Viewing trends Reach is the goal Essential viewing All the stats and charts you need How to build cost-effective The best of 2020 and a taste on video viewing in 2020 AV reach of what’s to come in 2021 p.10 p.34 p.20 A year in TV Thinkbox Annual Review 2020–21 THINKBOX 2020 at a glance
3hrs 22mins The average person watched 3 hours, 22 minutes of broadcaster TV a day
News viewing was up 33%, shared viewing up 8%, and weekday daytime viewing up 16%
Costs of TV advertising falls by circa 50% in April
I think (TV is) embracing 16-34s the flexibility that advertisers have been asking for ... to be able to make decisions on TV continues to be the largest where we invest, four weeks single portion of video viewing before broadcast rather for 16-34s than eight just feels like the right thing to do and I think hopefully advertisers will repay that change with more investment.
Chris Ladd, Nationwide
Read more from marketers on how they adapted in 2020 p.04
Boris Johnson, daily press briefing, Hannah McKay/PA Wire/PA Images
NHS rainbow banner photo by Red Dot / Unsplash
Black Lives Matter photo by James Eades / Unsplash
Dance troupe Diversity’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent
A YEAR IN TV INTRODUCTION
TV continued to be the commercial 91% medium people spend most time with
Broadcaster TV advertising Total video time grew by 40 minutes accounted for 91% of per person per day all video advertising
BVOD now plays a crucial role 1,243 in driving cost-effective reach New to TV advertisers Online businesses remained the running across linear TV dominant advertisers in 2020 and AdSmart Winner Mediahub crowned champion of champions, winning the Thinkbox TV Planning Awards Grand Prix for their planning on the NHS England campaign. 3,956 68% 3,956 people signed up 68% of adults watch for our first TV Masters 50+ linear TV ads a week online training course in autumn 2020
I did a module one evening and used a piece of knowledge I gained from it in a presentation to a client the next afternoon!
Emmerdale, ITV
#TakeTheVaccine broadcast
‘No Naughty List’, Tesco
Saturday Night Live, Sky Comedy
2020 AT A GLANCE THINKBOX
Contents 04 2020 hindsight Adapting to adversity 04 TV making a difference in 2020 08
10 28 52 Viewing trends Advertising in 2020 TV’s transformation The media landscape 12 The video advertising landscape 30 Advanced TV advertising at work 54 How 2020 changed the video world 14 Video reach planning 34 TV Masters 58 What did the industry watch in 2020? 20 Weathering the storm 42 How big are Netflix shows? 24 The Thinkboxes 2020 46 A taster of 2021 shows to get excited about 26
20 34 54 What did the Video reach Advanced TV industry watch? planning case studies Take a look at the Not all forms of Four different varied viewing of video are equal brands showcase industry peers – so not all reach how they are taking from 2020. is equal. advantage of today’s TV solutions.
A YEAR IN TV INTRODUCTION
Welcome 60 From Lindsey Clay The smartest planning Smart young things 62 TV Planning Awards 2020 64
It might seem odd to talk But it wasn’t only price. TV advertising of successes from the last continued to digitally transform and 70 roll out targeted data and tech-led year, but we shouldn’t ignore opportunities to augment its established Inspiring insights silver linings just because powers (see p.54). Advertisers are Making econometrics free to all 72 of the whopping great clouds. welcoming this; TV now offers the TV proved its worth in the best of both worlds. What does advertising on In particular we saw the acceleration TV say about a brand? 74 pandemic. Socially, as a of ecommerce reflected in TV advertising. source of vital entertainment, TV is the shop window for ecommerce escapism, and trusted brands and we’re seeing more and more news; and commercially, of them displaying their wares (see p.42). And though ecommerce’s attraction as broadcasters were nimble, to TV is about driving sales, it is equally increasingly flexible, and about brand. TV makes the virtual advertisers took advantage physical, and adds credibility and trust of the incredible price TV (see our signalling research on p.74). Brand is back, and with it an increasing was offering – many of whom culture of effectiveness. Advertisers are had never tried TV before returning to the higher ground – witness (see p.44). Airbnb’s recent decision to shift from performance to brand. This is good news for TV, another silver lining. And while advertisers are in a re-appraising mode it was the perfect time to have launched TV Masters – the world’s first comprehensive TV advertising training course. It has been incredibly well received and is already a vital resource for the industry (see p.58). I hope you find this publication useful and insightful. And if, after reading, you are left with questions or a thirst for even more information, please do get in touch (or sign up to TV Masters and become an expert that way).
62 Young planners' learnings What was it like to plan media in 2020? These young planners give us their take. Lindsey Clay CEO, Thinkbox
WELCOME THINKBOX
Adapting to adversity If Covid has taught us anything, it’s that adaptability is not just needed to thrive, but to survive. This has certainly been true in business where the mettle of marketers has been thoroughly tested since the start of the pandemic.
04 A YEAR IN TV 2020 HINDSIGHT
The arrival of Covid has brought about change at breakneck speed for brands. Priorities shifted, consumers began to behave – and feel – differently and marketing strategies had to turn on a sixpence to accommodate the state of flux brought about by various lockdowns. To delve into this further, Thinkbox commissioned agency Work Research to explore what the Covid crisis really meant for marketers. They conducted interviews with 12 senior clients at the end of 2020, who each reflected on the pandemic’s impact on their businesses. They also revealed their perspective on what changes they foresaw in their approach to marketing throughout 2021 and beyond. Six clear themes emerged from the research. A short film summarised each theme, which you can you view at: www.thinkbox.tv/adaptingtoadversity
Tuning in to the mood of the nation
The Covid crisis created a distinct need for enhanced social awareness as advertisers were required to sensitively tune in to the emotional state of the nation. Marketers had to quickly assess the appropriateness of their messaging as the world turned upside down – and kept on changing. Tone became a critical factor and many marketers talked about the pressure of empathetically reflecting the national mood. Broadcasters also quickly adapted with virtual programming and socially distanced audiences. TV advertising gave many brands a way of aligning themselves with what the British public were going through.
BEN NEWBURY YORKSHIRE TEA
We had to always take that healthy sense check of ‘what’s really going on?’ and [we knew] we were going to get this right or wrong before we pressed go. It’s paused a lot of stuff that we made. And we held it, and we held it, until we felt the time was right to go live.
ADAPTING TO ADVERSITY 05 THINKBOX
Brand Reach Fast-forwarding and response and growth innovation
The balance between brand and One of the most radical shifts The pace of brand change has been response was brought into sharp Covid has instigated is in consumer unparalleled since lockdown started. focus by Covid. Advertisers were behaviour, particularly when it One client described it as “ten years’ forced to rethink their campaigns, comes to purchasing. For many change in one”. often at incredibly short notice. Firstly, advertisers, a positive benefit of Evolution went into overdrive, leading because the hard sell no longer seemed lockdown was a growth in their consumer to many brand initiatives that were appropriate, but secondly because base as customers either chose, or were previously unimaginable. Some advertisers trust and mental availability became forced, to deviate from their usual brand even had to create whole new ways even more crucial in the post-Covid preferences and try something new. of doing business. Ultimately, businesses world. It made sense that marketers The inevitable challenge is how to make changed because people changed – and turned to the channels that consumers those changes stick – or win back the the effects weren’t just limited to advertisers. were most likely to see and trust. customers that had been lost due Innovation was also at the heart of the Payback was also crucial as brands to the pandemic. This challenge is broadcasters’ agendas. New programme needed to generate immediate causing marketers to refresh their formats, ways of watching and an sales but also shore their brand-health thinking around mass reach, expanded back catalogue meant that up in the longer term, to withstand their distinctive assets and TV stayed relevant for both audiences any future lockdowns. light consumers in 2021. and advertisers as everyone adjusted to the pandemic way of life.
SIMON WALLIS DOMINO’S AMY BUTTERWORTH TESCO GAYLE NOAH L’ORÉAL
We used three guiding Targeting really changed from We’d already started on the principles as some kind of a sub-segment of society, to ecommerce journey many compass. Firstly, to keep everyone who does a shop – years ago, but I would say that serving our customers and no matter where to be honest Covid really accelerated our looking after our people. – everyone that needs to plans by about three years. Second to build brand buy food, so basically the So within a matter of weeks preference and look after our whole population. we had really activated a communities, and to ensure lot more platforms and that the brand comes out of channels and retailers to the crisis stronger than it went start driving ecommerce. into it. In other words, take actions today that our team members and customers will remember for a lifetime.
06 A YEAR IN TV 2020 HINDSIGHT
Signalling The importance In conclusion of partnerships
All media are not created equal. The most powerful advertising Marketers have played a crucial Different media channels signal always comes from the most powerful role throughout this crisis. They’ve different qualities about the brands partnerships. Lockdown amplified been tested like never before, that advertise on them. The importance the importance of strong media connected with and reassured of trust, quality and brand strength have relationships where all parties came consumers on a deeper emotional been amplified throughout lockdown. together for the benefit of brands. level and pivoted activity around These signals are entrenched in TV A more flexible and collaborative ever-changing rules and regulations. advertising and one of the reasons approach was required so that Whilst the future still seems uncertain, TV was so valued throughout the advertisers could pivot their activity the ability and reliability of TV to pandemic. TV was viewed as a reliable appropriately. Marketers relied more deliver for brands in times of crisis and effective vehicle for building brand heavily on their agencies to read remained reassuringly unchanged. awareness and trust on a mass scale. consumer behaviour and understand It was also unique in its ability to help the impact of their activity. The flexibility people feel good again due to its ability offered by the broadcasters allowed to harness the power of positive emotion. advertisers to more easily shift These attributes were of huge benefit their messaging or leap in and take to advertisers throughout lockdown. advantage of the surge in viewing and the incredible value on offer.
Our Thank You To the Frontline Workers, Domino’s
Jon’s ‘Isolation’ Aromatic Lamb, Tesco Food Love Stories
CHRIS LADD NATIONWIDE JULIA SPARROW MONDELEZ At home with Eva Longoria, L’Oréal
I can’t believe there won’t The brand teams in our Yomi Sode & Son, Nationwide be some long-term benefit business have really seen from us being present in the the value of that collaborative market in the medium that spirit and I do think that has always given off a sense everyone has rallied round of trust and stature. to come together.
ADAPTING TO ADVERSITY 07 THINKBOX TV making a difference in 2020
TV can entertain, inform and inspire. It can help us feel connected to others through the shared experience of viewing. And it also has the power to do good through its rich content, powerful advertising and the work of the UK broadcasters. Here is a taster of some of the positive actions we saw in 2020.
Britain Get Talking: An ITV Mental Wellness initiative to help Britain stay connected. During 2020 lockdown 6.4 million people reached out to connect with friends and family, making 15 million calls and sending 27 million text messages as a direct result of the campaign. Stay at home & Stay in touch: Launched in January 2021 in collaboration with Mind as an extension of Britain Get Talking, the campaign reached 42 million viewers in the first two weeks. Clap from our Carers: A short film which showed NHS workers encouraging people to stay connected as well as staying at home.
