posing the question: "Is attractiveness more important than effectiveness? One isn’t a proxy for the other."

 

She also noted that surveys such as this "don’t factor for the fact that not every form of advertising is for every brand (yet) – TV in particular".

 

She added: "Preferences change depending on what stage of growth a brand is at. An online start-up will squeeze everything they can out of online channels before they reach a ceiling and need to go elsewhere. Ask them early in that journey and they won’t prefer TV...

 

“Once again, TV has been split into component parts – linear, on demand, sponsorship – rather than looked at as a whole. If you must single out linear TV, then call it linear TV. Otherwise you’re being unhelpful at best and misleading at worst."

 

While linear TV is not growing, she added, on-demand streaming is (and it is among the top five in Kantar's report), with a dramatic hike in marketing invesment reflecting that. "Viewing is changing so marketing will change too. But it’s all TV."

 

Kantar's report found that online video was the most preferred channel by advertisers, unchanged in first place on 2022, followed by sponsored events (no change, in second), digital out of home (up two places), video streaming ads (+2) and online stories ads (+2).

 

From the consumer point of view, sponsored events came number one, followed by cinema ads (+1), OOH (+3), point of sale (unchanged on 2022 in fourth) and DOOH.

 

Gonca Bubani, Kantar's global thought leadership director, media, posed the question: "Why is there such a huge mismatch between the advertising consumers enjoy and what marketers are spending their precious budgets on?"

 

Her answer: "We know advertising campaigns are seven times as impactful among receptive audiences, so for marketers, it's crucial to understand the strengths and weaknesses of different ad platforms and invest their money where it will make an impact."

 

Kantar's report also found that Amazon is consumers' most-preferred ad platform, who deem it relevant and useful with few negative qualities. This is in spite of the ecommerce and entertainment platform not being among marketers' five favourites, although Amazon has experienced a 10% hike in trust score on last year.

 

Amazon was followed in second place by Google, up from fourth last year, TikTok, down from second, Instagram (+2) and Spotify (-2)

 

For marketers, YouTube came number one, up from third in last year's study, improving trust among CMOs by 6% on last year, demonstrating a "preference for established, brands, even if it does not register in consumers' top five platforms", Kantar said.

 

Google remained in second place, followed by Instagram (down two places), TikTok (unchanged at fourth) and Spotify in fifth.

 

The Musk effect and the metaverse

 

Notable for its continuing absence from the top five, Twitter/X's reputation went from bad to worse. "A decline in perceptions of innovation (now 16%, down from 28% in 2021) and trustworthiness (now 7%, down from 11% in 2021), is accompanied by a net 14% of marketers saying they will reduce their ad investment on the platform in 2024," the report said.

 

The metaverse, a concept that marketers like to talk about a lot, is still an "unfulfilled promise", Kantar said. In 2022, 61% of marketers said they would increase spend in this area, but that prediction's reality proved flimsy as only a net 12% did. In the latest study, 22% said they would increase spend.

 

Kantar's research was conducted among 900 global marketing professionals, spanning client advertisers, media companies and agencies. The consumer aspect of the report was gleaned from interviews with about 16,000 people in 23 markets, including the UK, US, China, across mainland Europe and Asia Pacific.