Another reminder of the popularity of ad-supported connected TV comes in a survey by Premion and Advertiser Perceptions which found that 61% of the marketers that advertise on CTV and over-the-top TV plan to increase their spending on those channels.

On average, those advertisers expect spending to increase by 21%.

According to the study, 83% of CTV/OTT advertisers believe that CTV/OTT’s value is greater than, or equal to, that of primetime TV, with 36% saying that CTV/OTT is more valuable.

Premion released a similar study last year.

“Advertisers are increasingly shifting dollars from other channels to boost their CTV ad budgets,” Daniel Spinosa, president of Premion, the Tegna unit dedicated to selling CTV and OTT to local and regional advertisers, said. 

“Our study validates that CTV is a valuable channel for achieving KPIs, and advertisers are increasingly prioritizing it as part of a complete TV strategy to drive full-funnel brand goals,” Spinosa said. “They are harnessing sophisticated targeting and measurement capabilities to effectively measure its impact and drive significant business outcomes.”

The study found that advertisers were spending more because of CTV/OTT advertising’s ability to achieve full-funnel objectives; reach a highly engaged, opted-in audience; and conduct precision targeting.

The incremental spending on CTV/OTT advertising was overwhelmingly the result of budgets reallocated from digital advertising, social media and linear TV. Only 26% said they were tapping new ad budgets to increase CTV spending.

Among those increasing their CTV/OTT ad spend in 2024, a notable 74% are reallocating budgets from digital, social media, or linear TV, while one in four (26%) are tapping into new ad budgets to fuel this growth.

Eighty percent of CTV/OTT advertisers see ads on those platforms as an extension of their linear TV strategy, while around seven in 10 advertisers agree that integrating linear TV with CTV/OTT advertising improves full-funnel return on investment, boosts ad recall and enhances brand awareness.

Nearly all of the advertisers said they work with more than one CTV/OTT provider, with 40% using an average of more than five providers on a typical campaign. 

Half of all CTV/OTT advertising is expected to be purchased programmatically in 2024, the survey found.

Advertiser Perceptions was hired by Premion to conduct the April study, an anonymous online survey of 150 ad agency or brand-side marketers who spent at least $250,000 annually on CTV/OTT advertising in 2023 and 2024. 

Retail Media and connected TV are expected to be big engines for digital advertising growth in 2024, according to the inaugural U.S. ad spending forecast from Advertiser Perceptions.

Digital ad spending, which has eclipsed spending on traditional media, is expected to increase 10% in 2024 after rising 11.7% to a record $283 billion in 2023. Advertisers Perceptions also sees digital spending  increasing10$ in 2025.

Retail media is expected to jump 30% to $64.7 billion in 2024 and rise to $81.6 billion in 2025, representing 23.5% of all digital advertising in the U.S.

“Brands have been pouring money into retail media over the past few years,” said Eric Haggstrom, director of business intelligence and head of forecasting for Advertiser Perceptions. 

“While we expect this trend to continue, retail media will evolve significantly in the coming years. As ad auctions on retailers’ own properties become saturated, brands will look to utilize retailers’ data to power their buys outside of retailers’ digital walls,” Haggstrom said. “Media and ad tech companies need to form relationships with retail media platforms or risk missing out on one of the few large and quickly growing segments of the digital advertising market.”

The presidential election and the Olympics are expected to push the growth of connected TV advertising. Advertiser Perceptions forecasts a 16.2% increase in CTV spending in 2024. 

“This is a conservative estimate, however, as spending could be driven higher by the election and more success by Amazon Prime Video’s ad tier,” the company said. 

Spending on social media is expected to grow by 14% in 2024 and 11.8% in 2025.

Most of the increase is seen coming from spending on short videos on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. 

Advertiser Perceptions said it expected programmatic spending on mobile, and desktops to be flat to up single digits.

 “The advertising market will be strong in 2024, buoyed in large part by the presidential election and the upcoming Olympics,” Haggstrom said. “Retail media, social media and CTV will be the biggest drivers of growth over the next two years, as advertisers not only prefer both the targeting and creative opportunities available through these digital channels but also can prove the ROI.”

Advertiser Perception based its report on an analysis of financial reports from more than 100 publicly-traded companies involved in ad sales, the largest ad buyers in the world, research from government statistical organizations, and years of Advertiser Perceptions syndicated research.

More marketers are using addressable advertising, according to a new survey for the Go Addressable industry initiative conducted by Advertiser Perceptions.

The survey found that 73% of markets are using addressable advertising, up 16% from a similar survey conducted years ago that found 63% using addressable advertising.

“The big story behind these findings is growth,” DirecTV Advertising senior VP, data analytics & insights Dan Rosenfeld said. “Two years into Go Addressable’s launch, we are excited to see that the needle behind adoption, usage and awareness of this medium has continued to move consistently. We take these findings to heart and remain committed to finding ways to further enhance, innovate and pioneer addressable advertising’s future.”

At this point, addressable advertising includes both targeted ads inserted into breaks by pay TV distributors as well as targeted ads in connected TV programming.

“Over the past year, in order to fund their investments in addressable, advertisers were nearly just as likely to tap into CTV budgets as they were to tap into linear budgets,” the study found.

Many advertisers have been looking for better measurement of addressable viewership and effectiveness, but those objections appear to be lessening.

In the new survey, 43% said they wanted better measurement and proof of return on investment, down from 50% in the 2002 survey. Only 41% called attribution inadequate.

Advertisers said they would spend more on addressable advertising if it were more cost-efficient and had better scale.

“Addressable advertising has evolved tremendously in recent years, and clients find that using this method adds immediate value to their media plans,” said Jen Soch, executive director, channel solutions, GroupM. “Our clients need to know they can reach and engage with consumers in a targeted and personalized way while in a premium advertising environment, and addressable advertising delivers in a way that not only reaches audiences, but resonates with them.”

Go Addressable members include Altice, Comcast Advertising Cox Media, Dish Media, DirecTV Advertising, Spectrum Reach and Verizon.

The advertiser responses came from Advertiser Perceptions’ Monthly Omnibus surveys, conducted in April of 2022 and April 2023.

The 2023 survey was based on 302 interviews of agency and marketer executives conducted between April 6 and April 13. The 2022 survey was based on interviews of 300 agency and marketing execs conducted from April 4-13, 2022.

 A new survey found that 62% of advertisers are shifting their ad budget from digital, social media and linear TV to increase their spending on connected TV and over-the-top advertising.

According to the survey, conducted for Premion by Advertiser Perceptions, 46% of advertisers said they were spending more on CTV to capture declining TV audiences, 44% to get the benefits of TV with digital capabilities and 39% said they wanted to achieve full-funnel marketing objectives.

"Advertisers have not only embraced CTV advertising but are shifting even more dollars away from other channels to bolster their CTV ad budgets," said Tom Cox, president of Premion. "Our study  unequivocally affirms that CTV has evolved into an essential channel for marketers to achieve their full- funnel brand goals. The proven effectiveness of CTV in precisely reaching target audiences, delivering  personalized ads in engaging content through premium inventory, and driving business outcomes has cemented streaming TV as a winning strategy for advertisers."

The survey found that three out of four CTV/OTT advertisers view CTV/OTT advertising as an extension of their linear TV strategy — and two out of three advertisers agree that combining linear TV with CTV/OTT advertising increases brand awareness and improves overall ROI performance throughout the entire marketing funnel.

Key priorities for advertisers turning to CTV include the ability to run messages in premium video content, maintain brand safety and avoid fraud.

The survey was produced by interviewing 151 ad agency and brand marketing executives involved in decision making for CTV and OTT advertising. The interviewees were conducted in March.

Advertisers are betting bigger on video for 2023, and they’re raising their expectations with it. To meet them, and to keep advertisers on track, networks and publishers need to raise their sales games.

