I'll emphasize from the outset that this post is subjective. It stems from my experience, weighing data, and what I do for a living – I specialize in the Google Ads advertising industry, which also includes YouTube ads. Compared to this, TV advertising simply pales in comparison, and you'll find my arguments below. I invite you to read on. 🙂
Advertising on TV and YouTube – a matter of measurability
The Google Ads panel , combined with Google Analytics and YouTube Analytics, provides extensive campaign data measurement capabilities. While running a video campaign on YouTube, advertisers can continuously monitor, among other things:
- number of views,
- number of views,
- average cost per ad view,
- daily (or generated in another selected time period) advertising cost,
- number and type of conversion,
- conversion cost,
- video playback percentage,
- earned activity, i.e. obtained likes, shares, subscriptions, etc.
Sample statistics are presented in the graphic below:
(The rest of the article can be found below the form)
In the case of television, viewership is determined through telemetry research. Telemetry research is a statistical study conducted based on a panel, i.e., a group of viewers representing, for example, the entire population of a given country. To be credible, a panel must accurately reflect the structure of the society it represents and must also contain an adequate amount of data. According to Business Insider, telemetry research in Poland is conducted on a sample of 2000 households.
The TV research giant Nielsen Audience Measurement claims on its website that it can obtain data on viewers, the channels they watch, and their viewing time. Among the available audience metrics, it provides information on:
- behavior of television viewers,
- demographic characteristics of the recipients,
- programs watched by individual household members,
- programs watched together by all family members,
- family attributes, e.g. having pets, income, education and their correlation with television preferences.
Telemetry data is undoubtedly a valuable source of information about the audience for television programs and advertisements. However, it is statistical data, collected based on a small group of viewers, and moreover, it does not provide the specific details that can be obtained from online advertising. In the case of TV ads, it is difficult to obtain data on the cost of a single interaction or the number of conversions generated by the ad. By promoting their products or services on YouTube, advertisers have significantly greater access to data on the effectiveness of promotional videos and the behavior of viewers watching the videos.
TV advertising – costs
Online advertising is typically charged based on the number of views (CPV) or per thousand views (CPM), not the duration of the broadcast (as with TV advertising). Unit costs for online advertising typically range from a few to a dozen or so cents per interaction, allowing advertisers to display their promotional video online even with a very limited budget.
When you have a limited budget, an additional advantage is the ability to target ads to very specific, small audiences and the fact that you can choose specific time slots for displaying videos.
The price list for television advertising depends on the timing of the spots' broadcast. According to the TVN price list:
- A 30-second commercial during the break in the Masterchef Junior program cost PLN 63,200 net on May 5, 2019.
- a spot of the same length, shown on May 3, 2019 after the evening edition of Fakty, costs around PLN 38,600 net,
According to data provided by Wirtualnemedia.pl, advertising prices on TVP in January 2018 were as follows:
- PLN 65,400 net – cost of the spot during the break in the transmission of the ski jumping competition in Zakopane, on January 28, 2018 on the TVP1 channel,
- up to PLN 55,600 – the cost of advertising during the break in the series “M jak miłość” on the TVP2 channel,
- PLN 26,700 – the cost of broadcasting a 30-second spot during the Sunday main edition of Wiadomości on TVP1.
The examples mentioned above represent the most expensive commercials, broadcast during prime time on specific TV channels. Cheaper TV commercials air during less popular timeslots, and therefore have significantly lower viewership. Of course, the cost of broadcasting also depends on the package, the station, and the selected media house. Nevertheless, these are still hefty prices.
With online advertising, rates per view aren't as dependent on the duration of the ads' runtime, and even if they were to increase at a given moment, the advertiser always has access to this data. Thanks to these statistics, the advertiser has full control over the campaign's daily budget, allowing them to decide precisely how much to invest in the promotion. Furthermore, they can track their spending in real time and decide at any time whether to continue or pause their campaign.
Targeting ads on TV and YouTube
Google Ads offers many types of ad targeting. Audiences can be created based on:
- demographic data,
- interests,
- plans and life events,
- destinations that Internet users visit,
- topics of websites, channels, mobile applications,
- keywords related to the content of websites, channels and mobile applications,
- devices used by network users.
and combine the above-mentioned options.