Dave & CALM: The ongoing partnership between Dave and the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) continued in 2020 with a three-part series – ‘Comedy Against Living Miserably’ – and an expansion into merchandise, which generated nearly £30k for CALM’s life-saving services. All Voices: Film London’s Equal Access Network and UKTV’s collaborative initiative ‘All Voices’ offered 12 paid, full-time roles on 17 UKTV Original productions to those from underrepresented groups, including new entrants, mid-level professionals and returners to the industry. Comedy Against Living Miserably, Dave Comedy Miserably, Against Living
08 A YEAR IN TV 2020 HINDSIGHT
Supporting small businesses during the pandemic: In May, Sky launched SME100, a £1m fund to provide 100 small businesses with TV advertising campaigns via AdSmart. After high demand, the fund was increased to £2.5m and was able to support 250 individual businesses. Accelerating towards a sustainable future: In 2020, Sky announced Sky Zero with an ambition to be net zero carbon by 2030. With over 150 plug-in hybrid electric vans introduced to their fleet, Sky has also started building Sky Studios Elstree, which aims to be the world’s most environmentally friendly TV and film studios. Helping tackle racial inequality: Sky committed to investing £30m to fight racial inequality across their markets. They also appointed a Diversity Advisory Group and Diversity Action Council, and announced new targets for 20% of employees at Sky in the UK & Ireland to be from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds by 2025, with at least a quarter of these to be Black.
ClapForCarers: In the early days of lockdown, Channel 4 worked with advertisers to create an entire ad break dedicated to showing solidarity and support for the NHS. Forty-two per cent of viewers said they would talk about it with others, and 56% were inspired to look into ways they could help. #StandAgainstRacism: In response to the racist online reaction to the Sainsbury’s Christmas ad, Channel 4 worked with the leading supermarkets to unite in solidarity. The brands and their ads stood side by side at the most commercially critical time of the year, coming together in two ad breaks for the first time to #StandAgainstRacism. Diversity in Advertising Award: Channel 4’s annual £1m airtime prize encourages the UK advertising community to be more inclusive in their campaigns through authentic representation of a specific diverse community. 2019’s theme was LGBT+ representation and was won by Starbucks for their groundbreaking #whatsyourname advert which aired in 2020. Previous iterations of the contest have challenged brands to portray disability, hidden disability and gender in their ads.
TV MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN 2020 09 Viewing
trends10 trends Viewing
11 It’s A Sin, Channel 4 THINKBOX The media landscape You’re here for the TV stats and insight of course. Who wouldn’t be? But, before we zero in on TV, some context…
Media minutes have grown, linear TV still largest
Daily minutes Daily minutes video with media, adults watching, adults
14 5 4hrs 51 mins 12hrs 58 mins 2% — DVD 12hrs 46 mins 6% — Gaming — Online 4% 10% video 4hrs 15 mins 12 11hrs 24 mins 4hrs 2 mins — Cinema 13% 12% — Reading 2% 4% 4 3% 8% 16% — SVOD 4% 3% 10 15% — 1% 15% 6% — BVOD 29% — Communication 32% 3 6% 8 27% Hours Hours
6 15% — Listening 2 17% 19% 88% 67% — Linear TV 4 68%
1 37% — Watching 2 35% 33%
0 0 2015 2020 2020 2015 2020 2020 Pre-lockdown Lockdown Pre-lockdown Lockdown
Source: IPA TouchPoints 2015 & 2020. NB: Touchpoints survey dates for the pre-lockdown period are 14th January–23rd March and lockdown are 24th March–26th May.
12 A YEAR IN TV VIEWING TRENDS
Most of this lockdown growth went is not covered in the charts as it is purely Some key numbers: to ‘watching’ as the nation turned a measure of time spent ‘outside’ rather — Lockdown increased media time, to their TVs and devices for much- than time spent with a chosen medium. particularly ‘watching’, which needed entertainment, escapism and But it is interesting to note the extent was up 15% information. In total, there was a 15% to which it was affected by lockdown. increase in ‘watching’ – an extra 37 It dropped by 68%, according to IPA — TV accounted for the bulk of minutes per person per day. Touchpoints data, with the average commercial media time, some 38% Gaming, too, increased in lockdown adult spending just under an hour a day — Time spent out of home – up 32% – while reading declined by 8%, outside in lockdown compared with decreased in 2020 by 68% perhaps due to the drop in commuting, nearly three hours a day before. This and listening remained unchanged. obviously had a knock-on effect on indoor media consumption like TV. Total media time has been increasing Time spent communicating Over the last five years our media time dropped during lockdown TV was the bulk of commercial has been on the up. This is because of a This was driven by 31% less time spent media time small increase in the time we’ve been ‘emailing’ – the impact of furlough and With 38%, TV continued to be the ‘watching’ and a larger increase in the rise of video calls the likely culprits. commercial medium people spend most time we’ve been ‘communicating’ – eg Social media use and texting/messaging time with, with social media second with messaging, social media and emailing. weren’t really affected by lockdown. 24%. Over the page we’ll take a closer look at exactly what happened in Lockdown boosted ‘watching’ We spent more time at home TV in 2020. 2020’s lockdown pushed average daily in lockdown media time to a whisker below 13 hours Hope you were sitting down when you read (although some of this time is duplicated that shocking fact. Time spent out of home across media). Commercial media day: adults 2% 38% 11% Magazines 12% Commercial TV Commercial General online browsing radio
0.1% Cinema
News brands 24% Social media 6% Other online video inc. YouTube, FacebookOther and TikTok online video inc. YouTube, 8%
Source: TouchPoints 2020 (lockdown), IPA. Base: adults 15+. Includes only media which carries advertising and people choose to consume. TV, radio, newsbrands & magazine figures include online/app consumption.
THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE 13 THINKBOX
How 2020 changed the video world Before 2020, there was a fairly consistent story about TV and video viewing. But that was before 2020. As with pretty much every sector, last year made a mockery of predicted TV and video trends. Throw in Disney+ (good time to launch) and TikTok (good time to exist) and this year’s analysis of the video world is anything but predictable.
14 A YEAR IN TV VIEWING TRENDS
All forms of TV have seen growth in 2020 Summary:
— All forms of TV grew in 2020 – 04:00 yes, live TV too — Broadcaster TV continues to be 03:30 the largest single portion of video 03:00 viewing (incl. for 16-34s) 02:30 — From nothing, TikTok took 3.5% of video viewing time 02:00
— The TV set is the home of 01:30 high-quality content; broadcaster individuals) (all 01:00
TV and SVOD account for 94% Hours per person per day of all TV set viewing 00:30 — SVOD subscriptions continue to rise with Netflix accounting 00:00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 for the majority of SVOD viewing time (74%) Live TV TV Playback Broadcaster VOD Subscription VOD
Source: 2010-2020, BARB/Broadcaster stream data/IPA Touchpoints 2020, Individuals Pre-2020… In TV, overall viewing was pretty stable, but there was a gradual decline in live TV viewing because we had more choice and could spread our viewing across live and on demand – both from the broadcasters Young people’s viewing is increasingly spread across platforms and subscription VOD (SVOD) players like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. 03:00 In online video, there was jockeying, but YouTube was clearly the big beast 02:30 and largely unchallenged. 02:00 All forms of TV saw growth in 2020 It’s no surprise our need for entertainment 01:30 increased in 2020. This thirst for escapism and distraction helped every form of broadcaster individuals) (all 01:00
TV (live, on demand and playback) Hours per person per day collectively grow by 5% year-on-year. 00:30 That’s an extra 10 minutes viewing per person per day. The average 00:00 person watched 3 hours, 22 minutes 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 of broadcaster TV a day. Within this there were obvious Live TV TV Playback Broadcaster VOD Subscription VOD lockdown-related shifts in consumption, Source: 2010-2020, BARB/Broadcaster stream data/IPA Touchpoints 2020, 16-34 with news viewing up 33%, shared viewing up 8% and weekday daytime up 16%. It was a similar story in SVOD’s corner of the TV world, where the average time spent viewing grew by 12 minutes per person per day – a 50% growth year-on-year (obviously coming from a much smaller base than broadcaster TV). The average person watched 36 minutes of SVOD a day.
HOW 2020 CHANGED THE VIDEO WORLD 15 THINKBOX
Young people’s broadcaster Total video time grew by 40 mins a day in 2020 TV viewing stabilised Younger viewers also looked to TV for escape and to provide them 05:30 with entertainment and information. 05:00 This halted a gradual decline of their 04:30 broadcaster TV viewing in recent years. 04:00 With smash hit Love Island missing 03:30 last summer, their BVOD viewing – where 03:00 so many Island shenanigans are usually 02:30 enjoyed – was largely unchanged, having 02:00 grown consistently over the past five years. individuals) (all We’d expect a return to growth in 2021. 01:30 And their SVOD viewing increased Hours per person per day 01:00 by 42% (17 minutes a day, or about a 00:30 quarter of an episode of The Queen’s 00:00 Gambit) to account for 35% of 16-34s’ 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 TV viewing in 2020.
Total video time grew by Live TV TV playback Broadcaster VOD Subscription VOD DVD / Blu-ray / VHS 40 minutes a day When we expand the picture to look Cinema Adult XXX Other online video YouTube TikTok at all forms of video, we see that total Source: 2010–2020, BARB/Broadcaster stream data/IPA Touchpoints 2020, Pornhub/Rentrak, Individuals video time grew by a significant amount in 2020: 40 mins per person per day. Most forms of video (even DVDs) saw a year-on-year increase. 2020 video day The obvious exception here is cinema, which saw a 75% drop in viewing time Average video time per day through no fault of its own. We’d expect All Individuals: 5hrs, 16 mins this to be temporary and that cinema will 16-34s: 4hrs, 54 mins bounce back once normality resumes. New entrant TikTok had a pretty All individuals significant impact for its first full year and accounted for 3.5% of all video time in 3.5% 2020. YouTube increased its share from 12.5% in 2019 to 13%. And Facebook 16-34s 13.0% fell slightly from 1.2% to 0.9%. One trend that wasn’t changed by 9.3% 0.9% 2020 is the difference between 16-34s’ video consumption and the UK average. TV (broadcaster + SVOD) accounts 3.0% for 75% of the average video day 36.3% 2.8% compared with 56% for 16-34s. Within 0.1% this, broadcaster TV continues to be the 25.2% 1.7% largest single portion of video viewing, both for 16-34s and all individuals. YouTube dominates the online video space accounting for over half of 16-34s’ 11.2% 0.1% time spent with online video. TikTok, 63.7% 4.6% 0.7% however, made significant inroads, 19.3% claiming a 9% share of all 16-34s’ video 2.6% time and 22% of their time spent with 1.8% online video.
