MEDIA SCENE
Are Traditional Media Terminologies Still Relevant To Campaign Placements ?
By Susan Atieno
Are Traditional Media Terminologies like GRP ’ s , CGRPs , and Reach Curves still relevant to campaign placements ?
The media buying landscape has evolved over the years . Today there are numerous outlets to place adverts and communication campaigns thanks to digital evolution . Social media marketing , digital placements , innovations in the OOH space , digital migration , influencer marketing among others have made it very challenging for clients and media agencies to allocate budgets while still expecting to get ROI .
Social media and influencer marketing have been gaining in the recent past with increased budgets especially after the pandemic . Kantar TNS in their article , Global Media trends prediction 2022 , states that ’… Indeed , our research charts a significant increase in spend towards performance media channels , with online video (+ 71 %), influencer content (+ 64 %) and social news feed ads (+ 63 %) benefitting the most ’… the article continues thus ‘… Google and Facebook generated $ 70bn in revenue through online advertising in Q1 …’
This only shows that the trend will grow even more in 2022 thanks to the client ’ s need to constantly measure campaigns , receive instant feedback , interact with consumers , create multiple , diverse and flexibility of content creation offered by these platforms .
As much as this is the ongoing trend and we all have to admit that they come with their challenge ( which is a topic for another time ) this article aims to scrutinize the effectiveness of the traditional ways of media buying and their measurements . Do they still work , are they still relevant , if so , to what extent ?
TV and Radio stations are still in business today , especially the mainstream channels that have differentiated themselves in terms of content , talent and programming . In essence , you will agree with me that they are still relevant owing to the fact that advertising is their main source of revenue . Royal Media Services for example has just launched their newest baby - Ramogi TV and one might be left wondering if there is need especially with the fragmentation already faced on the TV scene .
“ The challenge faced by buyers and clients is the lack of instant feedback , interaction and conversions that are not ‘ guaranteed ’ when one runs a TV campaign . As much as aspects like awareness and reach are a no brainer , these are however not sufficient , brands are demanding more from TV and lack thereof leads to reallocation of budgets to other platforms .”
Television , just like any other medium is also evolving . After digital migration in 2015 , we saw a rise in FTA channels both nationally and regionally with content creators having more opportunities to own Set Top Boxes or frequencies to showcase their work . In fact , according to the last KARF report of February 2020 we have over 483 + TV stations and over 360 + radio stations and still growing ! We actually have more TV stations than radio stations ! Intriguing right ?
The one advantage that Television has over all the other media channels especially digital is that it is a mass media channel . It has the ability to reach a huge number of people in a short period as compared to all the other media . For any national , mass campaigns , television is the way to go . Remember it also has the audio-visual aspect which is a very powerful connection to the viewers .
However , the challenge faced by buyers and clients is the lack of instant feedback , interaction and conversions that are not ‘ guaranteed ’ when one runs a TV campaign . As much as aspects like awareness and reach are a no brainer , these are however not sufficient , brands are demanding more from TV and lack thereof leads to re-allocation of budgets to other platforms .
This is where we need to go back to the basics of traditional TV advertising and media terminologies if we want to be successful in this space . FMCGs like diaper brands , personal care brands , food and beverages MUST always have TV campaigns due to the mass market reach Target . Most of these brands are
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