Television advertising—due to its telemetric analysis based on a specific audience panel—will never be as well-tailored to a specific audience as online advertising. Unfortunately, television doesn't allow for the precise targeting of audiences as Google Ads does. Equally important, television doesn't offer remarketing options—therefore, it's impossible to retarget audiences who were considering a purchase but decided against it at the last minute (e.g., abandoned their shopping cart).
Building engagement
Online advertising allows internet users to quickly and easily interact with a promoted product or service. When viewing an online ad, users have several options at their disposal:
- watching the entire advertising film,
- clicking on a call to action to go to the advertiser's website and get more information or make a direct conversion,
- liking the movie,
- entering the advertiser's channel and viewing other available materials,
- subscribing to the advertiser's channel,
- sharing the advertising video with other people,
- temporarily pause the playback of the advertisement,
- as a last resort and in case of disinterest in the advertisement – skip it.
In the vast majority of cases, interacting with online advertising requires no device other than the one the ad is being played on. This allows internet users who are interested in a given product or service to immediately explore the ins and outs of the offer without wasting the time or energy of reaching for a computer or phone, turning it on, and searching for a website or product name that may have inadvertently slipped their minds.
With TV ads, it's impossible to interact directly with the advertising medium. To learn more, you have to use your laptop or phone. Many of you will tell me that you grab your phone during a commercial, so at any moment you can type in the name of something you see on the screen. True. But…
According to research conducted by Gemius, during TV advertising breaks, 33% of smartphone users browse social media applications, 21% of these consumers play games, 8% use instant messaging or make traditional phone calls, and 6% of them use online shopping applications.
In the case of TV commercials, it's common for viewers to be distracted and their eyes to be drawn away from the TV screen. Social media, phone calls, and games often outperform the glass screen.
Equally important, TV commercials—due to the fact that they are most often displayed in blocks of several or a dozen minutes, and appear between programs or during breaks in series—often serve as a moment to step away from the TV. We've probably all had the experience of waiting for a commercial to make a cup of tea, quickly prepare a sandwich, or go to the restroom without missing a fragment of an interesting film.
And how many of us, during a commercial break, "flip" through other channels to see if there's anything more interesting on, or what the current score is of a match that didn't interest us enough to watch it in its entirety?
Simplicity of configuration and optimization
Online advertising campaigns can be created and run by virtually any user with internet access and a free Google Ads and YouTube account. Furthermore, there are countless guides online on how to create and optimize campaigns. The most reliable source of knowledge, Google support, is a treasure trove of knowledge, best practices, and innovations in online campaigns.
Advertisers who want to work on their campaigns are not dependent on external viewership data providers (as is the case with TV). They can log into their advertising account at any time, check the campaign's results, and make any necessary changes. All statistics are visible in the account, so if any anomalies occur, they can easily spot them.
Additionally, to create an online video campaign, all you need is a high-quality video uploaded to a YouTube channel. In this era of rapid technological advancement, an advertising spot can even be recorded with a smartphone. Once you have a finished video, simply paste it into a previously created ad group and, depending on the campaign type, add a destination URL or a headline and ad description.
In the case of television advertising, the only option is a professional video, shot at a significantly higher cost and using a film crew or computer graphics. Advertisers cannot optimize their advertising campaigns themselves, as they lack access to any tools or current data.
Reception
Just a few years ago, television was the leading medium for video content. Due to the rapid development of the internet and YouTube, the ways we consume all types of video content are rapidly changing.
According to YouTube analyses, online video viewership has been growing recently not only on mobile devices but also on televisions. Statistics show that YouTube has a wider reach among young users than traditional television. The overall reach of Google's video service continues to grow, and the number of users of the site and app increases year over year. The same applies to the viewing time of available content. Equally important, many television enthusiasts are moving to the online world, where they can watch the programs they want at their own time, rather than when dictated by the schedule.
As a result, the online advertising market in Poland is growing at the expense of print and television. According to Zenith analysts, television advertising spending in 2017 was expected to increase by only 0,6 percent compared to 2016, while online advertising spending was projected to increase by a staggering 11,8 percent (primarily thanks to the growth of video advertising). So, does television advertising have a future? Certainly, it does, but the future is looking increasingly bleak.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Possibilities of measuring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on TV and YouTube
- Costs of broadcasting advertising spots on television