Specifically, 60% of video advertisers plan to increase their video spending, at a median increase of 20%. While linear TV and social video have captured advertisers’ fascination over the past few years, their 2023 focus will be more on CTV and digital video. Agencies are particularly bullish on the importance of CTV. They want the flexibility and precision that CTV enables, and they see it as less expensive than scaling linear TV investments.

That said, advertisers' expectations are rising as their views on effectiveness change. Reach isn't enough anymore. They want to build specific audiences that serve their brand and commerce goals. More frequency isn't better anymore. They want to be in shorter pods with clear competitive separation, and caps on how often the same people get their commercial messages in any given period.

At the same time, advertisers want innovation to make their brands stand out. They want to see how their specific audiences are building across screens, and of course they want stronger proof that people (not bots) are watching the screens.

The stakes on all this rise as audiences crisscross publishers' channels and products, while advertisers hedge budgets against macroeconomic uncertainty.

As tempting as it is to (over)react to consumers' shifts in media habits, advertisers need to stay grounded. They need to build a commercial narrative true to the brand that engages consumers and enhances their viewing experiences.

To do it, they need video networks and publishers to show them how to use the media, not just buy it. Salespeople need to be Sherpas through the complexity of audience changes, innovative ad products, content standards and performance metrics.

That means sales must reorient from about us to about you and develop new fluencies, starting with brand and business strategy. Salespeople need to know more about the actual KPIs of clients' businesses -- where they need to score and how they're counting points -- that inform their media choices. Then they can think upstream to recommend solutions.

Thinking upstream has traditionally been a requirement for challenger media. TV didn't need to go there, digital video did. Now all video does. That means identifying specific audience opportunities of strategic importance and recommending paths to nurture these viewers with a variety of content and interactions, rather than simply target impressions with reach and frequency levels. And it means selling examples from the advertiser's category, how others have found success across the marketing funnel with a combination of ad products.

At a time when finance is pushing marketing into a corner, video sellers have a key role in keeping advertising on full for brands. Trusted media brands will be the ones that explain, protect, and support. While automation is a selling point for advertising flexibility, increasingly advertisers need to get someone on the phone now. As marketers count on video advertising to do more heavy lifting across the marketing funnel, and raise their performance expectations, they'll turn first to the partners they trust to deliver on demand and on strategy. ■

Advertisers say addressable advertising hits the target for them, according to a new survey from Go Addressable, an initiative comprising the TV industry’s biggest distributors.

In the survey, conducted by Advertiser Perceptions, 81% of advertisers said the were satisfied with the addressable TV options available, up from 72% last year.

Among advertisers currently using addressable advertising, 37% said they plan to increase their spending on the marketing tactic in 2023.

Looking at the advertisers not using addressable advertising, 41% said they plan to next year. Just 25% said that in last year’s survey.

“This is a big moment in the history and future of addressable advertising,” said Samantha Rose, executive VP, strategic investment lead, Horizon Media. “The medium is one of the most promising and topical ones in today’s TV ad ecosystem. From ease of use to technical enablement to the number of options available, we’ve come a long way in unlocking the scale and potential behind addressable advertising, while doing so in a privacy focused way, and I look forward to what we, as an industry, can do to further its growth and evolution in 2023.”

Nearly all of the advertisers that have gone addressable say they are buying from either ad-supported video on demand programmers, traditional pay-TV programmers, device makers or multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). They said that addressable advertising is now similar to buys and costs to mount campaigns have improved.

Measurement has been an issue for addressable advertising, but 77% of marketers who have had addressable campaigns said they are satisfied with the metrics they can get.

“We’re thrilled to see that momentum is continuing to build behind addressable advertising headed into 2023,” said Kevin Arrix, senior VP Dish Media. “These latest findings capture the industry’s enthusiasm and adoption of addressable, which has become an increasingly important tool for advertisers to reach their audiences effectively and with tangible ROI.”

These latest research findings come as Go Addressable hosts its second annual industry addressable advertising conference Wednesday in New York.

Members of Go Addressable include Altice USA, Charter Communications' Spectrum Reach, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV Advertising, Dish Media and Vizio. ■

While 80% of the advertisers surveyed by Innovid said they have increased spending on converged TV and connected TV, 92% said it is important to get a unified view of reach and performance across linear TV, CTV and digital video.

Having a unified view of their TV campaigns would give marketers improved ad relevance and deeper engagement by improving cross-platform personalization and creative performance, according to Innovid’s report The Great Unification of Converged TV.

Preventing advertisers from getting the unified view they want are problems with data ownership, inconsistent measurement, walled gardens and siloed teams.

Also: Verizon Using Innovid's New Tools To Optimize Ad Creative on CTV

When asked what they needed to improve the performance of their converged TV campaigns, 66% of respondents said “consolidated tech” to streamline and automate ad delivery and measurement.

The metrics that matter to advertisers when looking at converged tv are online outcomes, unique reach, frequency and offline outcomes.

“Succeeding in an agile, always-on market means continuously and quickly adapting and scaling media and creative strategies for reach, performance, and personalization. That’s why, with a cross-platform, unified view, KPIs are all the more meaningful and actionable — from in-flight changes to creatives and continuous refinement of the converged TV media mix,” the report said.

At this stage, a converged TV market presents advertisers with challenges including viewership fragmentation, a need for creative personalization and inconsistent measurement.

Identity resolution was also noted as a challenge. “Reconciling IDs across digital and linear TV environments is not only the “connective tissue” of converged TV, it also empowers advertisers to tell personalized stories, avoid creative oversaturation, better understand the customer journey, and unlock walled gardens,” the report said.

Ultimately, when they can achieve a unified view of converged TV, advertisers say they’ll be able to optimize cross-platform media and creative more often.

“The TV experience is being reimagined,” Innovid CMO Stephanie Geno said. “As content and consumption offerings evolve to meet the needs of modern viewers, brands and agencies are challenged by a fragmented media landscape — one that is no longer bound by time, platforms, locations or devices. To truly thrive in this ‘converged TV’ market — which encompasses linear, CTV, and digital video — marketers need a unified view of advertising and audiences. Not only to understand how cross-platform campaigns are really working, but also to uncover actionable insights to reach and engage with the right consumers where they are.” ■

Throughout 2022, alternative TV-measurement solutions and currencies dominated headlines, presentations and panels — with most sellers predicting, even advocating, replacing Nielsen as TV’s data foundation. While sellers believe it’s time to overhaul TV measurement, buyers are less bullish for outright change  — especially given Nielsen’s recent partnerships with major digital players such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Roku.

When we talked to 200 advertisers this summer, they overwhelmingly said Nielsen will remain their primary currency for TV buys through the foreseeable future. While they agree panel data is outdated, only 46% support completely replacing Nielsen.

The reason: A fragmented measurement landscape makes a buyer’s job much harder. Of course, they want more accurate views of audiences. They simply don’t have the resources to select, test and ultimately manage multiple providers. Nor can they efficiently reconcile differences in audience counts when sellers use different currencies. 

That said, advertisers do see the value in using alternative currencies alongside Nielsen. And they believe alternative currencies will ultimately improve the TV advertising marketplace. So far, two in five advertisers that use alternatives to Nielsen find them just as effective as Nielsen, while one-third find them more effective than Nielsen. 

On average, advertisers now work with two providers and are willing to bring in a third. Among the uninitiated, more than half are open to discussion but haven’t made any inquiries.

Sellers need alternative measurement to get full value for audience delivery. With Nielsen strengthening its hold on planning, they need to advance a hybrid future. So, how do sellers get buyers to do what’s best for the business?

Define currency. Advertisers tell us they don’t fully understand the difference between alternative currency and measurement. A universal definition will help. Our survey defined currency as an agreed-upon metric, offering a guarantee that the media buyer and seller agree to use as the basis for transacting TV ad buys. 

Explain the emerging alternatives. Only 29% of advertisers consider themselves very familiar with alternative measurement approaches. Networks and providers need to explain the advantages of alternatives for specific advertisers and situations, starting with their largest accounts, which our research shows are most open to experimenting.