Broadcaster TV Cinema Facebook Subscription VOD Online ‘adult’ XXX video YouTube DVD Other video TikTok
Source: 2020, BARB/Broadcaster stream data/comScore/IPA Touchpoints 2020/Pornhub/Rentrak
16 A YEAR IN TV VIEWING TRENDS
BVOD is vital to younger audiences Breaking down how we watch broadcaster TV Breaking down broadcaster TV into the different ways it can be accessed reveals the increasingly important role of BVOD 3 hrs 22 mins 1 hrs 47 min for younger audiences, now 19% of all broadcaster TV viewing for 16-34s. It also shows that anyone writing 8% off live TV is misguided and needs to 19% understand why people watch different types of TV and video. Live TV made 19% up over half of 16-34s’ broadcaster All individuals 16-34s viewing in 2020. 54%
The TV set is the home 27% of high-quality content 73% This year we have also cut the data to just look at time spent watching video content on the TV set, as that is increasingly the key battleground for video. An interesting picture emerged. Walk into a living room and find the furniture not facing the TV and you’re Live TV TV Playback Broadcaster VOD walking into a strange land. And the focal Source: 2020, BARB/Broadcaster stream data point of our living rooms continues to account for the majority of our video consumption: 76% among all individuals and 53% among 16-34s. TV set video day 2020 And what we watch on it shows that the TV set is the home of high-quality, Average video time per day (TV set) professionally produced content. All Individuals: 4hrs, 0 mins (76% total video day) Broadcaster and subscription TV 16-34s: 2hrs, 42 mins (53% total video day) dominate, accounting for 94.1% of TV set viewing. All individuals Whilst the TV set is a growth area for YouTube and now accounts for roughly 3.9% 2.0% 25% of all its usage, YouTube accounts for less than 5% of total TV set time. 16-34s 11.6%
Where is Connected TV on the 6.7% TV set chart? 3.0% Whilst every other TV industry event is focused on the emerging Connected TV (CTV) market, it’s important to note that, outside of BVOD and YouTube, there isn’t any measurable volume of viewing to 26.1% any other ad-funded VOD services on the TV set. In the US, this is no doubt a more significant emerging market, with big players such as Hulu, Peacock and 64.1% Roku. But in the UK we’re yet to see any meaningful volume of viewing to CTV 82.5% services on the TV set, beyond that of the broadcasters, SVOD players and YouTube.
Broadcaster TV DVD Subscription VOD YouTube
Source: 2020, BARB/Broadcaster stream data/comScore/IPA Touchpoints 2020
HOW 2020 CHANGED THE VIDEO WORLD 17 THINKBOX
Breaking down ‘unmatched’ viewing Breaking down ‘unmatched’ TV set viewing time The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) defines unmatched viewing as when the TV set is on but the content wasn’t broadcast as part of a linear Unknown 10% schedule in the last 28 days. TV set viewing time per day This includes gaming and viewing (All individuals) YouTube 11% to SVOD services and shows that Other VOD 1% haven’t been broadcast in the Other SVOD 7% previous four weeks. The growth in time spent Amazon Prime Video 6% viewing ‘unmatched’ content, as reported by BARB, is often used to demonstrate the changing nature 3hrs Netflix 29% of TV set viewing. And, by applying 19 mins 1hr 7min IPA Touchpoints data, we can get a pretty good idea of what this unmatched viewing consists of. Forty-two per cent is viewing to Broadcaster TV (+28 days) 13% SVOD, 16% is gaming, 13% is viewing to broadcaster content outside of the 28-day window (VOD or playback), DVDs 7% 11% is YouTube, and 7% is watching DVDs. There’s also, according to Gaming 16% BARB, about 10% that is unknown Unmatched Viewing unmatched viewing. This could be Broadcaster TV the TV set being turned on but no audio playing, paused content, or long tail TV set app usage.
Source: 2020, BARB / IPA Touchpoints 2020 (lockdown) (BARB TV homes universe)
18 A YEAR IN TV VIEWING TRENDS
SVOD subscriptions continue to rise Over two thirds of people now have access As we’ve seen, like broadcaster TV, SVOD benefited from lockdown, with viewing time to an SVOD service increasing by 50% year-on-year (up 12 mins per person per day to 36 mins in total). 90.0 The number of people with access to at least one SVOD service now stands at 80.0 69% – and 83% of 16-34s. There has also 70.0 been a notable uptick in the number of over 65s with access to an SVOD service 60.0 in 2020, up from 20% in Q3 2019 to 31% in Q3 2020. 50.0 penetration Netflix continues to dominate SVOD 40.0 As the streaming wars continue to hot 30.0 up, we now have several major players % SVOD competing for eyeballs. As it currently stands, Netflix takes the lion’s share of 20.0 viewing time. 10.0 The BARB establishment survey estimates that 61% of Individuals 0.0 have access to Netflix, an increase of Q3 Q3 Q3 Q3 Q3 Q3 Q3 11 percentage points year-on-year and 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 putting them ahead of Amazon Prime Video who stand at 40% (up from 27% in 2019). All individuals 35–64 16–34s 65+
The impact of Disney+ Source: BARB Establishment survey Disney+, which launched at the end of March 2020 as the UK went into lockdown, was available to 16% of people in the UK as at Q3 2020, which is pretty impressive from a standing start. IPA Touchpoints data doesn’t provide the detail needed to break Disney+ down, but with ‘other’ SVOD viewing growing How the subscription VOD market breaks down from 2% of all SVOD time pre-lockdown to 12% post-lockdown, we’d estimate that Disney+ likely accounts for the majority of that increase.
12% 14%
15% 13% Individuals 16-34s 36 mins 57 mins
73% 73%
Netflix Amazon Prime Video Other Jamie: Keep Cooking and Carry On, Channel 4 Source: IPA Touchpoints 2020
HOW 2020 CHANGED THE VIDEO WORLD 19 THINKBOX What did the industry watch in 2020?
MIHIR HARIA-SHAH NICK ASHLEY HEAD OF BROADCAST, HEAD OF MEDIA AND ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE CAMPAIGN PLANNING, TESCO
What was your TV What was your moment of the year? TV moment of the year? Diversity’s performance Watching Leeds United return on Britain’s Got Talent. to the Premier League on Sky Sports, and specifically the Describe your 2020 players encouraging maverick viewing in 3 words? manager Marcelo Bielsa to lift “(Are) you still watching?” the trophy. Best box set catch up? Describe your 2020 The Last Dance on Netflix. viewing in 3 words? What was your lockdown Frequent, varied, comforting. guilty pleasure? Best box set catch up? First Dates (old and new). Succession. A series about Which two TV characters a media empire – what more would you invite over could I wish for? for dinner? What was your lockdown Romesh Ranganathan and guilty pleasure? Jamie Redknapp – their I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out banter on A League Of Of Here! I watched every Their Own is unmatched. single minute, and not just What TV can’t you because of the contextual wait for in 2021? partnership that we ran with Hopefully another series the show. of SAS: Who Dares Wins Which two TV characters on Channel 4. would you invite over for dinner? Ant and Dec. Hysterical, and Britain’s Got Talent, ITV just what we needed at several
A League of Their Own, times throughout lockdown. Sky One What TV can’t you wait
The Last Dance, Netflix for in 2021? Beyond what hopefully will be First Dates, Channel 4 an excellent summer of sport, My Name is Lizzie (Channel 4), Landscapers (Sky Atlantic) and (hopefully) Murder on Middle Beach Season 2 (HBO/ Sky Crime), an amazing cult documentary created by a son looking to solve his own mother’s murder.
20 VIEWING TRENDS What did the industry watch in 2020?
MICHELLE SARPONG VICKI MAGUIRE TRADING DIRECTOR, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, THE7STARS HAVAS LONDON
What was your What was your TV moment of the year? TV moment of the year? Arsenal winning the For me it was ITV and FA Cup Final. Uncommon stopping prime-time viewing and Describe your 2020 encouraging us to talk to each viewing in 3 words? other. God I wish I’d done that! Frequent, nostalgic & fluid. The Masked Singer US, ITV Describe your 2020 Best box set catch up? viewing in 3 words? I May Destroy You. Bridgerton, Netflix Eclectic. Retro. Inspiring.
What was your lockdown Vera, ITV Best box set catch up? guilty pleasure? A real oldie. I have done The Masked Singer US. It's A Sin, Channel 4 EVERY episode of ‘80s iconic cop show Hill Street Blues. It was groundbreaking back then and has stood the test of time. What was your lockdown guilty pleasure? Weirdly I took solace in shows I’d watched time and time again, it was as if I need to know the ending. When ITV started to run old Corrie I was in my element. Which two TV characters would you invite over for dinner? Vera and Marge Simpson. Those girls know how to party. Which two TV characters What TV can’t you wait would you invite over for in 2021? for dinner? It’s A Sin on Channel 4. I partied Simon Basset (Duke of in the ‘80s. This series will Hastings) from Bridgerton stay with you long after and James St Patrick (Ghost) you’ve watched it. from Power. What TV can’t you wait for in 2021? The Euros and Olympics.
21 THINKBOX
JACK SWAYNE EMEA CEO, M/SIX
What was your TV moment of the year? It was much longer than a moment. Waiting a week for each new The Undoing episode felt very novel and not being able to binge the whole thing.
Describe your 2020 The Undoing, Sky Atlantic viewing in 3 words? Lockdown life-saver. Below Deck, E4
Best box set catch up? Insecure, Sky Comedy Insecure on Sky Comedy. Only discovered this last year, Paralympic Games, Channel 4 and massively enjoyed all four seasons. 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, What was your lockdown ITV guilty pleasure? Just a little late to the party, but a very good friend introduced me to Below Deck. I hate/love him for it. Which two TV characters would you invite over for dinner? David Brent and Michael Scott from both versions of The Office would be one of the more entertaining dinners. What TV can’t you wait for in 2021? More live sports. The Euros, Wimbledon, Olympics. Fingers crossed they all happen. Fingers crossed we can watch some of them in a pub.
22 VIEWING TRENDS
RICH WATERWORTH JOANNA JUBER GENERAL MANAGER, HEAD OF BRAND, UK & EUROPE, TIKTOK MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT
What was your What was your TV moment of the year? TV moment of the year? The way ITV had to totally The first episode of I Hate rethink I’m A Celebrity... Get Suzie. How life can change in a Me Out of Here! was just heartbeat depicted in glorious incredible, moving the whole chaos and a Cruella de Vil coat. production to Wales and Describe your 2020 working tirelessly to make viewing in 3 words? sure it was safe for all those I’m A Celebrity… Lots of it. involved. And it was just as Get Me Out Of entertaining as it always is, Here!, ITV Best box set catch up? essential viewing. Tough to pick just one. The Simpsons, Predictably, I have to say The Describe your 2020 Sky One Wire which I re-watched in full. viewing in 3 words? It never tires. Disrupted, varied, essential. I Hate Suzie, Sky Atlantic What was your lockdown Best box set catch up? guilty pleasure? I’ve been inspired to go back Succession, Sky Atlantic Watching old Disney movies to The Office by one of my with my kids and eating favourite creators on TikTok Rice Krispie cakes. called Cole Anderson-James (@coleandersonj) who Which two TV characters produces incredible lip syncs would you invite over of scenes from the show. for dinner? Roman Roy from Succession What was your lockdown and Marsha from Spaced. guilty pleasure? It would be like Come Dine Dipping back into comedy with Me meets Caligula. classics from Cheers to The Simpsons – the TV equivalent What TV can’t you wait of a warm bath – was what for in 2021? I needed in lockdown. Toast of London, or apparently this time, Tinseltown. We all Which two TV characters need a bit of Matt Berry in would you invite over our lives right now. for dinner? They’re not characters, but I’m a huge fan of Ant and Dec who always look like they’re enjoying what they do on TV. What TV can’t you wait for in 2021? Getting back hopefully to live audiences at entertainment and sport – we’ve realised how much colour and excitement these events bring to our lives and how they really add to the TV viewing experience.
