Peter Field: Marketers' Lack of Investment in TV Advertising Hinders Success

Television advertising has always been recognized for its impact. Despite this, it is undervalued compared to its digital equivalents in terms of what it can offer to businesses, according to effectiveness expert Peter Field, who stated that marketers are “too disinvested” in the medium.

According to Kantar, only 6% of marketers say they plan to increase their TV spend in 2024. This comes as TV dropped from being the third preferred media channel for marketers in 2022 to 12th, according to the Media Reactions 2023 report.

At the Future of TV Advertising 2023 event on December 6th, Field, co-author of the acclaimed ‘Long and Short of It’, mentioned that System1 data indicates YouTube’s unskippable video ads are nearly as effective as television ads in capturing viewer attention. According to System1 statistics, meaningful attention is only achieved after a viewer has watched a video ad for 2.5 seconds – a duration that both TV ads and some of YouTube’s formats can easily accomplish.

While YouTube’s ads meet this "baseline threshold", Field contends that the benefits of generating 10 seconds of attention are substantial, and television is the medium where this time period is most easily achievable. Citing research from dentsu and Lumen, Field emphasizes that television is particularly effective in capturing attention and mental availability.

Non-skippable YouTube ads capture an average of 5.2 seconds of attention, while a 15-second TV ad gets 7.5 seconds of active attention. Thirty-second TV ads achieve an average of 13.8 active attention seconds, which is the highest across all the measured media. In comparison, an Instagram story only reaches an average of 1.7 attention seconds.

This is attributed to the unique strengths of TV advertising that are challenging for other channels to replicate. The immersive and information-rich environment of social platforms, despite increasing ad spend, does not encourage long-term attention from users. In contrast, TV often commands the undivided attention of its viewers.

Field pointed out that statistics from Thinkbox reveal that television is considered one of the most trustworthy sources of accurate information among audiences. Ofcom also supported this claim by finding that younger audiences trust news on broadcast channels more than other forms of media. Field believes that this is important because consumers now base their perceptions of a brand's quality on their trustworthiness. Advertising on television has a positive effect on brands due to the audience's perception and trust in TV as a whole. He emphasized that it would be a questionable decision for any marketer, even when targeting a young demographic, to disregard television as a valuable advertising platform.

Reach versus effectiveness

Furthermore, Field examined the effectiveness of TV advertising compared to digital video for a highly sought-after audience demographic. Many social media platforms boast a youthful user base, which is a key demographic that advertisers are eager to target through video advertisements on social channels.

On the other hand, Field referenced Thinkbox data showing that young audiences (16-34 year olds) are highly engaged with television advertising, accounting for approximately 70% of video advertising attention in that demographic. He questioned the logic of any marketer abandoning such a powerful medium. Field also recognized that brands emphasizing performance marketing over brand building may have different advertising goals. However, he emphasized that TV remains incredibly effective for achieving objectives, much to the chagrin of those in performance marketing.

He also referenced famed investor Warren Buffett, who stated that pricing power is the primary driver of a business's success. According to Field, TV has a significant impact on price elasticity, and "very smart" businesses prioritize driving incremental volume and incremental margin, which TV's effectiveness in impacting price elasticity can contribute to. Based on this, he argued that we are currently not investing enough in TV advertising.

Field's argument revolves around the undervaluation of TV advertising, especially when compared to social channels. While social platforms tout vast reach and targeting options for brands that advertise on them, Field cautioned that pursuing cheap impressions across digital channels can be very dangerous. He backed this claim by referring to the dentsu and Lumen data.

Barb data for the period of January to August 2023 reveals that commercial TV reaches an average of 78% of the UK population weekly, totaling approximately 42 million viewers. This equates to around 10 million people reached through linear TV alone for every £100,000 spent. Field contends that marketers should consider the level of active attention and trust halo effect when evaluating social impressions, stating that based on these criteria, TV appears to be a cost-effective option.