Mind the Gap – lifting the veil on cross-media measurement

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With the cross-generational migration from linear TV to digital video now well under way – faster for younger audiences but observed across most of the population – logic suggests that brands should be able to secure incremental reach beyond TV by advertising in the environments to which consumers have moved their attention. To investigate the potential of digital video to help brands close the coverage gap, we have conducted an analysis of the reach achievable using digital audio-visual (AV) channels compared with linear TV, working with AudienceProject and BARB data.

What this new study does is to confirm that the rate of change in TV viewing behaviour is affecting brands. The ability to reach mass audiences at scale is critical for efficient and effective brand building. Advertisers need to take several actions today in order to close their own coverage gap and ensure success in the age of media fragmentation.

HIGHLIGHTS

Findings of our new video-focused cross-media measurement study
A closer look at video advertising reach in the age of increasing media fragmentation
Brands targeting younger consumers can potentially build the most incremental reach using YouTube

// What we want to investigate and why

Objectives

Many people – particularly younger viewers – are replacing linear TV with online video, broadcaster and subscription video-on-demand services. Yet TV remains the go-to medium to deliver mass audiences at scale and quickly.

In theory, brands can achieve incremental reach using digital video channels. But there is evidence to suggest that once quality of engagement is factored in, online video may not be enough to close the coverage gap. Brands must also approach online video differently.

Brands targeting younger consumers using YouTube stand the most to gain in terms of incremental reach
For 18-24s, even with a predicted slowdown in the rate of decline, more than half (56%) of today’s audience will have disappeared by 2025

// What we've discovered and suggest

Findings

We worked with five leading UK advertisers to measure cross-media reach across 15 campaigns, fusing BARB and AudienceProject panel data. In this report we review the data and findings, as well as implications and recommendations. The study demonstrates that younger linear TV audience declines have hit faster than forecasted in Ebiquity’s earlier groundbreaking report TV at the Tipping Point.

Total linear TV commercial impacts were down by 4.4% in 2019 against predictions of a fall of 3.6%
YouTube and Facebook can make a noticeable impact on the coverage builds at younger audiences in particular