23 THINKBOX How big are Netflix shows? In our last ‘A Year in TV’, we featured a unique analysis from tech firm Digital-i. It compared, for the first time, topline views of broadcaster TV shows with shows available on Netflix. The sizes of Netflix’s audiences are shrouded in mystery, so shedding light on them proved very interesting.
Top 20 most-viewed TV programmes in the UK 2020 Netflix at a glance — 60% of Netflix’s UK viewing in Rank Viewing Source Programme HH Views (m) 2020 (films and TV shows) was 1 ITV Coronation Street 1,299 licensed programming, 40% original or exclusive. 2 ITV Emmerdale 1,223 — US content makes up the majority 3 ITV The Chase 1,105 of TV show viewing, just over 4 ITV Tipping Point 924 60%. UK content is just under 5 BBC Bargain Hunt 872 20% of Netflix viewing in the UK. 6 BBC Pointless 767 — Of the British content available on 7 ITV This Morning 763 Netflix, 64% is licensed from the 8 BBC EastEnders 667 UK broadcasters, the remaining 9 Netflix Friends 634 36% are originals or exclusive. 10 Channel 4 The Big Bang Theory 620 — Just four shows make up 10% 11 BBC Homes Under the Hammer 600 of all Netflix streams (Friends, 12 Channel 4 / Sky The Simpsons 596 The Big Bang Theory, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family). 13 BBC Escape to the Country 567 14 Channel 4 Four in a Bed 543 15 Netflix The Big Bang Theory 518 As 2020 was a year of growth for all 16 BBC Antiques Road Trip 501 types of TV, we wanted to look at whether 17 ITV Midsomer Murders 455 things had changed. Does Netflix still rely 18 Channel 4 Come Dine with Me 449 heavily on licensed broadcaster content? Is it still mainly US content that people 19 ITV Lorraine 444 watch? Are Netflix audiences still much 20 BBC Flog It! 422 smaller than the broadcasters’? 21 Netflix Brooklyn Nine-Nine 411 The short answer to all those is, well, 31 Netflix Modern Family 314 yes. The fundamentals haven’t changed. 42 Netflix Schitt’s Creek 249 But it’s still interesting to see what Netflix’s biggest shows now are and how 48 Netflix New Girl 218 they compare. The overall story is that, 65 Netflix The Crown 186 despite it being a year of mass disruption 96 Netflix Peppa Pig 128 and change, our desire for professionally 122 Netflix The Umbrella Academy 105 produced and often familiar TV 126 Netflix The Fall 100 is undimmed.
Source for TV: BARB, one minute household reach. Source for Netflix: Digital-i SoDA, total stream ‘starts’
24 A YEAR IN TV VIEWING TRENDS
Household views Top 20 most-viewed TV programmes per episode in the UK 2020 Digital-i collects its Netflix data passively from a sample of 2,000 households. We then compare it with BARB data by Rank Viewing Source Programme HH views per looking at household ‘views’ or ‘streams’ episode (000s) for individual shows (see table bottom left). 1 Channel 4 The Great British Bake Off 10,044 When we compare total household 2 BBC Strictly Come Dancing 9,525 views, we see a similar picture to the 3 ITV Des 9,031 previous year: a top 20 dominated by broadcasters’ soaps, daytime shows 4 ITV Britain’s Got Talent 8,834 and long-running US sitcoms. This isn’t a Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night 5 ITV 8,720 surprise because this sort of comparison Takeaway favours shows with lots of episodes and 6 ITV I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! 8,604 high frequency. 7 ITV The Masked Singer 8,440 Just as in 2019, licensing broadcaster content remained important to Netflix 8 ITV Quiz 8,394 with Friends still its top show based on 9 ITV White House Farm 8,249 total views and its only show in the top 10. Another Netflix catalogue favourite, The 10 ITV Van der Valk 7,992 Big Bang Theory, came in at number 15 11 BBC The Salisbury Poisonings 7,953 (five spots below Channel 4’s broadcast 12 BBC Call the Midwife 7,515 of the same show). 13 Netflix The Stranger 7,177
Views per episode 14 BBC Countryfile 7,086 As with 2019, we also compared the 15 BBC Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel 7,072 number of views per episode (not including one-off shows such as 16 ITV Dancing on Ice 7,067 prime minister’s statements, VE day 17 BBC The Nest 7,041 celebrations, and sporting events). 18 Netflix Tiger King: 6,971 This avoids the number-of-episode bias. Murder, Mayhem and Madness Once again, the general mix is very similar when we look at the data this 19 BBC The Pale Horse 6,925 way – mostly popular broadcaster 20 BBC Silent Witness 6,834 entertainment shows and drama series (see table top right). Source for TV = BARB, one minute household reach; includes viewing to repeats broadcast within 28 days of In 2019 the top 20 based on episode first transmission; excludes device viewing. Netflix = Digital-i SoDA, viewing within 28 days of series release. views was exclusively broadcaster shows. NB: Excludes ‘one-off’ programming, e.g. prime minister’s statements, VE day celebrations, and sporting But, in 2020, two Netflix shows have events, etc. made it into the top 20: The Stranger (a drama) and Tiger King (a docuseries). Top 10 most-viewed Netflix TV programmes per episode in the UK 2020 What about Amazon Prime Video? Digital-i does capture Amazon Prime Video viewing on their panel, but they Rank Programme HH views per don’t have a full year of consistent data episode (000s) collection yet, so we can’t include it in 1 The Stranger 7,177 these tables. What the existing data highlights 2 Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness 6,971 though, is that, unlike Netflix, Amazon’s 3 After Life 6,072 top-performing content is dominated by 4 The Crown 6,108 films rather than TV series. Preliminary 2020 data suggests the top-performing 5 Sex Education 5,184 TV shows for 2020 on Amazon Prime 6 The Umbrella Academy 5,296 Video were The Office US and Grey’s Anatomy, which have comparable total 7 The Haunting of Bly Manor 4,803 HH views to The Umbrella Academy and 8 The Queen’s Gambit 4,519 The Fall (circa 100m views). 9 Emily in Paris 4,125
10 Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich 4,050
Source: Digital-i SoDA/BARB 2020
HOW BIG ARE NETFLIX SHOWS? 25 THINKBOX A taster of 2021 shows to get excited about Spring Summer
The Masked Dancer ITV Love Island ITV
Britannia Sky Atlantic Summer Paralympics 2021 Channel 4
Meet The Richardsons Dave Lions Tour 2021 Sky Sports
Intergalactic Sky One 2020 UEFA European Football Championship ITV
Moneyball ITV Big Zuu’s Big Eats Dave
Frank of Ireland Channel 4 Celebrity Gogglebox Channel 4 Viewpoint ITV Premier League 21/22 Sky Sports Murder, They Hope Gold
Too Close ITV
Intergalactic, Sky One
Love Island, ITV
Lions Tour 2021, Sky Sports
Too Close, ITV
Celebrity Gogglebox, Channel 4
Meet The Richardsons, Dave VIEWING TRENDS A taster of 2021 shows to get excited about Autumn Winter
Taskmaster Channel 4 Stath Lets Flats Channel 4
The Great British Bake Off Channel 4 Traces Alibi
Manhunt II: The Night Stalker ITV I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! ITV
My Name Is Lizzie Channel 4 Sharks with Steve Backshall Sky Nature Angela Black ITV
All Creatures Great and Small Channel 5
Wheeler Dealers: Dream Car Discovery
Gogglebox Channel 4
Angela Black, ITV
Stath Lets Flats, Channel 4
Traces, Alibi
All Creatures Great and Small, Channel 5
Taskmaster, Channel 4
Manhunt II: The Night Stalker, ITV Advertising
in28 2020 in 2020 Advertising 29 Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, ITV THINKBOX The video advertising landscape Understanding video viewing is essential. But what really matters to people in advertising is where ads get seen. The first job of any medium is to help advertisers get their message across which, in the video world, is ideally in full and with sound. Here we see how things looked in 2020.
Summary Broadcaster TV accounts for — Broadcaster TV advertising 91% of our video advertising day… accounted for 91% of all video Average video advertising time per day advertising (77% for 16-34s) All Individuals: 19 mins — YouTube accounted for 5.6% 16-34s: 12.5 mins of video advertising All individuals — From nothing, TikTok took 1.4% 1.4% of video advertising 5.6% 0.1% 1.8% — BVOD advertising increased 16-34s by 22% and is vital for reaching lighter viewers 5.2%
15.5% TV accounted for 91% of all video advertising This is a slight decrease from 2019 when 2.0% it was 94%, but broadcaster TV remains 0.2% by far the main way of getting video advertising seen, including for 16-34s for whom it makes up 77% of the video advertising they see.
Why is YouTube so small? 77.0% YouTube is the dominant online video platform in terms of ad time, accounting for 5.6% of all video ad viewing (64% of all online video). Amongst 16-34s this grows 91.1% to 15.5% of all video advertising (68% of all online video). But, yes, YouTube’s share of total video ad viewing can seem at odds with its share of video viewing. YouTube is Broadcaster TV Other online video TikTok undoubtedly a big player in the video Cinema YouTube viewing world, but this doesn’t carry over to the viewing of advertising on YouTube. Source: 2020, BARB/comScore/Broadcaster stream data/IPA Touchpoints 2020/Rentrak
30 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
This is because YouTube doesn’t put Breaking down how we watch broadcaster TV advertising advertising across a vast amount of its inventory and the majority of viewing to YouTube is to its very long tail of content. Also, many ads on YouTube are skippable and some users have installed ad blockers 4% 12% for .com viewing of YouTube. 7% TV, on the other hand, has a scale and breadth of high-quality content that means 11% it has the capacity to cater for thousands of advertisers simultaneously; most TV ads Individuals 16-34s are unskippable; and TV ads are unblockable.
