PHD Media
| Monday | 08:00 am - 05:00 pm |
|
| Tuesday | Closing Soon | 08:00 am - 05:00 pm |
| Wednesday | 08:00 am - 05:00 pm |
|
| Thursday | 08:00 am - 05:00 pm |
|
| Friday | 08:00 am - 05:00 pm |
|
| Saturday | Closed |
|
| Sunday | Closed |
|
| Public Holidays | Closed |
|
NEWS BLOG
Some TV Networks Take a Hit from Cutting Ad Time, Benefits Yet to Materialize
24 August 2017 by Alexandra Bruell
TV giants like Turner and Viacom VIAB 0.82% have been experimenting with cutting down the number of commercials they air in shows. They theorize that viewers will be happier, and they could even charge more for fewer ads, increasing revenue in the long run.
But so far, there is no clear evidence of a financial payoff.
Viacom attributed a 2% slide in domestic ad sales in the June quarter to a decision to reduce ad loads on networks such as MTV and BET. The company also warned that domestic ad sales will continue to decline in the September quarter.
Viacom’s hope is that over time its reduced clutter will win over viewers who otherwise skip through ads or change the channel or gravitate to ad-free platforms like Netflix .
Time Warner ’s Turner cable unit said in late 2015 that it would reduce the number of commercials on its TruTV network the following year. The company, which was initially asking for a 20% to 30% premium for some of the scarcer inventory, said early last year that it planned to cut ads on TNT by 50% in three dramas.
Donna Speciale, president of Turner Ad Sales, declined to comment on the revenue impact of the overall ad load reduction efforts. But she acknowledged that for some shows the company isn’t charging a premium that is enough to offset the loss of ad slots.
“We had to eat some of this,” she said. “We were going to have to take a little bit of a hit.”
Cutting ad load has become a popular move in the TV world for networks coping with sweeping changes in consumer habits and ratings pressure.
Some are experimenting with new ad formats, including episode sponsorships and brand integrations with fewer standard ads.
Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal last April said it would reduce ads on “Saturday Night Live” by 30%.
The network declined to comment on the pricing of limited ads, or the impact on ad revenue.
Fox, which planned to reduce commercial minutes by 20% during the Teen Choice Awards that aired on Sunday, said that as of Friday it booked 30% more revenue than last year’s haul from the event through the implementation of new ad products, including six-second spots that sold for a premium. The company declined to comment on the financial impact of ad cuts on other programs. (Fox parent 21st Century Fox and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.)
At MTV, viewership has eroded significantly over the past several years. But Viacom Chief Executive Bob Bakish said during the earnings call that the network has recently regained some ground, “marking the first June year-over-year ratings increase since 2011.”
“Our ad loads, in my opinion, were unhealthily high and therefore we have taken this opportunity to use this rating growth to partially fund a reduction in ad load,” Mr. Bakish said.
It isn’t clear whether Viacom has been asking for premiums on its more limited ad inventory.
Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger cautioned Viacom investors that the headwinds from reducing ad load aren’t over, urging them “to resist believing that after another quarter or two this will be ‘fixed and finished.’”
At the same time, he praised the efforts to avoid ad clutter.
Some advertisers are hesitant to pay a premium for commercial spots that are longer or more exclusive because of reduced ad load. Their main interest is in a show’s ratings.
“The reality is the reduced commercialization has not translated to incremental rating points,” said Gibbs Haljun, a managing director of media investment at WPP ad-buying network GroupM.
MTV reduced its monthly commercial time from 1,436 minutes in February 2016 to 1,284 minutes in February 2017, according to Nielsen data provided by an ad-buying agency.
Despite the reduced commercial load, MTV’s average audience among adults 18 to 49 fell 18.5% during the period. The figures include live viewing plus three days of recorded viewing.
Turner’s TruTV reduced its commercial time from 1,150 minutes in February 2016 to 1,044 in February 2017. Ratings were flat at the network. There are many factors that can affect ratings on various shows, and there is no explicit correlation between ratings and ad load.
Ms. Speciale said there were plenty of advertisers willing to pay up for the inventory and she is hopeful that new ad formats will help the network’s case.
Advertisers on TruTV at TNT enjoyed lifts in brand awareness of 30% and 39% at the respective networks following cuts in commercial time that allowed them to stand out more, according to the company’s research, which is largely based on data from Tapestry Research.
“The goal for me is to cumulate the results as much as possible so everyone realizes this is real, that the ad effectiveness is true value,” Ms. Speciale said.
A couple of ad buyers called reduced ad-load results inconclusive and said marketers could be persuaded over time to pay a premium.
