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DTV’s Peter Muffett and media man Marcus Lewis discuss what’s happening in the Australian media landscape.
How to deal with audience fragmentation PM: Let’s begin with challenges, which we know are often opportunities in disguise. What are the main challenges for fundraisers in the current media market? ML: In two words the main challenge is audience fragmentation. But I’m guessing you want a bit more than that! Let’s say you’re used to doing TV brand advertising, so awareness campaigns, which would normally be in peak evening slots. The opportunities to reach such large audiences at one time are diminishing year on year. It’s just
no longer viable to push a heavy TV-led spend and get the same levels of impact and traction campaign after campaign. It doesn’t really matter what kind of communications and fundraising you are doing. It may be a straightforward appeal. Or it could be a mass participation event. No matter what it is, you need to work really smartly with your media spend to maintain your impact and return on investment. PM: The difficulty reaching people is often because they are not consuming
Finding it hard to see how drtv can work for you?
targetable media. But that’s not the case here, right? ML: Absolutely right. The great news is that Australians are not reducing their media consumption, it’s just more diverse. Australians have never read more articles or watched more content. But the way they choose to do so now and the environment in which they do so means that fundraisers need to be more savvy and innovative to make their budgets work harder and get their messages across. It’s the kind of challenge we like!
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PM: I have a particular interest in direct response TV, which can be off-peak, daytime scheduling. Should I be worried about fragmentation there? ML: I’m sure that most fundraisers would label their core audience as 45 plus and it’s true to say this demographic is still watching daytime TV in traditional ways. That’s useful for you as it means today they are still relatively easy to find. So, no, don’t worry, or maybe don’t worry yet! PM: When should I start worrying? ML: Not surprisingly, reaching a younger audience will become harder each year. As the traditional donor demographic ages, daytime ratings will decline. That’s not an immediate challenge if you have a traditional audience with a traditional fundraising proposition. Where media planning needs to be much more flexible and fleet of foot is with newer fundraising products or propositions that may have down-age participants – I mean under45s. For example, challenge events and other mass participation fundraising events. While these don’t appeal exclusively to under-45s, many do have a younger participant profile. But your proven approach to daytime DRTV fundraising is still very much alive and kicking. In the future, it looks likely to become costlier to read certain audiences, but that will evolve over time. PM: Can you expand on where this under-45 audience is heading? Presumably they are watching new forms of TV, such as streaming and on-demand? ML: Right. In fact already almost a quarter of households view some content through a streaming service and 10.3% of broadcast TV is watched on a catch-up TV service. Those percentages are only going to grow. We saw a 7% fall in metro TV audiences in 2017. And the top rating programs in 2017 vs prior years showed a general decline. Only live sport programs really buck the trend. With smart TV penetrations at around 37%, and 24% of households having a subscription to a streaming service such as Stan or Netflix, you can see an audience shift underway. Now, you could argue that diverting traditional TV budget into digital formats is the obvious choice. But it’s not necessarily
that simple. Moving budget to digital content services may mean you improve the reach of your campaign (ie more people see it). But as we know from awareness campaigns, reaching a mass audience will not necessarily mean you generate mass engagement. PM: I really hope you’re going to tell me that the message matters here! ML: Nice prompt. Of course, fundraising always has been and always will be about telling stories, creating empathy, and ensuring there is a strong enough need to inspire people to give. People obviously love to make a difference. TV is great here – people trust TV, and it’s a dramatic, emotive and responsive medium. Honestly, I think the jury is out on how fundraising messaging will work for streaming and catch-up services. It seems common sense that a TV appeal seen by a 45 plus mum on daytime TV may be received differently than the same message watched by an individual with insomnia on a mobile phone at 3am (that’s not me, honestly). We do need to embrace these new channels, and new opportunities, but in a way that is targeted, bought effectively, and where return on investment is scrutinised every bit as closely as it is for established TV fundraising. PM: This talk of ROI and measurement is putting a smile on my face. Can we dig a little into data issues? ML: I think we’ve only got two pages for this article! OK, let me try. Essentially, more than ever we need campaigns that have granular data at their heart. As media consumption and planning and buying all become more granular, so too must our analysis. Going beyond that, let me look briefly at three areas: measurement, smarter trading, and targeting. First, measurement. For many appeal campaigns the core measurement can be ‘we spent X and we got X back = success or failure’. But that can only be a start. It’s too broad a level. We need to delve much deeper to measure how individual channels contribute and improve the efficiency of our appeals and events, and make budgets work harder. Secondly, programmatic trading. Buying a specific audience is no longer restricted to just digital channels – Foxtel, Channel Ten and
in 2018 Channel Nine. Fundraisers can now buy guaranteed audiences from most TV channels and cut down on the wastage. Thirdly, there’s potential to refine targeting with semi-addressable and addressable TV. We’re looking a little further into the future for live broadcast TV. But it already exists for streaming. Addressable TV takes data from several sources, for example Foxtel, anonymised bank transactions and shopping data such as Flybuys or Woolworths Rewards, in order to understand who is in a household and their purchasing habits. Using that data, broadcasters can serve specifically targeted ads. This is likely to be something we see on the Foxtel platform first, or a similar service. An example would be during one TV spot during the news to play a legacy appeal to households who are over 65 but at the same time play an RSPCA appeal into households with pets. This is addressable TV really at its most simplistic level. It will become refined over time but even in its first inception will vastly improve targeting and efficiency. PM: So great for targeting and for refined messaging. The good thing is, I’m still not worried! ML: Don’t be. As you said at the outset, one can see all these changes as a challenge or an opportunity. The huge risk is simply to put one’s head in the sand and pretend nothing is changing. There are plenty of new opportunities, and we’ll need to test them robustly. Then we’ll know where to focus to raise the most money to do the most good.
Marcus Lewis & Peter Muffett
Marcus is the Managing Director of Sanctuary Media Group. Peter is a founder of the DTV Group and helps good causes recruit support through DRTV campaigns in over 30 countries.
Then drop a line to plain talking, fluent in fundraising DTV. Email info@dtvgroup.asia to speak with Alex, Lauren, Kerri, Derek or Peter. Or find out more at www.dtvgroup.asia