TikTok emerges – and a word of caution In 2020 TikTok came from nowhere to account for an estimated 1.4% of all video 89% 77% advertising viewing – no mean feat if you consider Facebook’s share of video advertising viewing is too small to unpick 17.6 mins 9.7 mins from ‘other online video’. But a word of caution on this estimate. Live TV Playback TV Broadcaster VOD We don’t have an official data source for how much time is spent watching video Source: 2020 – BARB/Broadcaster stream data advertising relative to content on TikTok. For YouTube, we use comScore data to tell us the relationship between the volume Increased viewing of live TV has driven an uplift in AV ad viewing of ads and the volume of content. But this kind of data isn’t available for TikTok. So to work round this we’ve assumed 25.0 that the relationship between time viewing content and viewing advertising 20.0 on TikTok is the same as YouTube (2% of all time watching YouTube is spent watching advertising). 15.0 However, as TikTok’s ad model is different from YouTube (its ads can be skipped immediately rather than 10.0 after 5 seconds), its 1.4% share of video per day (all individuals) (all day per advertising time is likely to be on the 5.0 generous side. Also, as a relatively Mins ad views of AV per person new platform whose content is largely user-generated, ensuring brand safety 0.0 and brand appropriateness will be a 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 priority for any advertisers considering it. Live TV Broadcaster VOD Other online video TikTok BVOD is a key part of total Playback TV Cinema YouTube TV advertising By breaking the broadcaster AV Source: 2010–2020, BARB/Broadcaster stream data/IPA Touchpoints 2020 advertising time down by type, we can see that whilst live TV is the primary means of getting ads seen, both playback, where ads are watched back at normal speed within recorded content, and BVOD make up a significant chunk of ad viewing time – especially amongst younger audiences. N.B. advertisers only pay for ads watched in playback at normal speed. As we’ll cover later, whilst the proportion of video advertising time within BVOD is relatively small compared with linear TV, BVOD audiences are made up of lighter linear viewers. So BVOD now plays a crucial role in driving cost-effective reach.
THE VIDEO ADVERTISING LANDSCAPE 31 THINKBOX
Live TV viewing gave video AV advertising for 16-34s grew in 2020 advertising a bounce The increase in video viewing in 2020 20.0 caused an uplift in time watching video 18.0 advertising. Live TV, which converts content viewing to advertising viewing 16.0 so effectively, is the biggest influence on 14.0 total video ad viewing time. The average 12.0 person watched an additional 0.7 minutes a day – a 5% increase year-on-year. BVOD 10.0 advertising increased by 22% taking the 8.0 total time spent viewing TV advertising 6.0
to 17.6 minutes. (16-34s) day per person Mins ads of viewed AV per 4.0 16-34s’ video ad decline 2.0 paused – or halted? 0.0 Amongst younger audiences, video 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 advertising as a whole has been gradually declining during the last five years in line with declining viewing to live TV. This Live TV Broadcaster VOD Other online video TikTok trend was ended by the impact of Covid, Playback TV Cinema YouTube with total video advertising among 16-34s growing for the first time in four years. Source: 2010–2020, BARB/Broadcaster stream data/IPA Touchpoints 2020
68% of adults watch 50+ linear TV ads a week Using a sample of two weeks in May, 68% of adults watch over 50 linear ads a week we can get a richer understanding of the nature of TV advertising on linear TV. 100 Average numbers of time spent viewing 90 video advertising across the population 11.5m 10.5m 12.6m as a whole are useful, but viewing 80 behaviour isn’t consistent from person to 68% of person. So we get a better understanding 7.1m adults can 70 8.2m 6.3m easily be of TV’s ability to drive reach by breaking reached 5.1m viewers down in terms of the number of 60 4.7m through ads they watch in a week. 6.1m linear TV 50 In 2015, 80% of the UK would watch 7.5m 6.5m over 50 linear TV ads a week making 40 8.6m them relatively easy to reach. By 2020 5.5m 4.8m this number was 68%. That’s still the 30 Proportion of population % population Proportion of 5.1m 8.0m majority of the population, but the drop 8.5m highlights the need to look elsewhere 20 6.2m to reach a higher percentage of the 10 6.9m 8.3m population. 4.0m It is worth noting that a further 16% 0 (8 million) can be reached through linear 2015 2019 2020 TV but, as they watch under 50 ads a week, the odds of reaching them are No. of linear TV ads viewed per week lower. It requires clever programme 501+ 201–300 51–100 None selection to get into the shows that harder-to-reach audiences tend 301–500 101–200 1–50 to watch. Source: BARB, Adults. Ads viewed at normal speed. Weeks 19 & 20 for each year (early May).
32 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
Use BVOD to reach lighter linear viewers Lightest half of linear TV viewers watch majority of BVOD Using IPA Touchpoints data we can break down linear TV viewers into two groups – the lightest half and the heaviest half. 100 Using this data it’s clear to see where you can add reach, with 65% of BVOD 90 viewing generated by the lightest half of 35% linear viewers. This means that the odds 80 of reaching the lightest 50% of linear TV viewers through BVOD are 6.5/10 – nearly 70 four times more likely than in linear TV. 60 83%
50
40
Proportion of TV viewing % viewing TV Proportion of 65% 30
20
10 17%
0 Linear TV Viewing BVOD Viewing
Lightest 50% linear viewers* Heaviest 50% linear viewers
2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, Sky Sports Source: IPA Touchpoints 2020 (lockdown), adults 15+. *‘Lightest 50% linear viewers’ includes non-linear viewers.
THE VIDEO ADVERTISING LANDSCAPE 33 THINKBOX
Video reach planning Nominally, this bit is ‘Video reach planning’. But it could equally be called ‘Get ready for a lot of detail, but we promise it’ll be worth it’. With AV widely acknowledged as the most powerful means of cementing your message in the minds of your target market, building maximum cost-effective reach for a given budget is top of most media planners’ lists. But it’s a complicated process. Here we explore the challenge. In detail. Lashings of detail.
34 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
Reach should be the goal The complexities of reach planning No time for the detail? Here are Ehrenberg Bass won the argument. for different audiences the headline take outs: No, not a fancy fish, an esteemed marketing Making the case for optimal reach planning — Advertisers should care more science unit in Australia and home to for an audience like 16-34s across all about maximising reach for a Byron Sharp. Their work has put to bed forms of TV is relatively straightforward. given budget than the campaign the concept that you can tightly target Linear TV is slightly more expensive average CPT your way to long-term growth. Reach is than BVOD for this audience, but linear now widely accepted as a fundamental continues to have the majority of scale — Direct Line Group’s latest driver of growth – reach should be the goal. in terms of total ad views (88%, as seen research shows that Facebook That’s not to say there isn’t a time and on p.31), so combining both forms of can’t add cost-effective a place for the intelligent use of data to TV together to achieve maximum effect incremental reach to linear TV achieve tactical objectives however – is a logical solution. — Lumen analysis reveals that TV and there’s still a debate over market Reach planning for, say, ABC1 adults and YouTube deliver the lowest segmentations vs. needing to target is much less straightforward. Here, the cost per second of attention every potential buyer in your category. average cost of a thousand ABC1 adults seeing a 30-second TV spot is about half — Research by Karen Nelson-Field Total TV builds cost-effective reach as much on linear TV as it is on BVOD. shows that TV and BVOD deliver As TV viewing has spread across linear Linear TV also accounts for the vast double the short-term sales and on demand, TV’s ability to deliver majority of ABC1 adults’ TV viewing. impact of YouTube high volumes of cost-effective reach has So why would an advertiser want to buy — TV delivers the greatest signals changed and BVOD has become even BVOD at double the price to reach ABC1s? of brand strength and quality, more important on the plan (see p.31). To answer this, we must return to our according to research from The latest data from BARB’s new original goal: reach. We should care more house51 total TV planning tool clearly shows about driving the highest level of reach how planning linear and BVOD together at the lowest total cost than trying to — We need to avoid commoditising delivers much higher levels of reach achieve the lowest possible cost video and plan based on at lower AV budgets – especially for per thousand. effectiveness; the Demand younger audiences. Generator is a great starting point And the broadcasters are hard at work on the CFlight measurement initiative. This will combine BVOD log data and BARB linear data to provide advertisers with the total reach of their campaigns across all forms of TV.
