Television is still the most influential and trusted medium. The impact that it has made over these years is commendable.
And Television is not something that you can or should overlook as a marketer.
Even in today’s era of the internet where social media has taken over completely. Still, television holds a firm position in the marketing ecosystem.
The earlier advertisement ran heavily on this channel alone. The brands invested their marketing budget dominantly on television itself and hardly on any other mediums.
But it was already predicted that the advertising will transit from traditional mediums to modern age advertising the ‘Internet’.
And all credits go to the increasing number of mobile phones and more affordable internet. Once all these were the luxuries that one could only dream of. But due to advancements, the technology became more affordable and accessible for all.
People are on social media consuming a lot of content. The brands are now putting a substantial amount of their money on digital marketing.
But the truth is television is still the most trusted, invested, and effective channel for advertising. Preferred by the brands.
And you know why?
Because of you, me, and most of us.
People head towards television in their leisure time. An average American still spends around 5 hours a day watching television.
Television is still the opted solution for seeking entertainment and passing time.
And this is what the brands have been leveraging for years now and television being the best bet.
The big public-facing brands never had settled themselves with any restricted form of media. They always went with the flow and got the desired values for themselves.
Google, FB, Netflix, Amazon had over 60% of their marketing budget on television advertising in different regions across the globe.
Even after having such a strong persona and big figures on digital platforms,
Why do you think they would’ve put so much money on television?
Because TV works.
A television is capable of making and growing brands to their desired heights. And it maintains the impression of the brands into the minds of the people for a longer period.
This is what the USP of television advertising is that makes the brands alive in the minds of people for a long period compared to any other form of advertising platform.
A sponsored ad on social media doesn’t work that long.
And television advertisement becomes the choice of the marketers for both long and short term strategies.
“TV as a traditional medium is still important. When we run a heavy TV schedule, we see a lift in sales and product awareness. We need to run two weeks of digital to get the reach of one day of broadcast.” — Rich Lehrfeld, Senior VP at American Express.
We can gauge the importance and impact of television advertisements with the above statement.
According to a research report by Accenture Strategy, television advertisements not only drive sales but also complements the digital advertisements that brands are running.
Making it a perfect blend of marketing.
Below I’ll be stating,
5 reasons for using television as a marketing channel -
1- Awareness Factor
You would agree with the fact that television advertisements are more recognizable. People are more aware of the ad campaigns that are running on television.
The social media marketing campaigns are narrowed and we might not be aware of the running campaigns.
And this makes a hell lot of difference.
When people see ads on television it creates much more trust and belief in brands and it’s offerings.
And this is what every brand wants and needs.
Trust is the biggest and the only game that brands play.
2- The reach
Television posses great reach. A reach is a viewership as to how many people have seen the ad.
And what is the frequency of the ad as in how many times the ad has been watched by one person?
Television has seen a sustainable growth of 2–7% per year. And the viewership is growing at a steady pace.
Given the privilege, television has made its mark. And it has an incredible reach for brands to leverage.
3- Holding full attention
Television mainly opts when we’ve got leisure time. When we don’t have much to perform.
And this is the perk here that the advertisements that we see hold our undisputed attention. That means that every ad that we see has a longer impression on our minds.
And this gives brands a lot more space and time to get into the minds and hearts of people.
4- Storytelling
The brands have started knowing the importance of storytelling. And television being an in-motion form of media complements its fullest.
In television, it’s either ad or shows there’s nothing in between. And people don’t possess a lot of control over it.
Whatever is being played on the set the audience will watch.
On contrary in the social media world where the audience is the ringmaster and you got to pull him with lots of tricks and promises.
Sometimes on social media channels, there are static images that are linked to a video. So if you fail to engage them with the static post, they wouldn’t head towards the video section.
5- One-way conversation
A television gives away the message of the brands and that’s it. There is no second way of conversation coming from any way via television. It’s one way. Period.
And when we talk about social media mediums a lot of time the general public possesses the privilege of presenting their views.
Sometimes there is even unwanted filth, anger, rage, coming out of it. Which is not required.
And the brands have no control over it.
Brands do not always want public opinions over the subject.
And this privilege gives the control of the brand thread into the hands of the people. Which brands would never want.
Conclusions
The televisions have made their mark in all these years with a great upsurge in sales and brand awareness. With a lot of mobile phones and internet boom television has seen the public attention shift to a certain extent.
But then it’s there in the market and still stands effective being marketers choice.
There are still brands who dominantly market themselves on this channel alone because it works for them in comparison with social media.
And you notice their ads on television first rather than any other form of media.
