Opinion - Generation Media

Assessing media strategies

This month, Jonathan examines the challenges of planning 2022 marketing activity and looks at how they can be overcome.

A new year providesmarketers the opportunity to review 2021’s winners and losers, taking forward key learnings to inform media strategy in 2022 and beyond. But in the age of ever-changing digital opportunity, simply relying on historic data will never be enough as new channels emerge. There will always be the ever-evolving conundrum – what is the optimal media mix when talking to children’s audiences?

We have used this column previously to highlight the rise of gaming as a legitimate platform for advertising budgets and talked at length about the eventual potential of the Metaverse for children’s advertisers (whatever format(s) that ends up encompassing in the short and long term). However, video platforms look set to continue to their domination of children’s attention, and by extension media budgets, for the year ahead.

Unique insights provided by Giraffe Insights allow us to not only track historic trends in terms of viewing behaviours, but plot projections for 2022 and beyond which then power the data driven decisions made by Optimus Plan, a core component of Optimus AI - our new suite of planning, buying and reporting tools.

Using this data, it is clear to see how viewing behaviour across the major platforms has developed over the past five years, culminating in SVOD platforms (Netflix, Disney+, etc.) dominating the landscape from a pure viewing perspective. However, when isolating to commercial channels, YouTube and Linear TV continue to fight for dominance (although it must be said that less than half of children’s TV viewing now takes place on children’s channels), and we continue to monitor TikTok’s progression amongst children’s audiences in preparation for it eating into the share of all parties, as it has done with youth and adult audiences. As things stand, in terms of the total time spent viewing video content

by 4-9 year olds, TikTok only accounts for 1%. This figure is of course skewed by the fact TikTok content is much shorter than its competitors. To provide some context, YouTube accounts for 15% of total video time, but 23% of total occasions (and as much as 60% when total clip count is considered).

Even armed with this insight however, marketers need more information to make planning decisions, and this is exactly what Optimus AI delivers. Platform consumption data is fundamental, but isn’t necessarily indicative of sales success. A deeper analysis of ad recall and purchase influence is required. Based upon the latest wave of the Giraffe Insights’ Little Voices study (November 2021), YouTube adverts (28% of 4-9 year olds) are more likely to be cited than adverts on kids TV channels (23%) when asked “Where do they get inspiration for products they want?”. By this measure, TikTok (13%) again looks to lag behind its competitors, but when you consider that only 1% of video time is spent on the platform, it demonstrates plenty of commercial promise. And, of course, this can all change very rapidly. The chart below plots how TV and YouTube have evolved over the course of 2021 against this measure, with YouTube’s effectiveness increasing in line with overall advertising spend. It’s easy to project a future where TikTok follows suit in terms of its effectiveness, once issues regarding advertising to children are resolved (much like in the early years of YouTube advertising).

Finally, let’s also not forget cost, a huge factor in determining the most effective deployment of media budgets. Taking children aged 4-9 audience as an example, YouTube may now compete with TV for ad spend and provide a marginally higher influence on purchasing, but during H1 TV still remains the most cost-effective choice, with each impression costing 92% less than on YouTube. By the time Q4 hits however, this trend is reversed with YouTube being as much as 40% less than the cost of TV (dependent on targeting, content quality and brand safety parameters). As such, each campaign needs to be assessed on its own unique merits and variables to ensure that significant factors such as this (and myriad more) are accounted for.

Planning 2022 marketing activity is going to be challenging for a whole host of external and environmental considerations - the ongoing distribution and pandemic related issues are not going anywhere yet. Don’t let a lack of action-oriented data pose further complications. If you are interested to find out more, feel free to get in touch for a free consultation to discover how Optimus AI can enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns in 2022 and beyond.