Total TV builds cost-effective reach
16-34 cover guide 80
70
60
50
40
30 1+ % Reach (16-34)
20
10
0 £0 £200k £400k £600k £800k £1m £1.2m £1.4m £1.6m £1.8m £2m
Spend (constant prices) 100% Linear TV (2020) Source: BARB BVOD Planner (6 weeks 31st Aug to 11th Oct 2020)/natural delivery average linear CPTs for 2019 (2019 used rather than 2020 to avoid artificially deflated 2020 prices caused by the pandemic) Linear TV 60% / BVOD 40% (2020)
VIDEO REACH PLANNING 35 THINKBOX
The optimal TV mix depends on This is because, as we saw on p.33, lighter are not skippable and so play through all budget and reach goal linear viewers are much easier to reach in the way from start to finish (and ads that The chart below shows a useful metric BVOD than they are on linear TV alone. are fast-forwarded are not charged for). to visualise the reach planning challenge; All in all, the cost of reaching 70% of The happy consequence is that you can cost per incremental reach point. This is ABC1 adults using a linear TV alone is plan them together, apples with apples. the budget required to get an ad seen by £1.6m. The cost for a blended BVOD The same does not apply to the an extra 1% of a target audience – in this campaign is £1.4m. various forms of online video. They are case, ABC1 adults. The optimal mix for a brand will a galaxy of very different things. As you can see, this cost changes depend on its budget and reach goal. So, what can we do? Thankfully, to as various levels of reach are achieved. Smaller budgets with lower reach targets help us navigate the reach planning The chart compares the cost of delivering might well be better purely using linear. minefield, there have been several recent an additional 1% reach between a campaign But the case is clear for larger budgets studies that have started to dig into the bought solely across linear TV and one with higher reach goals to plan using a detail of the reach challenge. Let’s have where the budget is split 80% linear/ blend of linear and BVOD. a look at them… 20% BVOD. At low levels of reach, a linear TV- You can plan & measure TV and BVOD only campaign is cheaper. Once you’ve together; online video is trickier reached 10% of ABC1 adults, the cost to But TV does not have a total monopoly get to 11% with a linear-only campaign is on reach and marketers understandably £5.7k, whereas a blended linear/BVOD also want to combine TV with other video campaign would be £6.9k. platforms to grow reach even further. A linear-only campaign continues to And the video platforms will be knocking be cheaper at driving incremental reach on their doors, selling their platforms, until you hit the 30% reach mark. Then using their own proprietary tools to justify the trend reverses and having a linear/ the share of budget they feel is rightfully BVOD blended campaign becomes theirs. This is where it gets tricky. more and more cost-effective at driving Linear TV and BVOD are essentially reach. To get from 70% to 71% reach for the same thing. Same ad format, same ABC1 adults would cost £89.7k with a content environment, same regulation. linear-only campaign, but £66.9k for a The majority of viewing is delivered on the blended campaign – a saving of £23k. big screen, the sound is on and the ads
Cost per incremental reach point (ABC1 adults)
100 £89.7 90
80
70 £66.9
60 £51.2 50
£37.8 40 £27.6 30 £23.9 £18.9 20 £16.2 £12.4 £11.9 £8.3 £9.1
Cost for the next 1% of incremental reach (£k) £6.9 10 £3.6 £4.9 £5.7
0 1% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Reach level achieved
Source: BARB BVOD planner, 2019 average linear CPT (2019 used rather than 2020 to avoid artificially deflated 2020 prices caused by the pandemic), BVOD priced at £30CPM Linear TV only Linear 80% / BVOD 20%
36 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
Direct Line Group factoring for video starts and partial for building incremental reach at a lower views to account for their ability to tell a cost than simply spending more budget BVOD and YouTube are story and deliver against these longer- on linear TV once 70% reach had been key to incremental reach term goals. achieved. Although, DLG note that all DLG designed an experiment with BVOD was delivered on the TV screen, research company Audience Project to versus YouTube which was predominantly Direct Line Group (DLG) operate a explore the most cost-effective means delivered on devices and therefore less best-in-class approach to marketing of driving incremental reach once a likely to deliver the required impact that data science. They wanted to determine campaign had hit 70% of all adults cover big screen advertising is proven to deliver. the optimal media solution for driving through linear TV. Audience Project cost-effective reach. used their audience panel to model the Through previous analysis (read their incremental reach to linear TV delivered brilliant IPA paper ‘They went short. We by AV campaigns running on Facebook, went long’), DLG had built the business Twitter, YouTube and BVOD. case for brand-led AV advertising. The chart below shows the cost of They had the evidence to show that driving an extra 1% of incremental reach investment in TV advertising would once a linear TV campaign has reached drive better returns in the long term SAM TAYLOR 70% of all adults, indexed against the cost HEAD OF GROUP COMMERCIAL/ than investing more money into of using linear TV alone (i.e. an index of PERFORMANCE MARKETING, DLG activation channels. 200 would be twice as expensive as using But, with TV viewing spreading across linear TV alone, and an index of 50 would linear and on demand, and the cost A key area of focus for effective incremental be half the cost). of driving high levels of reach through reach is viewability, attention and completion, In terms of incremental reach, linear TV alone increasing, the business because, after all, not all impacts are equal. Facebook, YouTube and BVOD all offered challenge was how DLG could continue We also need to remember that this is only a more cost-effective solution than to drive high levels of cost-effective reach. one piece of the measurement puzzle. continuing with linear TV. However, when Crucially this had to be reach that We need to understand the channels from all factors for visual attention and viewability would continue to deliver on the long- areas and let our investment decisions be were taken into consideration, the cost of term goals the business had already guided by econometrics and brand metrics Facebook and Twitter skyrocketed so the proven worked; reach via ads that too if we want these learnings to drive cost effectiveness plummeted. YouTube drive an emotive connection between positive changes to our business outcomes. and BVOD were the only viable solutions a consumer and a brand. This meant
Direct Line Group Cost per incremental reach point analysis
After 70% reach to adults on linear TV Adults (Cost index for additional point of reach)
2000
1429
1000
500 Index to TV @ 70% Reach 437
188
100 84 46 68 64 68 Cost per Inc. Cover Point Attention & Viewable cost per inc reach point
Source : Audience Project Facebook Twitter YouTube BVOD
VIDEO REACH PLANNING 37 THINKBOX
Lumen Cost per ‘000 attentive seconds Based on attention, TV and YouTube are most £25 cost-effective £21.88 £20 This issue of attention to advertising is increasingly gaining more, well, attention. Lumen specialises in using eye tracking £15 to assess how much visual attention £13.54 advertising receives across different formats. They conducted a comparative £10 analysis to determine the relative cost per second of attention. What they discovered is that TV £5.10 Cost per ‘000 attentive seconds attentive ‘000 per Cost £5 and YouTube are the most cost-effective £2.04 £1.49 £1.73 £1.92 channels based on attentive seconds, £1.05 £1.00 and Facebook infeed and mobile web/digital display are much less £0 15 " cost-effective – so backing up 30 "
the DLG findings. Desktop 6" Bumper Mobile web Mobile Facebook infeed Facebook Instagram infeed Instagram Stories Non-skippable 15"/20"
TV YouTube Social Digital Display
The Great British Bake Off, Channel 4 Source: Lumen, WARC Dec 2020
38 ADVERTISING IN 2020
Karen Nelson-Field Sales uplift indexed by video type Facebook video doesn’t help sales
STAS Index The latest Karen Nelson-Field research study – ‘Not all reach is equal’ – takes a similar angle to Lumen by examining the role of attention, but she also links this to TV 129 — advertising effectiveness via sales uplift. The measure she uses is called STAS (short-term advertising strength) and BVOD — 138 an index of 100 is equivalent to the sales you would generate without running any advertising. As you can see to the left, YouTube — 112 BVOD drives the highest STAS index of 138, with linear TV close behind with Instagram — 105 129. YouTube delivers an index of 112, Instagram is just over 100 and Facebook didn’t deliver any measurable impact. Facebook — 100 The results rank the performance of the channels in a similar order to that of Source: Karen Nelson-Field, Screenforce DACH ‘Not all reach is equal’ the Lumen study. But what’s interesting is that YouTube, which is on a par with TV in terms of cost per second of attention in the Lumen research, falls behind TV by some way in Karen Nelson-Field’s study. Why? Signalling power by medium
TV grabs attention and denotes quality 70% There are several things that could explain why YouTube falls behind TV. 58 It could be that viewers’ attention is 60%
fixed on YouTube’s skip button (Channel 49 49 50 4’s ‘Not all VOD is the same’ study 50% 45 showed this). High visual attention to 42 43 the start of an ad may be less powerful 40 40% 38 37 than part visual attention to the whole 34 ad, where the audio plays a role in joining 32 32 32 together the whole message in our minds. 30% One factor that is also likely at play 21 22 20 19 here is the signalling power of different 20% media. Our study with house51 (see p.74) positively (% signals Fitness uncovered the differing ability of media statements) to agreeing / scoring channels to communicate brand ‘fitness’. 10% This is often known as the ‘As seen on TV effect’ – if an advertiser can afford 0% to be on TV and make their promises Confidence Financial strength Quality so publicly, it must be a credible, high-quality product. TV Newspapers Magazines house51 found that TV advertising Source: Signalling Success, 2020, carried the highest costly signal of all the house51/Thinkbox. Base: all adults (3,654) Radio Social Media Video sharing sites media tested, with social and online video platforms at the other end of the scale. So, people may give reasonable attention to ads on YouTube, but they perhaps don’t perceive the products they see advertised to be great quality.
VIDEO REACH PLANNING 39 THINKBOX
Not all forms of video are equal – Online Retail so not all reach is equal Even if we reduce different types of video right down to an equivalenced cost per second of attention, they are still not equivalents. There’s much more nuance that needs to be taken account of, such as the way they’re viewed, the screen they’re viewed on, the environment they’re viewed within, and the resulting impact on our cognitive biases. In some ways, it would be so much easier if all video were commoditised. This would create a handy mechanism for reach planning, and a simple means of justifying media decisions to the financial and procurement teams. But it wouldn’t lead to more effective media planning.
Start with historic effectiveness The best way through all this is to start with historic effectiveness analyses – make decisions and shape media plans Finance based on evidence of what has worked and in what combination. This could either be brands’ own effectiveness data or, if that isn’t available, then the Demand Generator tool created by MediaCom, Wavemaker and Gain Theory is freely available. It enables you to plug in the details for your brand and look at the optimal media split for your campaign, including how the video part breaks down by platform. It’s based on £1.4bn of media spend from 50 advertisers, so it’s a robust, evidence-based starting point for you to assess the relative importance of different video channels. You can find the Demand Generator at www.thinkbox.tv/demandgenerator
FMCG
40 A YEAR IN TV VIDEO REACH PLANNING ADVERTISING IN 2020 41 Betty, Sky Comedy THINKBOX Weathering the storm All forms of advertising were blown off course by the events of 2020. Entire business sectors and some media were shut down. Advertisers understandably deferred or cancelled spend as they grappled with unique new challenges. The TV broadcasters reacted nimbly – and some advertisers even took advantage of the situation. Here’s how TV advertising investment fared in 2020...
YoY change in advertising revenue by media type Need to know:
— TV advertising investment 20% recovered as 2020 progressed, 10% 6% 6% finishing the year at £4.35bn 0% — Online businesses remain the -10% largest spending category -12% -20% -15% — 1,243 new-to-TV advertisers -30% -26% -33% -40% -36% -50% -44% -60% TV got stronger as 2020 unfolded TV revenues fell by around 50% in -70% 2020 YoY % change2020 in ad YoY spend Q2 2020, but recovered to finish the year -80% -76% with a 12% annual decline. Total TV ad -90%
revenue, based on figures provided by TV OOH the broadcasters, was £4.35bn. Radio Online Online Search Cinema display* The adjacent chart shows the ad National Magazines Direct mailDirect revenue performance of the different newsbrand media. Online search and display were the only channels to scrape year-on-year growth, both likely fuelled by the rise Source: TV revenue: Broadcaster revenue data (Inc all forms of TV), All other media: AA/WARC. Each media in ecommerce and increased focus on type is inclusive of online revenue. *Online display includes online forms of TV, Print & Radio short-term activation.