Demystify the methodologies. Advertisers are equally concerned with methodology and performance, and they need consistency of reporting based on robust data sets. Take the time to explain unique benefits in depth. And since every approach has blind spots, spell them out.

Provide the necessary scaffolding. Reassure buyers that alternative currencies can be used in a portion of buys and/or in parallel with Nielsen. Of the advertisers that have used an alternate measurement provider this year, most are testing and benchmarking against Nielsen. So, present exploratory opportunities that mitigate risk, and let advertisers evolve at their own pace.

Create an industry short list. Beyond individual sellers’ educational efforts, a short list of approved providers across the industry may move advertisers confidently en masse into alternate measurement and currency.

Advertisers are voting for a multi-currency world with Nielsen as the foundation. Their question isn’t whether alternate measurement and currencies can improve TV buying. It’s whether networks collectively can make buyers comfortable with a new way of doing business. ▪️

Most advertisers buying connected TV and over-the-top inventory plan to increase their spending on streaming by an average of 22%, according to a new study from Advertiser Perceptions and Premion, Tegna’s local OTT/CTV ad unit.

Among those responding to the study, 25% called CTV/OTT the most important or valuable media type in 2021, topping linear TV, paid search and social.

Also: NBCU Says 30%-40% Of Campaigns Should Be OTT Based

“Advertisers have embraced CTV and they’re shifting bigger budgets to the medium as an essential buy for driving brand awareness and performance marketing,” Premion president Tom Cox said. “Our study validates that CTV has become an invaluable channel for brand marketers and agencies to follow their audiences, plan with data-driven targeting, and measure with outcomes-based performance. New data capabilities make CTV even more compelling for advertisers to gain a complete understanding of audience behaviors and to connect viewership to direct business results.” 

In the study, 56% of advertisers said the ability to precisely target audiences was the top reason for increasing CTV/OTT spending in 2022. Other key benefits include extending the reach of linear TV ad campaigns, capturing declining TV audiences and reaching a highly engaged, opt-in audience.

Nearly 70% of advertisers agreed CTV/OTT allows them to target local audiences in ways that are not possible with traditional TV. 

Advertisers said challenges using CTV and OTT included getting transparency in terms of where ads were running, managing ad frequency across publishers and platforms, cost, fragmentation and inconsistent measurement standards.

The money being spent on CTV and OTT is most often coming from linear TV budgets, the study found. In fact, 84% of respondents said CTV/OTT inventory is at least as valuable as primetime TV. Funds were also coming out of budgets for other types of digital video, digital display and social media.

In conducting the survey, Advertiser Perceptions was commissioned by Premion and surveyed 151 brand marketers and ad-agency decision makers. The study was fielded in March. ■

Concern over the impact inflation is having on business has advertisers pulling back on their TV advertising plans, according to a study by Advertiser Perceptions.

Three of four U.S. advertisers said that rising inflation rates, as well as supply chain issues, are having a negative impact on their business, with marketers in the consumer packaged goods, auto and retail categories feeling the most pressure, according to the survey.

As a result one in five advertisers have reduced their marketing budgets, with the cutbacks averaging 16%.

Marketers put a pause on spending mainly on media channels aimed at awareness and brand building–what’s known as the upper portion of the marketing funnel, Hardest hit were connected TV, paused by 47% of those responding, digital video (44%) and linear TV (42%).

Four in five advertisers said the expected to restart budgets by the end of 2022, with the others planning to restart sometime in 2023. Three in 10 said they would restart spending on CTV as soon as inflation abates.

Brands in many categories are also rethinking their ad messaging in light of the way inflation is affecting consumer attitudes and behavior.

Inflation has businesses focusing more on profitability than on customer acquisition. In that environment, marketers will favor media channels that allow them to use data to target their best customers.

“Inflation and changing economic conditions will make identity even more important,” said Eric Haggstrom, director of forecasting at Advertiser Perceptions. “As brands shift focus from growth at all costs to profitability, being able to reach current and past customers reliably across channels will be paramount.”

Nicole Perris, VP of business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions, suggests that business do four things in this environment.

● Prioritize media that orient toward customer lifetime value rather than acquiring new customers. Analyze channels according to ROI on nurture and LTV metrics, and work with partners for ways to lean into those channels more with appropriate levels of scale.

● Lean on retail media more, particularly looking at advertising opportunities around closeouts by stores overloaded with inventory.

● Buy more in media where bid density has lowered, such as digital video. Less competition means active advertisers will likely get more for their budgets than they did last year.

● Apply first-party data to addressable and connected TV advertising to reach precise audiences as efficiently as possible.

“Media with first-party data can make the strongest case for upper-funnel or brand advertising, especially where it’s becoming less expensive than performance channels,” said Perrin. “That’s a massive opportunity where the crux is context and audience rather than clicks.”

Perris adds that for CTV inventor owners, flexibility matters. By providing the creative and latitude for advertisers to move advertising across campaigns and ad products, she said, media can make it easier for advertisers to capitalize on temporarily reduced competition in the medium. 

Advertiser Perceptions surveyed 300 advertisers and media buyers in April for this study. ■

Instead of killing off TV advertising, streaming is now seen as making it grow as more viewers turn to add-supported connected TV.

Researchers at Advertiser Perceptions and Hub Research teamed up to study CTV from both the consumer and advertiser perspective and found that more viewers accept advertising and media buyers are increasing their spending to reach those viewers.

“The best days of ad-supported TV are ahead of us, not behind us,” said Jon Giegengack, principal at Hub Research. “Significantly more people watch ad-supported than ad-free platforms, and the combination of exclusive content, lower cost and a less disruptive ad experience will keep ad-supported audiences high.”

“Advertisers should get out of their comfort zone and explore all the innovative ways to advertise on CTV,” said Erin Firneno, VP, business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Publishers can grow the category by promoting their unique offerings, whether that’s scale, unique audience, exclusive content or shoppable ads.”

Also: Watch Giegengack and Firneno discuss their findings in the video below.

Their study concludes that CTV growth isn’t about avoiding ads and that most CTV viewers are willing to watch ads if it will save them money or allow them to watch exclusive content.

Among those who consider themselves tolerant of ads, 72% said they’d watch ad supported TV if it saved them between $4 and $5 a month. Even among those who called themselves ad intolerant, 30% said they’d go with an ad-supported platform over an ad-free version to save $4 to $5.

The more targeted ads enabled by CTV contributed to viewer satisfaction with ad-supported programs. Among those who watched a show on an ad-supported platform 44% said they were highly satisfied, but 60% said they were highly satisfied when the ads were “customized for me.”

A majority of advertisers (54%) said they plan to increase their CTV advertising over the next 12 months.

Most advertisers see CTV in a supporting role in their TV planning, with 51% saying they plan linear TV first. One third said they plan both linear and CTV together and 15% said they plan CTV first. 

Advertisers are buying ads from CTV devices, AVOD services and vMVPDs, but only 32% are buying from all three.

“Advertisers need to test and learn across more of the available platforms – particularly as CTV incorporates more ad formats, from display to interactive ads – and make greater use of personalized advertising. They also need to break-out of their buying silos. Currently, only one in three advertisers buy across all three main inventory sources. Meanwhile, publishers need to differentiate their offerings more thoroughly,” the study concluded. ■

The 2022 TV upfronts have provided TV networks with a three-phase opportunity.

Networks are caught between conflicting speeds. On one hand, there‘s a rush to catch up with streaming and heightened desire for cross-screen activation and measurement. On the other hand, Nielsen’s hold as the standard-bearer for measurement is slowly giving way to alternatives, and the state of the market is uncertain and just beginning to sort out.

This change and tension gives networks a rare opportunity. With the medium at an inflection point and the future so obviously in flux, there’s a real appetite for stewardship. Networks can use this moment to reset the direction for advertiser relationships.

To do it, networks can focus on now, near-term and next.

