Is TV advertising still effective and can I afford it?
Watching TV is the world’s number one pastime, which makes TV advertising one of the most powerful marketing methods. However, with the rise of cheaper digital alternatives and the ability to skips ads, it’s not surprising that it’s potential has been overlooked.
In reality, television advertising is arguably the single most effective use of your marketing budget. No other advertising medium combines sight and sound as effectively. Nor does it have the capacity to repeatedly expose millions of people to campaigns of coordinated messaging. It’s no coincidence that businesses have been leveraging TV ads for decades.
TV accounts for 93% of all video advertising that is seen (Thinkbox, 2019) and the average UK viewer watches 39 TV ads a day on a TV set at normal speed (The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, 2019). Although TV advertising is effective in terms of reaching a large, engaged audience, for many businesses affordability continues to be a barrier.
Smarter ways to incorporate TV advertising into your marketing strategy
We know that traditional TV advertising can be expensive to produce and run. And, although this form of advertising is an effective way to get your products and services in front of a large audience, communicating your brand’s message using a mass medium doesn’t always mean you’re going to be able to target your ideal customer.
But there’s another way: cue Sky AdSmart.
Sky AdSmart is a new approach that’s opening up the reality of TV advertising to businesses of all sizes. Even if you’re a SME with customers in a small localised area, AdSmart lets you focus on the geographical location you serve. This means brands and businesses can now advertise in between amazing content. Whether that’s during that next Manchester Derby or the latest HBO epic, your ad will be delivered to the precise audience you want to target.
This approach essentially levels the playing field for all businesses and opens up a world of possibility. Growing businesses — particularly those with a regional customer base — may be surprised how accessible and low-cost it can be to advertise on television.
The benefits of Sky Adsmart include:
● Advertisers and organisations looking to target specific audiences using a mass medium can combine the power of TV with precision audience targeting: different ads are shown to different Sky households watching the same programme.
● Cost-effectiveness — traditionally it would have cost at least £25,000 to produce a television advert for terrestrial television. With Sky AdSmart, you won’t get charged when viewers fast-forward your advert, and it allows businesses with a regional customer base to show an advert to their audience at a much lower cost.
● Access to in-depth knowledge of Sky households, advertisers’ insights and Sky’s new targeting technology means greater control over who sees what, where and how many times that person is exposed to your business’s messaging.
● Access to Sky’s comprehensive campaign analytics, actionable metrics and insights, such as attribution data, can help inform your ad and marketing strategy going forward and increase your return on investment.
● AdSmart is suited to businesses with varying budgets.
How much does it cost to get started?
Around 70% of all advertisers using Sky AdSmart are new to TV advertising. If it’s all new to you, we recommend that you invest less to begin with and follow a test and learn approach.
There are two elements to television advertising costs: buying the tv slots and the production of the advert. Typically, the cost of the ad space starts at £3000 for a single campaign which runs for one month. Cost of production varies depending on the type of video you want to produce and starts from £4000. Is it an animated explainer, or a live-action story including specialised equipment, locations and talent?
We can help you get the best out of Sky AdSmart
Humanoid is an AdSmart partner, which means we can guide you through the whole process from start to finish. We’ll make sure sure the messaging is on point and deliver the final video to its intended audience through the Sky AdSmart system.
The platform has been designed to work for businesses that may have previously discounted TV advertising as too expensive. However, it can also work for well as established TV advertisers. This means both can advertise side by side and benefit equally from using the platform.
When it comes to creating impact and grabbing people’s attention it’s pretty hard to top TV advertising. But there’s a way for you to do it smarter and get in front of your ideal customer at the right time. See you on the small screen!