42 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
TV proved its worth – socially Online businesses are the biggest investors in TV and commercially TV undoubtedly benefited from the closure of cinemas and the challenges £800 lockdown posed for outdoor. But TV also proved its worth in the pandemic. £600 Both socially, as a source of vital entertainment, much-needed escapism, and trusted news; and commercially, £400 as broadcasters were nimble-footed to Millions increase their flexibility, allowing deferrals where possible and shortening advanced £200 booking deadlines to four weeks (a practice that they’ve committed to continue to do going forward) to allow for more agile 0 bookings. They also offered numerous incentives to advertisers such as help Food Retail FMCG Online Online Motors Finance Travel & Travel & leisure & with creative production and airtime business Telecoms transport deals for SMEs and charities. Household Household Cosmetics & personal care personal Entertainment Entertainment equipment & DIY & equipment
TV advertising to drive online- social Government specific business is accelerating political organisation Online businesses as a broad category remained by far the largest-spending Source: Nielsen, 2020 ‘Online business’ is a Thinkbox-created category which consists of all online-only brands and online services for bricks and mortar businesses. (Travel ranked 15th largest category) set of advertisers on TV in 2020. But, as 2020 turbo-charged ecommerce and most businesses now operate across both online and bricks and Ad spend for online-specific activity grew across most sectors in 2020 mortar, it’s worth digging into this area a bit further, and looking at online-specific advertising activity (as opposed to more Ent & Leisure (Generic) -24% generic advertising activity, that isn’t Ent & Leisure specifically focused on driving (Online) +8% online traffic). Doing this (see chart right) we see a Finance big difference: generic spend significantly (Generic) -23% dropped, whilst online-specific activity Finance soared (with the obvious exception of (Online) -3% travel). This isn’t a huge surprise because of the climate in 2020 with retail outlets Retail closed for much of the year and the shift (Generic) -30% to ecommerce. Retail (Online) +8%
Computers (Generic) +13% Computers (Online) +70%
Motors (Generic) -28% Motors (Online) +69%
Travel (Generic) -45% Travel (Online) -67%
£0 £50 £100 £150 £200 £250 £300 £350 £400
Linear TV spend (£m)
Source: Nielsen, 2020 ‘Online business’ is a Thinkbox-created category which consists of all online-only brands and online services for bricks and mortar businesses. (Ranked by online specific spend 2020) 2019 2020
WEATHERING THE STORM 43 THINKBOX
TV spend fluctuated by category TV spend. Ford on the other hand compared with 2019. Unilever led the Breaking down patterns of spend to dropped spend by around £10m. way, spending £65m more on linear linear TV by category across the year TV advertising than they did in 2019 — Entertainment & Leisure is a very gives a better understanding of the role (a 130% increase). This bought them diverse advertising category, TV played for different types of business 16 billion more ad views in 2020 encompassing fast food restaurants in 2020 and how it changed through the compared with 2019. alongside film distributors and course of the year (see chart below). gambling businesses. So it is difficult — With ecommerce booming, Online First there were the L-shaped to draw much meaning here. But, Retailers barely paused, with most categories, those that were hit badly as a category, the worst of the months seeing a year-on-year by circumstances and stayed hit: impact seemed to happen in Q2 increase in TV spend. — Travel, after a positive start to the with normality returning in the — As a good broadband connection year, clearly saw the danger in March second half of the year. became an even more vital component and from there on, despite a slight — Finance can just about be included of a stress-free life, Telecoms, after recovery in late summer, the story was in the V-shaped group with significant some caution in Q2/3, saw some fairly bleak with spend severely diminished. cuts in Q2 and a gradual return to steep increases in spend year-on-year. — Retail and Household equipment, normality by the end of the year. despite coming back to positive — Food, supermarkets and food brands There were 1,243 new-to-TV year-on-year spend in October, were all cautious initially, but returned advertisers in 2020 both dropped back to year-on-year to usual spend levels by August, and Many of these were ecommerce business declines as lockdown hit again spent their deferred money in Q4. looking to supercharge their growth in November. through TV. Notable newcomers included Finally there were some J-shaped Then the V-shaped categories that TikTok, Klarna, Find My Past, Duolingo categories – last year was a pandemic, bounced back. and Farmdrop. To get a sense of why so not a recession – and some were able to many brands came on TV in 2020, it is — Motors saw an 80% drop in spend in seize the growth opportunity at hand: worth looking at an example of what TV April/May before stabilising in July to — Our need for everyday essentials can do – and online car retailer Cazoo is October and returning to growth, at remained unchecked and with a great one. the end of the year. There were some rock-bottom TV prices it was a interesting variations here with Volvo, great time to invest in your brand if MG and Kia all taking the opportunity you could. Many FMCG advertisers of lowered TV pricing to increase their increased their TV investment overall
How linear TV ad spend fluctuated across 2020 by category
‘Shape’ Category Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Travel & Transport 10% 2% -53% -99% -98% -96% -61% -58% -55% -70% -87% -71% L Retail -13% -3% -25% -76% -76% -27% -18% -11% -34% -6% -33% -21% Household Equipment & DIY -5% 27% 8% -86% -86% -39% -4% -26% -27% -26% -29% -20%
Motors -19% -14% 2% -75% -79% -24% -15% -9% -2% -9% 27% 22% Entertainment & Leisure 8% 2% -6% -39% -51% -31% -3% -17% -9% -15% 5% 3% V Food -15% -7% 12% -34% -31% -35% -15% 10% -7% 35% 9% 27% Finance 0% 7% 2% -41% -45% -39% -17% -26% -17% -8% -13% 23%
Household FMCG -8% 5% 20% -18% -43% 29% 23% 34% 37% 73% 65% 37% J Drink -43% 0% -9% -20% -41% -59% -26% 30% 51% 78% 17% 28% Telecoms 1% -25% -1% -32% -17% -15% -20% 7% 43% -10% 40% 50% Online Retail -10% -28% 28% 5% 3% 22% 102% -13% 2% 30% 46% 4%
– Government Social Political -10% -7% 30% 87% 91% 98% 92% 39% -23% 11% 61% 36%
All categories -8% -3% 1% -43% -46% -27% -6% -5% -9% 0% 7% 1%
Source: Nielsen Ad Dynamix 2020 spend vs 2019 by month
44 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
How TV helped boost Cazoo to £6bn Cazoo is a British start up, founded just two years ago, that offers a simple and convenient way of buying used cars online, taking away the need to travel and haggle at a dealership. Google Trends data can help us understand the impact that linear TV had on their business (see chart below). By looking at the change in volume of people using Google to search for ‘Cazoo’ we see an incredibly tight correlation with huge growth in the week their TV advertising started. Using a benchmark search term of ‘used car’ we can see that this clearly isn’t a seasonal or ‘lockdown’ effect. This is advertising-driven growth in demand. Cazoo’s campaign was built around a combination of TV, outdoor, radio, print and some online (according to Nielsen data, Cazoo invested 50% of the ad budget in TV). So it would be unfair to claim all the credit here for TV. But with Cazoo now eyeing a £6bn public offering, this is a clear example of a highly effective multi-media campaign with TV at its heart.
TV advertising drove huge uplifts in search for Cazoo vs the category average
2500% 180m
160m
2000% 140m Linear TV exposures 120m 1500% 100m
80m 1000% 60m
500% 40m
% Change in Google search volume* 20m
0% 0 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 10 10 10 10 01 01 01 01 / / / / / 07 07 07 07 03 03 03 03 03 05 05 05 05 05 02 02 02 02 08 08 08 08 08 09 09 09 09 06 06 06 06 / / / / 04 04 04 04 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 15 11 01 29 22 13 12 19 18 08 27 12 17 19 25 20 15 26 31 13 21 16 16 12 14 19 10 06 01 05 26 04 27 05 07 23 23 29 24 22 28 26 20 30 03 08 02 02 09 09 05 06
Source: BARB/Google Trends * vs the last 8 weeks of 2019 Search for ‘Cazoo’ Search for ‘Used car’ TV Exposures
WEATHERING THE STORM 45 THINKBOX
And the winners were… The Thinkboxes 2020 Our esteemed Thinkbox Academy of leading creatives honour the most outstanding TV ads on screen in our bi-monthly awards, created in partnership with Campaign.
It was an undeniably difficult year for creative January/February agencies and their clients. As the world began ‘Tuesday’, to change in the first half of 2020, so did the response from brands. From messaging Department to practical considerations, a lot had to be for Education “We wanted stopped, amended or created from new. to invert the It really was a challenge like no other. Client Department for Education telescope and look Agency Havas London at the many ways But rise to the challenge they did, and TV Director 32 a single teacher advertising continued to deliver inspiring, Creative Team Sam Turk, can impact on the engaging and important messages to the Paul Robbins, Lynsey Atkin lives of children nation. Clients and creative agencies worked Production Company Pulse Films in a single day – looking at things Placing a real teacher at the heart together to produce creative campaigns from the teacher’s of the TV ad added authenticity and in an ever-shifting landscape. We take our perspective intimacy to the work, which is part this time.” hats off to the winners and nominees... of the Department for Education’s ‘Every Second Shapes a Life’ campaign. Nicola Keane Head of Marketing, Department for Education
“32 took the initial script and really fleshed out every imaginable detail, which made us so much more agile on set.” Paul Robbins Creative, Havas London
46 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
March/April ‘Night Workers’, McDonald’s
“The flow of the Clients Ben Fox, Hannah Pain cones off the Agency Leo Burnett London truck, the firemen Director Sam Brown playing cards, Creative Team Chaka Sobhani, Pete the bump in the Heyes, Rory Hall, Steph Ellis, Lou Pegg taxi, the welder’s Production Company Rogue Films shadow and the Shot before the coronavirus crisis, this patient being ad movingly portrays how the restaurant tucked in with serves the night-shift workers who are care. An effortless often unseen by the rest of us. blend of honesty and beauty.” Pete Heyes Former Creative Director, Leo Burnett London
May/June ‘This doesn’t need to end’, Cadbury
Client Mie-Leng Wong, “We suppose the Sam Greenwood, Colin O’Toole very unique way it Agency VCCP was shot, mixed in Director Tom Sweetland with people literally Creative Team Darren Bailes, Chris living the feelings Birch and Jonny Parker in the film, was Production Company Clouded Vision a perfect storm. We managed to ‘This doesn’t need to end’ by VCCP be in real people’s for Cadbury shows raw examples homes, hearing of thoughtfulness for others during their real stories. lockdown living – and encourages People responded us not to let that end. very emotionally to this authenticity.” Darren Bailes Executive Creative Director, VCCP
THE THINKBOXES 47 THINKBOX
July/August ‘That Feeling’, AA
“There was a lot Clients Tracy Abraham and Will Harrison to get through Agency adam&eveDDB in a very short Director The Perlorian Brothers space of time. Creative Team Matt Woolner From choosing and Steve Wioland thickness, colour Production Company MJZ and ‘windsweep’ The commercial features Tukker, of fur, to signing a long-haired dog, who embodies the legal documents response of a nation, denied for many required for months, the freedom of a car journey. shooting during Celebrating the feeling of getting back a pandemic.” on the road, the spot aims to remind Will Harrison people that the AA is there by their Head of Brand side as they return to the driver’s seat. Marketing, AA
September/October ‘Ironing’, “We thought it Amazon Alexa would be fun to show a dog “There’s a rich replicating the Client Simon Morris intrigue in the feeling it gets from Agency Droga5 London opening scene. It hanging its head Director Andreas Nilsson makes the viewer out of a car window Creative Team David Kolbusz, think this is a bona as the warm rush Shelley Smoler, Jonathan Thake, fide feature movie of summer air flows Ethan Bennett or perhaps a new through its fur.” Production Company premium TV series, Biscuit Filmworks Steve Wioland and then we flip Creative Director, adam&eveDDB Two contrasting worlds – the everyday to the living room and the epic – collide in this spot in reveal. It’s engaging which a pair of elvish warriors are for the viewer and seemingly repeatedly commanded not a straight hard to re-enact a death scene by a chap see out of the gate.” doing his ironing. Simon Morris Global Chief Creative Officer, Amazon
“The comedy also proved a welcome relief from the more emotive-driven campaigns that ran over the summer.” Shelley Smoler, Executive Creative Director, Droga5
48 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
November/December ‘No Naughty List’, Tesco
Client Alessandra Bellini, “TV was an Emma Botton, Sarah Parmar essential part of Agency BBH London our media mix Director Raine Allen-Miller because of its Creative Team Daniel Seager, power to build Steve Hall, Tom Drew brands, story-tell Production Company Somesuch and drive reach, and it was the most With 74% of the nation saying they powerful way to wanted to see light-hearted content create a shared in this year’s festive ad offering, the moment through humorous Tesco advert shows people which people could from across Britain worrying about connect and that the things that might put them on the would also help naughty list this Christmas – from lift spirits.” bad video call etiquette to buying Sarah Parmar too much loo roll. Head of Campaigns and Consumer PR, Tesco
“What we loved about ‘No Naughty List’ was the simplicity of the idea. People immediately got it, which meant once the main idea was locked, everyone got excited about how we could push and develop it further.” Dan Seager Associate Creative Director and Art Director, BBH London
THE THINKBOXES 49 THINKBOX More TV brilliance from The Thinkboxes
January/February March/April May/June
Ecover, ‘Laundry Against Landfill’ Lurpak, ‘Where there are cooks, British Gas, ‘Here to solve’ Uncommon London there is hope’ Wieden+Kennedy London The&Partnership
Starbucks, ‘What’s your name?' Tena, ‘Ageless’ Just Eat, ‘Did somebody say Just Eat?’ Iris AMV BBDO McCann London
NatWest, ‘This Is How We Do It’ Tesco, ‘Food Love Stories: Dedications’ Maltesers, ‘Getting ready’ The&Partnership BBH London AMV BBDO
Uber Eats, ‘Leslie' Virgin Media, ‘Stay home, stay safe, TikTok, ‘A little brighter inside’ Mother stay connected’ adam&eveDDB Social Lab
50 A YEAR IN TV ADVERTISING IN 2020
While the winners scooped the awards, we shouldn’t forget the brilliant shortlists they came from. Take a look at the wonderful work that was judged by our Thinkbox Academy. Here are all our silver medal winners…..