Deliver what advertisers need now. While connected TV (CTV) is hot, linear TV remains advertisers’ and viewers’ foundation. A study we’re just completing with Hub Research shows that 95% of viewers still watch ad-supported TV, including the growing number who access all their content through a CTV app. For this reason, half of advertisers still see CTV in a supporting role. Despite rising doubts about Nielsen ratings, linear TV presents a single stable system whereas CTV measurement is the Wild West with individualized sales metrics and KPIs.

All of that means networks can help advertisers forge bedrock reach and attribution. Despite all the chatter about flexibility with terms, that’s the real issue here.

Design the near-term bridges. Advertisers need new ways to target and personalize ads across video channels. They also need help crossing the divides between alternative measurement currencies. Networks hold keys to both.

While CTV buying has cooled as many advertisers have trimmed budgets, that’s momentary. Before inflationary forces multiplied, 84% of advertisers were ready to buy big live events on CTV and dedicated 20% of their budgets to it. They’re increasingly interested in reaching identifiable viewers on exclusive content.

When the economy rebounds, we can expect CTV to explode the way all TV did last year. Indeed, in March, 85% of advertisers that had trimmed CTV budgets said they will reinstate them by the end of 2022.

While networks have responded to declining confidence in Nielsen with new data measurement frameworks, those frameworks are individual, proprietary and unverified. Advertisers need help with integrating them.

Drive the next phase of TV. The next generation of advanced advertising will likely focus on providing greater value to the viewers that advertisers target. As Comscore CMO Tania Yuki recently put it, “The next wave of innovation will be a new paradigm where ad buying works in concert and partnership with the consumer in pursuit of delivering better value, based on greater understanding and empathy.”

Networks have a clear role in this transition to making advertising work better for consumers. The current flux in measurement provides an opening to start talking about relevant innovation now. Alternative measurement currencies complicate advertisers’ evolution into holistic buying because consolidated planning still gives way to buying and measuring by platform. That makes the business return on investment projections (justifying Upfront commitments) and reporting that procurement demands difficult for advertisers to produce themselves.

This, in turn, changes the dynamic of buyer-seller relationships in the Upfront. Particularly with large agencies, the role of the rep changes from doing favors — “Got you covered, we’ll figure out where it goes” — to providing the intelligence to structure effective, measurable cross-platform commitments. Ensuring audience delivery from linear to CTV and complementary products like podcasts to make a quantifiable difference becomes a seller’s primary responsibility.

The critical inflection for TV in 2022 is relationship strategy. The networks that make it easy for advertisers to test new media and creative combinations and more accurately measure campaign effectiveness will gain a step during this season’s change. In the process, they will establish a new baseline for TV sales. ■

As more forms of television emerge, advertisers are looking to buy more video of all types, a new survey by Advertiser Perceptions finds.

According to Advertiser Perceptions’ latest Video Advertising Convergence Report, 50% of advertisers said that video was the most valuable media in terms of achieving their goals. 

TV, including linear, addressable, connected TV and over-the-top, was the most important form of video, cited by 47%, up from 36% in a similar survey two years ago. Digital video was cited by 46%, down from 53% in the earlier survey. 

Half of the advertisers surveyed said they plan to spend more on video advertising this year, with the average increase at 25%. (Overall ad budgets will go up to accommodate more video spending, according to 75% of those surveyed).

OTT streaming services will see spending increases from 40% of those surveyed, with the average increase coming in at 16%. Only 1% planned to decrease spending on OTT streaming services.

Also: Upfront Buyers Driven By Fear of Missing Out, Survey Finds

Virtual MVPDs will see an increase from 32% of those advertisers, 29% said they would increase spending on addressable linear TV and 27% plan to increase spending on data-driven linear TV.

When it comes to linear TV, 24% said they planned to increase spending, with just 12% saying they planned to cut spending. The increased spending on linear TV averages 19%, according to the survey.

“The rising video tide is lifting all boats, just not equally,” said John Bishop, VP/business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Streaming is attracting priority attention as the medium adds content and audiences, while linear TV continues to get the highest dollar volume. As streaming grows in forms and value, we can expect to see more innovation and advertiser investment.”

The increase in streaming has led more than half of advertisers to buy video ads programmatically in the past year. They expect to increase their activity this year.

Advertiser Perceptions interviewed 250 U.S. advertisers – 63% agencies, 37% marketers – in October 2021 for its latest Video Advertising Convergence Report. ■ 

During this year’s wild upfront, more advertisers were willing to pay higher prices than last year, contributing to a market that network ad sales executives have called the strongest in memory.

According to a survey by Advertiser Perceptions, 68% of advertisers said they were willing to pay higher prices to lock in video ad opportunities. That’s up 19 points from the more subdued and delayed 2020 upfront.

With rating points down and more viewers cutting the cord, quality inventory was likely to be scarce, creating a fear of missing out among buyers that led to a market that opened and closed quickly, with price increases that topped out in the 20% range on a cost-per-thousand viewers (CPM) basis.

Also: Most Brands Plan To Spend More on CTV: Advertiser Perceptions

“Let’s add another acronym into our advertising lexicon, Upfront FOMO,” said Erin Firneno, VP/business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Upfront spending rose and outpaced pre-pandemic levels as advertisers were willing to pay higher prices to ensure they would not get closed out of their preferred content. And that preferred content was streaming.”

Advertisers said they committed 54% of their total video budgets upfront this year and streaming connected TV got 37% of upfront spending.

The survey found that 37% of advertisers said CTV was their primary buy.

That turned out to be OK for the big media companies because 65% of advertisers said they prioritized providers that offer video across more channels.

Just 12% of respondents said they made decisions primarily based on the quality of individual programs, while 40% prioritized being able to invest in the broadest set of platforms and channels.

“As audiences redefine prime time and programming, the companies that showcase a wider portfolio at the upfronts have a decided edge,” said Firneno.

Because of the pandemic, upfront presentations have been conducted virtually the past two years. Disney Ad Sales has indicated that for 2022 it plans an in-person event and 84% of the advertisers surveyed said they plan to attend upfront and NewFront events in person. 

More advertisers (41%) said they were willing to attend multiple, themed events in 2022 than in last year’s survey (34%).

“CTV is altering the notion of a calendar,” said Firneno. “While advertisers are compelled to buy upfront to secure limited premium inventory, streaming programming does not follow the linear TV calendar. Advertisers may be better served with multiple events throughout the year.”

Advertiser Perceptions interviewed 307 marketer and agency executives who run national TV and digital video advertising in June for this report.

Connected TV is likely to stay hot according to a new survey that finds that 56% of advertisers plan to increase spending on CTV next year.

Advertiser Perceptions said that about 90% of video advertisers already run commercials in connected TV programming and that their average spending is about $33 million annually. 

“Advertisers are betting on CTV to solve fundamental marketplace challenges—from building reach in a fragmented market to offering addressability as other direct-to-consumer targeting options fade,” said Erin Firneno, VP of business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions.

In most cases, marketers are funding their spending in CTV by shifting money from their current digital video budget, while 47% said the money was coming from the general advertising budget and 34% said it was coming from the linear TV budget.

Also: 55 Million Homes Only Watch Connected TV: Magnite

While 70% of advertisers said they most commonly buy CTV ads from device manufacturers, they expect to buy more from ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) platforms over the next year. Currently 64% said they buy from AVOD platforms and 63% said they buy from virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs). 

Next year, 71% expect to buy from AVOD platforms, 70% see buying from device makers and 62% will buy from vMVPDs.

More than 90% of advertisers have bought CTV ads programmatically in the past year to get better pricing, ease of use and measurement.

Advertisers think of YouTV (and YouTube TV) and Hulu to be the leaders in the CTV market, along with Amazon and Roku, but they see value in mid-tier publishers as well.