“Many clients are happy to pay for twice the impact in a linear fashion if you can prove that it has twice the impact,” said Craig Atkinson, chief investment officer at Omnicom media agency PHD. “The problem is proving it. In the absence of proof, it’s difficult to have that conversation.”
PHD races for The Iris House Children’s Hospice
REVIEWS
PHOTO GALLERY
ABOUT US
Game changing media planning
Our global planning and collaboration platform SOURCE combines playful gamification techniques with hard-core strategic principles to deliver innovation. It's not just a work tool, it's our business ecosystem.
Finding a better way
Welcome to PHD – we’re a global communications planning and media buying agency network delivering smart strategic thinking and creative innovation for the world’s leading brands.
Brilliant media thinking is in our DNA. A culture of thought-leadership, creativity and innovation has seen us grow from a challenger agency in the UK, to a global leader with over 4,000 employees in over 80 countries.
We combine the latest industry insight with the best creative minds to produce planning innovation and create award-winning work for some of the world’s largest advertisers.
Finding a better way is our ethos and sums up how we approach everything – from a new client brief to the way we work.
Part of a powerful family
Being part of Omnicom Media Group (OMG) gives us world-class purchasing power to meet the tough buying demands of the world’s biggest advertisers. Having access to sophisticated research resources and advanced business intelligence tools through the group allows us to deliver the very best strategic expertise.
This combination of buying clout and superior communications planning credentials means we offer clients a real alternative.
Our Story
PHD was founded in London in 1990 by David Pattison, Nick Horswell and Jonathan Durden; the ‘P’, the ‘H’ and the ‘D’.
Back then the industry was all about buying; as cheaply and as quickly as possible. But David, Nick and Jonathan believed that consumer insight and media behaviour was just as important. They saw a future where smart thinking and clever planning could help brands influence consumer behaviour more than ever before.
PHD, or Pattison-Horswell-Durden as it was known back then, became the agency that ‘thought before it bought’ and was quickly credited with inventing creative media.
In 2002 PHD – now part of Omnicom – opened its first offices outside of the UK and began to grow the international network.
The formation of PHD’s parent company, Omnicom Media Group, in 2005 meant that PHD’s buying was now powered by one of the world’s largest media holding companies. Clients could now benefit from PHD’s unique approach to media planning, without compromising on the buying.
The founding principles of thought-leadership, creativity and innovation have remained at the heart of the network and today PHD is a global network of 80+ offices still leading the way in the evolution of communications planning around the world.
SERVICES
Award winning media planning and buying
We deliver media planning and buying across all online and offline media. In addition we also offer a number of specialist services.
- Affiliate marketing
- Branded content
- Consumer insight & research
- Content creation
- Data analysis & modelling
- Direct response
- Econometrics, including forecasting & ROI analysis
- Ethnic media consultancy
- Events & Experiential
- International media planning, buying & campaign management
- Media barter consultancy
- Mobile marketing
- PPC
- Programmatic media buying
- SEO
- Social marketing consultancy & implementation
- Sponsorship negotiation & implementation
- Sports Marketing
Media planning redefined
Our global planning and collaboration platform SOURCE combines playful gamification techniques with hard-core strategic principles to deliver innovation. It’s not just a work tool, it’s our business ecosystem.
We believe that growth will come from increasing brain power, not just buying power. And we’ve proved that innovation and media creativity drives disproportionate return on investment for brands.
SOURCE provides the ultimate competition of ideas on every client brief. It allows teams to share briefs across the whole network and incentivises individuals to provide great ideas. So our clients get access to 4000 minds, not just 4.
Not only does SOURCE benefit from the collective intelligence of the PHD network, it offers an integrated platform that combines cutting-edge thinking from the world of marketing and social sciences, with advanced data and sophisticated optimisation tools and systems.
SOURCE has improved ROI for our clients’ brands while providing an innovative and collaborative working environment – helping us to attract the industry’s best talent.
WINNER of Adweek’s Project Isaac Awards, which recognises inventions in media, technology, marketing and advertising.
We’re seeing more clients looking for a different way of doing things and placing increasing value on quality of thinking.
PHD’s heritage as the first strategic planning focused media agency has historically helped differentiate us from the competition. And today, we continue to set ourselves apart from other media agencies by leading the way in the evolution of global communications planning.
We have the industry’s largest global communications planning practice, shaping the marketing and communications approach for the brands of clients such as Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline, SC Johnson and VW Group.
Our strategy units in London, New York and Singapore employ hundreds of specialists focused entirely on global planning projects. Through SOURCE, we conduct seamless communications planning globally, enabling teams to collaborate with colleagues, clients, agency partners and other media agencies in markets all around the world to execute ideas.
SPECIALS
EVENTS
DOCUMENTS
MEET THE TEAM
Share this page
