Taming the Digital Beast
Sitting down at the end of a hard day’s work and watching TV has never been so darn complicated! Who said you could never have too much choice?
What used to be a relatively simple process, has now exploded into a multitude of choice. With Seven, Nine and Ten peddling their digital-wares alongside the ABC and SBS, not to mention the plethora of Pay TV options, Channel Surfing has become something of an endurance test and TV Advertising has morphed into a new, and somewhat confusing beast.
In days gone by, agencies would cast a cursory glance at the ratings and make a bee-line for a decent TARP in the primary channel’s primetime. But now we must pay more attention. The key word here, the one we need to tattoo on our confused little foreheads, is ‘Targeting’.
‘Yes’ there are a lot more channels for a prospect to choose from. But if you have clearly identified your target demographics as, for example; female Stay-at-Home-Mums aged between 25-54. We can begin to make new and informed decisions across all the channels and book campaigns accordingly. People’s viewing habits may broaden, but they’re still ‘habits’. We all like a routine, even when it comes to watching telly. TV schedules (albeit bigger ones) will become familiar. People will find the programs they’re looking for and start tuning in on a regular basis, and inevitably Programmers will find their rhythm and the TV Networks will start price-tagging accordingly!
The Analogue door is not due to close until 2013, so the Digital Roll Out is essentially still a work in progress. We are all still learning. WA Ratings that incorporate the additional digital channels are only just being collated (and effectively analysed) and the TV Networks are still trying to fully mould their newborn channels, vying for a ‘sweet spot’ on the prospect’s remote control. This Digital Beast is being very closely monitored by Marketing and Media Types across the state. It is being studied and scrutinized like never before. Prodded and poked, examined and analysed so that the overwhelming choices we are presented with no longer overwhelm, but excite and inform the viewer. Admittedly we are all currently traversing a bit of a TV learning curve in Regional WA, but the journey is well and truly underway and it’s proving to be one hell of a lucrative ride!
Which means that, expert advice has never been more essential when it comes to running effective, well targeted television advertising. Now is NOT the time to pick your advertising package out of a hat; just because it’s cheap, has shed-loads of bonuses and includes a free lunch. You need a professional who can target and tame that digital beast, bend it to your business’s will…and who knows, even train it to balance a proverbial biscuit on the end of its pointy, digital nose!