In the survey, 58% of advertisers believe those mid-tier publishers are essential to keep CTV costs down and 64% think they can achieve their reach goals by bundling mid-tier options. Advertising with mid-tier publishers carries a great risk of brand safety or fraud, 60% of those served said.

“Advertisers want reach, but they won’t settle for it at any cost, especially when it comes to brand, environment and audience accountability," said Lauren Fisher, executive VP, business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. 

Addressable advertising is becoming a more important tactic to advertisers and media buyers, according to a survey conducted by Advertiser Perceptions for WarnerMedia Ad Sales.

In the study, 32% of those surveyed called addressable TV a must buy, up from 25% in a similar survey a year ago and 44% called addressable a complementary buy, up from 41%. 

Just 18% called addressable a discretionary buy, down from 24% and only 6% called it an experimental buy, down from 10%.

Addressable TV was called a reliable way to reach audiences by 85% of the advertisers and media buyers questioned, and 79% said they were satisfied with the results of their addressable TV campaigns.

The biggest benefit for addressable TV was the ability to deliver more relevant ads to consumers, cited by 46% of those polled. 

Connected TV offered a complimentary set of benefits, headed by incremental target audience reach at 40%.

The bottom line is a lot of advertisers said they planned to increase their spending on more targetable video, with 55% saying they expect to boost spending on CTV and 47% saying they’ll raise spending for addressable TV.

Data is a key component of addressable TV and nine in 10 advertisers said they’ve increase their investment in data and analytics over the last 12 months and will do so again in the upcoming year.

The survey found that 77% of those asked said they’ve experimented with a new ad channel in the next 12 months because of their investment in data and 75% say there investment in data have affected budget allocations across media type.

The study is based on 20 minute online surveys conducted in June with 200 brand and agency executives responsible for spending more than $1 million on TV, CTV or OTT.  

Advertisers plan to spend more ad dollars on a variety of advanced advertising and new media options over the next 12 months, according to a new report from AT&T’s Xandr advertising unit.

According to a survey conducted for Xandr by Advertiser Perceptions, 58% said they would increase spending on data-driven linear TV. 

The survey found 53% putting more ad dollars into over-the-top and connected TV, 50% planning to boost addressable linear TV spending and 45% increasing spending on other forms of digital video.

Just 28% said they plan more spending on traditional linear TV.

Also Read: Advertisers Mostly Dissatisfied With Media Measurement, Survey Finds

Employing less-traditional forms of video isn’t easy for many advertisers.

“It is the golden age of premium video content for viewers, and the height of complexity for advertising decision-makers and their partners,” said Xandr’s 2021 Relevance Report covering the State of Convergence and Advanced TV.

The report said that buyers look at data-driven linear as a way to make traditional TV, often representing their largest budget, more efficient, partially for top-of-the-funnel marketing.

Three of four advertisers believe data-driven linear gives them the very best of TV and digital advertising.

"Some of the reported barriers to adoption of data-driven linear—unclear benefits, confusion about how data-driven linear works—are easily mitigated by partnerships with experts,” the report said.

Nearly every advertiser in the study saw benefits to automating OTT buys. The biggest benefits were earlier campaign targeting and optimization and better pricing.

But only about half of OTT/CTV budgets are allocated to programmatic buys. Respondents cited building and growing direct relationships with publishers, and the less familiar process as key challenges to programmatic OTT/CTV. 

All 357 respondents had to be buyers actively working with over-the-top, connected TV or linear television.

While Nielsen has been in the headlines for its problems counting TV viewers, advertisers aren’t satisfied with the way all media are measured, according to a new survey from Advertiser Perceptions.

Only 50% of advertisers were satisfied with the way paid social and paid search are measured, and those were the media that fared best in the study. 

Just 42% of advertisers were satisfied with the way linear TV was measured. That was better than the 38% happy with the metrics for digital video, but not as good as the 47% who were satisfied with measurement of streaming TV, CTV and over-the-top video.

When you talk about linear TV, you’re talking about Nielsen, Stuart Schneiderman, senior VP/business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions told Broadcasting+Cable.

“It’s been a long-standing dissatisfaction,” Schneiderman said.

This year, Nielsen was found to have undercounted TV viewing during the pandemic and had the accreditation of its national rating service suspended by the Media Rating Council. The VAB, the trade group representing networks, and NBCUniversal in particular, are publicly looking for better ways to measure the new video ecosystem.

Advertisers have the most trust in their own first-party data and less trust in third-party data. When it comes to TV, 59% of advertisers said they use third party partner data, but only 48% believe it is accurate.

Also Read: Nielsen’s David Kenny Fights Back After Accreditation Loss

The satisfaction numbers for linear TV and Nielsen could go down more, Schneiderman said, partly because of the noise emanating from the MRC, and partly because the increase in streaming is increasing the pressure on measurement systems. 

Another reason for unhappiness about measuring is the increasing cost advertisers are paying. Reducing the cost was one of the main things advertisers would want to improve about measurement. 

Advertisers would also like companies to do a better job of monitoring potential fraud in digital media.

Advertisers also have complaints about what’s being measured, particularly when it comes to digital video. They’re getting metrics like completed views, audience delivery, engagement, reach and frequency, but they want sales lift and brand lift.

“TV advertisers are clearer on what they want, because there’s less fundamental change in the medium even with streaming alternatives growing,” Schneiderman said. “The irony of digital video is that advertisers want faster, greater ROI, but they can’t get it if they aren’t measuring what matters most to them.”

Advertiser Perceptions in April interviewed 205 advertisers involved in the evaluation and purchase of advertising measurement for this study.

With traditional linear TV viewing down, 42% of advertisers plan to increase spending on streaming, according to a study by Advertiser Perceptions.

Top executives will discuss over-the-top video, addressability and advanced targeting at the Advanced Advertising Summit, starting April 27 and part of the Future Spring TV 2021 week of virtual events. 

The average increase in spending on streaming was 15%, according to the study, which found that 36% of advertisers plan to invest more in virtual MVPDs and 25% will spend more on addressable linear TV. Just 19% are expected to spend more on linear TV.

“One of the most important narratives of 2020 was the mass adoption of streaming,” Justin Fromm, executive VP of business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions, said. “The more traditional TV brands expand in the streaming space, the more advertisers pick up on the signal.”

Advertiser Perceptions found that 48% of advertisers are buying OTT and connected TV programmatically.  The top benefits of buying programmatic OTT and CTV were the ability to target and add reach to campaigns.

“Reach is the primary headwind for those selling CTV/OTT inventory,” said Fromm. “While addressable campaigns are efficient, most brands have a hard time finding enough of their target audience in one place.”

Advertisers are planning to buy more connected TV and streaming video, and the biggest spenders are looking to offerings from established networks to reach cord-cutters and other over-the-top viewers, according to a new survey from Advertisers Perceptions.

The results suggest that traditional media companies will be selling more connected TV during the upfront, keeping some of those streaming ad dollars away from startups and digital natives.

Fox recently announced that its Tubi streaming service will be a part of its May upfront presentations. Hulu will be a part of the Walt Disney Co.’s presentation.  ViacomCBS owns Pluto and CBS All Access (which will become Paramount Plus in March), NBCU launched Peacock last year and Discovery has an ad-supported version of its new Discovery Plus.

“Big TV networks have really beefed up their CTV opportunities at the right time,” said Justin Fromm, executive VP for business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “They’re becoming safe harbors for the largest advertisers as fraud climbs in the medium. While the major Internet platforms will lead in volume of streaming ads, TV network safety is keeping them the gold standard in video as the platforms evolve.”

Also Read: Bad Audience Estimates Hurt Linear Television as Upfronts Approach

Advertiser Perceptions found that 52% of advertisers will increase their video spend over the next 12 months, with most of the rest keeping spending steady. 

Advertisers said that video was the most important media to them, with 51% saying linear TV the most valuable video platform, compared to 31% for social media and 15% picking video sites.

The bigger advertisers--with spending more than 25 million--were most likely to prefer linear TV to video sites or social media.

When it comes to online and digital video, about 80% of advertisers are concerned about fraud. As a result larger advertisers especially see relative safety  in TV networks CTV offshoots. Advertisers are demanding the assurances they get from linear TV when the buy digital video, insisting that ads run on reputable sites, run in brand-safe content and run within professional content.

Advertisers who buy TV upfront are concerned about measurement issues, with 58% saying that as they buy non-linear video, it becomes harder for them to know the reach, frequency and effectiveness of their overall video advertising campaigns.

This will play big at the 2021 upfront, Advertiser Perceptions said, with 75% of advertisers saying they are primed to hear how media companies will balance expanding reach with innovation in personalization and cross-screen measurement.

Advertiser Perceptions interviewed 284 advertisers in November and December for its Video Advertising Convergence Report. Another 300 advertisers were interviewed in January about the upfront.

Advertisers see connected TV as their top choice when it comes to shifting TV budgets, and CTV now represents 18% of spending, according to a new survey from The Trade Desk.

In a separate study, the Trade Desk found that 27% of households plan to cut the cord on their cable subscriptions in 2021.

The Trade Desk’s advertising study, conducted by Advertiser Perceptions, found that 59% of linear TV buyers said they were making fewer upfront commitments in 2021, with ad dollars moving from traditional TV programming to CTV.

At the same time, marketers are looking to hire people more familiar with CTV, including researchers and buyers. More than half of the companies participating in the survey said they plan to take steps to ensure their current TV ad buying teams can navigate both linear and CTV channels.

“The TV ad business is at a tipping point. Advertisers can reach more households via CTV than via traditional linear TV for the first time. That trend is not reversing,” said Tim Sims, chief revenue officer at The Trade Desk. “Digitally savvy advertisers recognize the advantages of CTV advertising, including precision measurement, an audience versus content focus, and the ability to apply data to all aspects of their TV campaigns. Many are embracing these opportunities, and that also means transforming some of the industry norms, including how we think about skills and ad-buying processes such as the upfronts.”  

In the Trade Desk’s cord-cutting study, conducted by YouGov, the 27% of respondents who said they plan to get rid of cable compares to 15% a year ago. 

The survey found that streaming now accounts for 68% of TV viewing versus 28% for traditional TV. 

Only30% of U.S. consumers pointed to live sports as a reason to keep cable, down from 60% a year ago who cited live programming, including sports, as the motivation for staying a subscriber.

The availability of ad supported streaming services is cutting into consumer tolerance for paying for subscription video. According to the study, 51% of U.S. consumers are unwilling to spend more than $20 a month total on streaming subscriptions. They are five time more likely to prefer free or low-cost streaming with ads over higher-priced ad-free services.

“COVID has accelerated cord-cutting trends that were already underway, to a point where less than 50% of U.S. households today have a cable subscription. It’s not because U.S. consumers have fallen out of love with TV, but that there are now more convenient ways of consuming it. That even applies to traditional cable mainstays, such as live sports,” said Sims. “As more broadcasters launch and expand their streaming services, these gaps are only going to widen.”

The Trade Desk’s YouGov study had a sample size of 2,105 adults and was conducted between Dec. 4 and Dec. 8.

Advertiser Perceptions’ study had 150 TV advertising planning and buying decision makers with an annual ad budget of more $5 million an up answering online survey from Nov. 18 to Nov. 30.

When ad campaigns fall short of meeting goals, advertisers say they’re more likely to penalize media companies than try different forms of measurement, according to a new survey by Advertiser Perceptions.

The results mean that it’s in the interest of media companies to push for new, more accurate systems at a time when their clients want to measure sales and brand lift, but tend to settle for guarantees on reach and frequency, audience delivery and completed views. 

In the survey 58% of advertisers said they reduce their investment with a media partner when a campaign fails to meet its objectives, 55% said they ask for make goods, 44% said they stop advertising with that vendor and 41% said they negotiate a lower rate.

Just 34% said they try new measurement solutions when campaigns fall short.

While those rules apply to most forms of video ads, Google and Facebook get to play by different rules. In the survey, 86% of advertisers said they require or request a pre-approved measurement tool before including a media outlet in a campaign. 36% said they don’t require that from Google and even fewer demand that from Facebook, YouTube or Amazon.

Advertisers expect measuring and optimizing campaigns to become even more difficult as cookies go away as a way of identifying consumers, the survey found.

“Advertising clearly needs a reset on measurement, but a lot of bold talk isn’t translating to transformative actions,” said Lauren Fisher, VP for business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “The real change can only happen when advertisers revamp their organizational incentives to reward people for driving brand and sales lift.”

In the survey 200 people involved in making advertising decisions were interviewed from July 6 to July 14. 

A new study by Advertiser Perceptions found that half of the marketers and media buyers surveyed are taking evasive action because of unprecedented levels of political ad clutter as Election Day approaches.

Of 300 advertisers surveyed, 52% said they have altered fall media buys because of political commercials. Advertisers Perceptions found that 33% have held back ads to avoid the rush of political ads and 18% have added frequency buys to try to cut through candidate clutter.

Advertisers expect Fox and CNN to have the most political advertisers this fall.

Advertiser Perception found that advertisers’ persona dissatisfaction with political advertising might be affecting ad spending decisions. In the study, 80% said they believe the media should fact-check political ads and 60% said they would opt out of receiving political advertising.

The survey found that 66% of marketers and 59% of agency execs expected Joe Biden to win the presidential election.

The survey was taken in September. Of the 300 respondents, 40% were marketers and 60% from agencies.

In an unusual market influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, 60% of advertisers said they bought less advertising in this year's upfront than last year, but gained flexibility from the networks by being able to secure options to expand their buys during the season at upfront prices, according to a new survey by Advertiser Perceptions.

While there was some talk about either changing the timing of this year’s upfronts or getting rid of them altogether, the advertisers and media buyers in Advertiser Perceptions said they found the traditional commercial bazaar still useful in some form.

Related: Networks Declare Victory in Unusual Upfront

About two-thirds of advertisers said they believe TV needs an organized marketplace like the upfront where they can negotiate high-volume deals. The main reasons they participate in the upfront are access to preferred rates and unique program offerings.

The advertisers were split around when the upfront should be held next year. One third favored a calendar year upfront, where annual buys start Jan. 1, 30% want multiple theme events throughout the year and 28% want the traditional spring upfront with the advertising year starting in October.

Only 7% said they wanted the upfront canceled altogether.

Because of the pandemic, the networks were forced to cancel the in-person presentations usually held in venues like Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall. The networks instead held virtual events, and 75% of attendees found those online events “as effective or better than in-person events.”

The timing of the upfront market was not the most important issue to advertisers. Outcomes measurement was the top concern for 57% of those surveyed, 52% prioritized more accurate audience estimates and 50% want more transparency in measurement. Just 22% said they were concerned about upfront timing.

“The real issue around the Upfront is measurement and transparency, which is at a critical crossroads for the TV business,” said Andy Sippel, executive VP at Advertiser Perceptions. “Digital media are accustoming advertisers to more granular measurement of audience and potential impact. Advertisers want more of this from TV, and they’re more concerned with the terms of the deal than the timing of the negotiation."

The upfronts are about TV, but digital advertising is eclipsing TV in both spending and influence. Nearly 60% of advertisers say that digital and mobile video are now more important to their advertising success than TV in any form, including linear, streaming and connected.

“Although people are spending more time with more kinds of video across channels, the content that advertisers most want to put their brands in remains a scarce opportunity,” said Justin Fromm, executive VP business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “The content that can attract a brand’s priority audience consistently is hard to make, and not everyone can do it well. Advertisers will continue to line up for it in upfront marketplaces.”

Advertiser Perceptions interviewed 301 advertisers – 150 marketer and 151 agency executives – in July 2020 for its 2020 Upfront Report.

Because of the disruption to business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, advertisers plan to put more money into digital ads and decrease spending on TV during the upcoming holiday season, according to Advertiser Perceptions.

Advertiser Perceptions has been doing bi-weekly surveys of advertisers and media buyers since the start of the coronavirus crisis and will sum up its findings at a webinar Thursday.

Reducing spending during the traditionally strong back-to-school, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays will be tough on the TV industry. 

During the crisis, advertisers have put a premium on flexibility in media, from canceling or pausing to reallocating buys and replacing creative. As a result, Advertiser Perceptions says the outlook is brightest for paid search, e-commerce, digital video and paid social media – channels that support real-time changes.

“The pressure on flexibility will only grow, so how quickly media can shift dollars to other parts of their portfolios is survival stakes,” said Lauren Fisher, VP, business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Salespeople have to become fully conversant across all areas of business, so they can educate buyers fully on adjusting the mix and facilitate the reallocation of impressions.”

Streaming will keep growing, according to the survey, which found that 43% of advertisers have beefed up their spending on connected TV and over-the-top ads during the crisis. Among those responding to the survey 80% have increased their personal use of streaming services.

Another story emerging from the crisis is the disruption of commercial production, which has made big-budget, high production value spots almost non-existent. At the same time, advertisers have had to be nimble in tuning their creative messages to fit what consumers want and what services marketers are able to provide, such as curb side pick up.

Only 22% of those surveyed expect to return to producing opulent commercials, while another 31% aren’t sure.

Starting in August, Advertiser Perceptions will be doing regular monthly surveys of advertisers and media buyers that will focus on spending plays by medium.

Though advertisers are becoming more optimistic, they expect to spend 12% less in the third quarter and 7.5% less in the fourth quarter, according to the latest in a series of studies by Advertiser Perceptions.

According to Advertiser Perceptions’ sixth bi-weekly survey, the share of advertisers saying they’re decreasing ad spending drops from 72% in the second quarter when the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt, to 52% in the third quarter and 40% in the fourth quarter.

At the same time, those increasing spending rises from 9% in the second quarter to 16% in the third quarter and 23% in the fourth quarter.

As they start to loosen their marketing wallets, 87% of advertisers said they are looking for greater flexibility in media contracts. That vast majority--70%--expect to keep their budget with the same media companies they worked with before the pandemic, but in such an uncertain business environment they want to move much faster in terms of activation, cancellation and allocation of commitments. The average media planning time has fallen to 2.3 months from 4.2 months, according to the report. 

“Perhaps the greatest impact of COVID-19 on media is the way it will be bought and sold,” said Lauren Fisher, VP, business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Everyone now operates in a faster-moving marketplace, and that means two things. First, advertisers need more insights into changing consumer appetites and connection opportunities. Second, they need the ability to change plans and buys more often.

In addition to flexibility, advertisers are looking for insights from media vendors. In the survey, 61% of advertisers said the want insights into how COVID-19 is affecting the advertising landscapes. They are also seeking input from media companies on strategy and KPIs in addition to opportunities to connect with consumers. 

Advertisers also said they will be emphasizing regional marketing because of the uneven way businesses and other activities are restarting state by state. As a result, they will be even more reliant on digital media, particularly social media, display, search and digital video.

“Moving forward, all signs point to increased spending on CTV/OTT and eCommerce, emphasizing more integrated, holistic programs,” said Fisher. “As the economy reopens and recloses at various speeds and to different extents across the country, the right message at the right time becomes even more important. Media that answer these critical questions will gain in engagement, spending and trust.”

For the survey, Advertiser Perceptions interviewed 150 advertisers from its AdPros proprietary community between June 10 and June 15. All of those participating are involved in media selection decisions, with 35% working at marketers and 65% at agencies.

Marketers are getting ready to “restart” their advertising activity in the third-quarter after being disrupted by COVID-19, according to the latest study by Advertiser Perceptions.

Advertiser Perceptions has been running surveys of marketers and media buyers since the start of the pandemic. In the latest wave more than half of the advertisers responding said they plan to ramp up spending in the third quarter, with 28% accelerating spending before the end of June.

The study found that 90% of advertisers that planned to launch new products and services in 2020 will introduce them in the second half. About 48% of launches had been postponed while 41% were previously scheduled to launch in the second half of the year.

Advertisers Perceptions said that markets are looking at this period as a restart, rather than a rebound, and plan to use new messaging, tactics and media partners to achieve their goals in what has become a new consumer landscape.

“The second half of 2020 will be a more dynamic advertising market than we’ve seen in many years,” said Justin Fromm, executive VP, business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Advertisers are restarting in a crowded space with lots of moving parts – product launches, an election, and competitors trying to make up for lost time. They’re prepared to explore alternatives to tent-pole media they had originally planned, and they need help balancing the nuances of timing and pricing that regional differences present.”

Even with live events resuming, there’s a new willingness to explore alternatives, the survey found. More than half of advertisers had planned to advertise in postponed live programming, and 75% of them are open to “acceptable substitutes," including video in entertainment, lifestyle and gaming content.

Advertisers are redefining “brand safe,” with many avoiding media that features user comments.

State-by-state differences in reopening the economy are making it difficult for 68% of advertisers to plan national campaigns.

“This presents a great opportunity for media with broad reach and targeted, digital platforms,” said Fromm. “TV and cable have lots of regional, audience-based messaging opportunities, and social has become an important reach and performance medium. Now’s the time to bring them together in a thoughtful way, to help advertisers ensure regional relevance.”

Advertisers said they expect media companies to be flexible in allowing them to pause and shift spending as needed, and they are setting the bar higher in terms of performance. Many advertisers in the survey said they moved money from brand-building media channels to performance-based channels.

“Advertisers need to keep their eyes on longer-term goals like revenue and lifetime consumer value, not just plunge into performance media. That’s a recipe for fraud and consumer burnout, both of which damage brand relationships,” said Lauren Fisher, VP, business intelligence, at Advertiser Perceptions.

“The advertisers that come out of this in the best shape will get the most out of media while hitting their larger company goals,” said Fisher. “Media play a key role here. Sellers need to help advertisers continually refine their audience targets and reset their performance metrics.”

Marketers are getting ready to “restart” their advertising activity in the third-quarter after being disrupted by COVID-19, according to the latest study by Advertiser Perceptions.

Advertiser Perceptions has been running surveys of marketers and media buyers since the start of the pandemic. In the latest wave more than half of the advertisers responding said they plan to ramp up spending in the third quarter, with 28% accelerating spending before the end of June.

The study found that 90% of advertisers that planned to launch new products and services in 2020 will introduce them in the second half. About 48% of launches had been postponed while 41% were previously scheduled to launch in the second half of the year.

Advertisers Perceptions said that markets are looking at this period as a restart, rather than a rebound, and plan to use new messaging, tactics and media partners to achieve their goals in what has become a new consumer landscape.

“The second half of 2020 will be a more dynamic advertising market than we’ve seen in many years,” said Justin Fromm, executive VP, business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Advertisers are restarting in a crowded space with lots of moving parts – product launches, an election, and competitors trying to make up for lost time. They’re prepared to explore alternatives to tent-pole media they had originally planned, and they need help balancing the nuances of timing and pricing that regional differences present.”

Even with live events resuming, there’s a new willingness to explore alternatives, the survey found. More than half of advertisers had planned to advertise in postponed live programming, and 75% of them are open to “acceptable substitutes," including video in entertainment, lifestyle and gaming content. 

Advertisers are redefining “brand safe,” with many avoiding media that features user comments.

State-by-state differences in reopening the economy are making it difficult for 68% of advertisers to plan national campaigns. 

“This presents a great opportunity for media with broad reach and targeted, digital platforms,” said Fromm. “TV and cable have lots of regional, audience-based messaging opportunities, and social has become an important reach and performance medium. Now’s the time to bring them together in a thoughtful way, to help advertisers ensure regional relevance.” 

Advertisers say they expect media companies to be flexible in allowing them to pause and shift spending as needed, and they are setting the bar higher in terms of performance. Many advertisers in the survey said they moved money from brand-building media channels to performance-based channels.

“Advertisers need to keep their eyes on longer-term goals like revenue and lifetime consumer value, not just plunge into performance media. That’s a recipe for fraud and consumer burnout, both of which damage brand relationships,” said Lauren Fisher, VP, business intelligence, at Advertiser Perceptions.

“The advertisers that come out of this in the best shape will get the most out of media while hitting their larger company goals,” said Fisher. “Media play a key role here. Sellers need to help advertisers continually refine their audience targets and reset their performance metrics.”

Advertisers say they expect to spend 33% less on upfront television buys in 2020 compared to last year, according to a new study by Advertiser Perceptions.

Advertiser Perceptions has been conducting surveys of advertisers and media buyers every two weeks to gauge their ongoing reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic uncertainty.

The advertisers polled said the networks should not expect them to commit to more than 90 days’ worth of TV inventory during this year’s upfront. Advertisers usually commit to a full-year’s worth of advertising during the upfront.

Concerns about the upfront comes after media companies reported a drop in ad revenues in March and forecasts of ad spending declines of 20% to 30% in the second quarter.

The upfront changes could be long-lasting, with 41% of respondents saying that networks will be forced to abandon the upfront model altogether in favor of a more just-in-time buying model.

According to the survey 50% of the buyers and advertisers said they can replace the reach of linear TV with over-the-top and connected TV and other digital video ads.

“The upfront strikes at the heart of the uncertainty advertisers are struggling with,” said Justin Fromm, executive VP for business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “They can’t commit long-term but they can’t afford to get caught flat-footed in a tight scatter market, either.”

Advertisers might not have adjusted their 2020-21 TV budgets yet, but they expect to spend more in scatter this season, despite the pricing risk, Fromm said. Many advertisers plan to negotiate their fourth quarter buys this summer, then continue conversations into the fall for Q1.

“This is not an economic downturn as usual. This is because we’re at the virus’ beck and call in terms of when this lets up. There’s not a road map for this,” he said.

One advertiser quoted in the survey said “we don’t want to be the advertiser left behind if we hedge our bets and don’t do a big upfront.” Should it turn out that business is normal in October, his company would have to buy in the scatter market and pay massive price increases, the advertiser said.

In the new survey, advertisers said they were concerned about whether TV viewing will shrink as businesses open and people leave their homes, how the availability of content will affect viewing in primetime and other dayparts and how to reallocate sports dollars if games aren’t played.

The advertisers are also looking for guarantees among the uncertainty, given that it will be harder to produce reliable audience estimates.

Flexibility is a watchword for advertisers. While typically, flexibility has meant the ability to take options and pull back spending commitments, Fromm said there is more to it than that.

“It's really about being creative in this new era, helping advertisers understand what the right creative messaging is, helping them find new ways to create new creative because production is shut down, helping advertisers who can't open find new ways to message,” Fromm said. “All of these things are things that the networks can bring to their partners to encourage spend.”

The Advertiser Perceptions Report is based on 151 interviews conducted between May 1 and May 5. The respondents were 34% marketers and 66% agency staffers. All of them are involved in media decisions. The study also included 18 in-depth interviews with agency and marketer executives.

Advertisers, reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic, see the third-quarter as a potential turning point towards a recovery in spending, according to a new study by Advertiser Perceptions.

Advertiser Perceptions has been surveying media buyers and marketers every two weeks since the start of the Coronavirus crisis.

In its new study, 26% of advertisers expect to be spending more again by June 30 and 52% said they will resume or ramp up this summer. The breakdown for when increases in spending might start was 18% in July, 15% in August and 19% in September. Just 5% said they plan to wait till the beginning of 2021.

In the meantime the current situation is more dire than in previous reports.

The new survey found that 50% of advertisers said they have cancelled a campaign before it launched, up 14% from two weeks ago, 73% of advertisers said the have held back a campaign launch, up 17% and 42% said they have paused all new advertising until later in the year, up 20%.

At the same time, 28% of advertisers said they have launched a previously unscheduled campaign, up 17% and 59% said they have shifted their spending among media type, up 20%.

Advertisers have also cut their planning cycles and are willing to commit to media spending only three month in the future. Strategies for long-term marketing, including back-to-school and the holiday season, are up in the air. Broadcast and cable TV are among the media for which advertisers have cut their planning cycles the most.

The short-term planning mentality might impact the upfront market. Andy Sippel, executive VP, media at Advertisers Perception said that different advertisers will enter negotiations on their own timetables. Some advertisers might take a risk and get access to inventory in prime programming they would not have had access to in more normal years, he said.

According to the study 69% of advertisers now are citing the economy as a factor in their media decisions, up from 53% and 43% said they will resume paused or canceled advertising after revenues have stabilized for a quarter, up from 27%.

About half of the advertisers surveyed said they’re not sure about how to communicate with consumers during the crisis and 74% said contextual relevance is more important now than before the pandemic.

“Advertisers know they need more empathetic ads, but many aren’t sure about the message or lack creative,” said Justin Fromm, executive VP, business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions.

“Media brands with deep audience intelligence can inform strategy and even produce creative tailored to their content.,” Fromm said. “In the meantime, sellers need to key on contextual relevance and ad performance. Pinpoint where a brand’s consumers are within the audiences for specific content, and show how ads perform for similar brands in consideration and action terms, most notably traffic and sales.”

Advertiser Perceptions surveyed 151 advertisers from April 16-20 for Wave 3 of its Coronavirus report. Respondents were 36% marketers, 64% agency executives, all part of the company’s Ad Pros proprietary community.

As the Coronavirus crisis deepened more advertisers have canceled campaigns or held back media spending, according to a new report by Advertiser Perceptions.

Advertisers Perceptions, which is doing surveys every two weeks to gauge how brands are reacting to the situation, said that in its latest survey, 44% of respondents aid they canceled a campaign before it launched, up 31% from the earlier survey.

It also found that 64% have held back media spending, up 31%.

At the same time, 24% of advertisers said they have launched a new campaign to respond to the crisis.

Advertisers said the COVID-19 situation would have a longer, deeper, impact than in the earlier survey, with its effects reaching into the first quarter of 2021. Nearly three-quarter (72%) said they expected to spend less on advertising in 2021.

A big issue for advertisers is the availability of content to advertise in and their ability to produce appropriate messages because of social distancing.

In the past two weeks, 68% of advertisers said they have increased the amount of ad dollars they’re allocating to lifestyle content, while just 26% increased allocation to sports, down 20%.

Despite live sports being canceled 72% of advertisers said they are keeping media budgets with the same media brands. They said that was because media companies have been tremendously flexible in rescheduling campaigns and helping to come up with ways to make up for lost viewership. In the survey, 82% of advertisers praised media for being good, flexible partners.

“The crisis creates a fundamental opportunity for media brands,” said Justin Fromm, executive VP business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Advertisers need to make changes that aren’t seen as self-serving, so the attention and expertise of reps is paramount. That reopens the door to consultative selling – from what matters to media audiences to more relevant content and activation.”

Advertisers are prioritizing media they use to build brands and the ones that perform the best. brand building. For new campaigns they’re using social media, digital video, cable, and OTT/CTV. Brands that reallocating existing budgets are favoring broadcast TV, ecommerce and search.

“It’s hard to tell a brand story in many performance channels, and advertisers often lack pre-made assets appropriate for different channels, so we’re seeing a bifurcation in media,” said Fromm. “On one hand, finance demands performance, so advertisers are moving money into social and search. On the other hand, advertisers need to resonate, so they’re also focusing on brand and purpose messaging appropriate for the moment and allocating to digital video, linear cable and OTT.”

Advertiser Perceptions surveyed 152 advertisers from April 1 to April 4 for the second wave of its Coronavirus report, with 36% of the respondents working for marketers and 64% agency executives.