July/August September/October November/December
Durex, ‘Let’s not go back to normal’ Bloom & Wild, ‘Care Wildly’ Amazon, ‘The show must go on’, Havas London Other Lucky Generals
Promote Iceland, ‘Let it Out’ Lloyds Bank, ‘Forever Forwards’ John Lewis & Waitrose and Partners, M&C Saatchi adam&eveDDB ‘Give a little love’ adam&eveDDB
Lynx, ‘Smell Ready’ McDonald’s, ‘The Gift’ NHS, ‘Then, now, always’ MullenLowe Leo Burnett London MullenLowe London
Rightmove, ‘This is it’ O2, ‘You & Me’ Plenty, ‘Merry Xmess’ Fold7 VCCP AMV BBDO
THE THINKBOXES 51 TV’s
transformation52 TV’s We HuntWe Alibi Together, transformation 53 THINKBOX
Advanced TV advertising at work TV now has it all, and so can its advertisers.
54 A YEAR IN TV TV’S TRANSFORMATION
Advanced TV advertising is the umbrella Barclays: term for the multitude of technological and data-driven business solutions now Using advanced TV to available thanks to the broadcasters’ reach lighter viewers video on demand services and, specifically, to AdSmart from Sky. These new capabilities are making In 2019, the financial marketplace was Barclays became the pioneering test TV more flexible and more available evolving and becoming increasingly partner for AdSmart’s custom-built light to businesses of all sizes. Here we’ll cluttered and so OMD needed their AV TV viewers segment running alongside look at four of the main opportunities strategy for Barclays to work harder linear TV to build incremental reach for advertisers – and four examples of than ever. They conducted analysis that against this hard-to-reach audience. brands making clever use of them. showed that brand consideration is an With access to Sky’s panel data, OMD important driver of sales and that weekly built a bespoke tool to analyse potential reach showed direct correlation with programmes, channels, and times where Extending your reach consideration. Weekly delivery is critical they could reach light TV viewers. By using for keeping Barclays top of mind in a AdSmart in this way, they saw on average low-interest category. between 7% and 11% incremental reach With TV viewing re-distributing across The challenge for Barclays was how for ABC1 adults and were able to maintain linear TV and on demand, advertisers to maximise reach against their target Barclays in-week share of voice without now need to make sure that they’re audience of ABC1 adults. They decided to having to increase their TVR weight utilising the whole of TV in order to target lighter TV viewers in order to unlock on linear. attain the highest possible levels unique cover for Barclays and bolster their As a result of this campaign, Barclays of cost-effective reach. AV strategy and so they partnered with also saw an increase in spontaneous Sky Media and AdSmart. consideration within their category, a great Sky has a wealth of set top data example of how data can be used to make regarding viewing habits, which includes the most of any activity. Barclays a robust pool of the lightest TV viewers.
ADVANCED TV ADVERTISING AT WORK 55 THINKBOX
Geo-targeting Pintarget analysed data that showed Customised that potential SodaStream users’ media of choice was a mix of TV and online. target audiences This works for businesses of all sizes Their solution was to create 80 hyper-local and has made TV more attractive to more TV campaigns to target high-opportunity By combining the broadcasters’ first-party brands – many of whom would never have audiences close to specific stores using registration or customer data sets with considered TV before. AdSmart from Sky technology. other data sources that they have access For example, smaller businesses with The use of TV gave the brand stature, to, advertisers can select from a huge array highly specific geographical footprints, or delivering a national-weight branding of targeted, customisable audiences. larger businesses that want to upweight campaign but only in areas where For example, they can create campaigns in areas where they have a there was distribution of the product. audiences based on historic viewing high number of stores. The objective was to communicate only preferences – so a food brand can target Advertisers can also run offers in certain to people who had the opportunity and past viewers of food shows. And they can areas but not others or use different intent to buy the product from Boots, combine detailed viewer data alongside creative based on the viewer’s location. and Pintarget’s modelling work suggested their first-party data to create custom this was potentially 650,000 homes ‘lookalike ’audiences based on viewer SodaStream: out of a national population of 27 million interests, be it gaming, fitness, DIY or pretty Using geo-targeting homes. They were able to deliver a much anything else you can think of. heavyweight campaign to a clearly And, by combining broadcasters’ for precision targeting defined target audience, defined first-party data with high-quality third-party by location and attitude. data – through companies like Experian The campaign created brand SodaStream is an iconic brand with very or Mastercard – brands can create tightly awareness and purchase intent that modern technology which substantially defined audiences, with confidence that didn’t previously exist, helping an iconic reduces single-use plastic bottles and the data they’re using will accurately brand to overdeliver on sales targets and offers a cheap source of sparkling target the intended audience. secure valuable long-term distribution water. In 2019, it was struggling to get with Boots. SodaStream rediscovered significant high-street distribution but its fizz and is now a committed pre-Christmas, an opportunity arose to Hilton Hotels: TV advertiser. test in 80 large Boots stores across Using custom-built the country. audience to reach only The challenge was to shift units both the best prospects instore and online to a level that would encourage Boots to reorder and also build awareness of the new positioning Hotel chain Hilton wanted to raise awareness of the brand, all with a total budget of of their direct booking proposition. OMD’s less than £400,000. aim was to educate audiences that booking directly on the Hilton website as opposed SodaStream to using other online travel agents is simple and can save you time and money. To be more precise with their targeting, they used Mosaic Groups. Mosaic is a consumer segmentation model designed by Experian. It’s a classification system which segments the population into 15 groups and 66 types that helps you to understand an individual’s likely customer behaviour. Through analysis, OMD found that the two Mosaic groups found to be most closely matched with Hilton prospects were the two named City Prosperity and Domestic Success. They combined these two groups to create a custom-built target audience. The activity drove strong uplifts in spontaneous brand awareness with exposed groups 32% more likely to cite Hilton. Of those who recalled seeing the advert, 27% took some form of action as a result, 17% visited the website and 4% went on to book a room via the www.hilton.com website.
56 A YEAR IN TV TV’S TRANSFORMATION
Customer data matching
Data matching is a rapidly developing and hugely exciting area, and all the broadcasters offer a means for advertisers to combine their own customer data sets with the broadcasters’ own first-party data. From targeting existing customers with specific promotions, to upweighting activity at the time a customer is coming to the point of a renewal, or targeting different customers with different creative based on what you believe is most likely to trigger a response – there are a host of opportunities on offer.
Just Eat: Matching their own data with Channel 4’s viewing data
Just Eat wanted to improve consideration and to increase purchase of takeaways. Just Eat UM decided that a good way to do this Hilton Hotels would be to target Just Eat’s lapsed customers. So, in 2020, Just Eat partnered with All 4 to trial their new advanced TV solution – Brandm4tch. The challenge was to activate Just Eat’s first-party data in a way that didn’t rely upon any cookie data and that was completely GDPR compliant. Working with data clean room Infosum and Channel 4’s advanced data management platform Mediarithmics, the Brandm4tch solution allowed them to match users from Just Eat’s CRM database with Channel 4’s 24 million registered users. This meant they were then able to target the highly valuable audience of lapsed Just Eat customers, delivering relevant advertising across all devices. This sophisticated targeting approach delivered great results, measured by independent research agency MTM: — 63% uplift for spontaneous brand awareness among the Brandm4tch audience — Significant increase in percentage of people claiming to order in the last month* — 38% uplift for consideration among the Brandm4tch audience vs all 16-34s adults. *Unable to share exact uplift due to confidentiality.
ADVANCED TV ADVERTISING AT WORK 57 THINKBOX It’s terrific… we’re aiming for 100% TV Masters Not our words, but the words of the CEO of Wavemaker, Paul Hutchison. As we write this, some 6,253 people have so far signed up for the TV Masters online training course he’s talking about. That’s 6,253 people who are now cleverer and even better at their jobs. Here’s what it’s all about…
Since the launch at the end of 2020, we have welcomed students from every major UK media agency and from 341 For someone focused on digital Full of great, well-researched brands including Direct Line, Nationwide, media 99% of the time, it was so modules with up-to-date examples Samsung, Comparethemarket, Asda refreshing and fun to complete the TV across the whole spectrum of TV in and Cancer Research UK. Masters course from Thinkbox. It’s a the UK. I’d recommend anyone working TV Masters is the only comprehensive brilliant course, highly recommended! in marketing to look at doing this. and CPD-accredited training course in TV advertising – and it’s free. It’s been designed in collaboration with broadcasters, agencies, and advertisers to help boost critical skills and knowledge across the industry. I did a module one evening and used It’s great to see Thinkbox providing The carefully curated syllabus will a piece of knowledge I gained from such a high-quality training course give you the knowledge and confidence it in a presentation to a client the to help agencies and clients better to make you fluent in TV advertising. next afternoon! understand the role of TV advertising From the latest advanced TV solutions in building brand reputation and to the practicalities of planning and growth in the digital era. TV Masters buying a TV campaign, it covers all the is essential learning for anyone existing and emerging ways brands can entering the industry and is a work with TV to deliver business success. helpful complement to the IPA’s I’m a long way into my media career, Foundation Certificate. but I was so impressed with this – I’m recommending it to everyone. Clear 95% and memorable explanations not just Janet Hull OBE, likely or very likely to Director of Marketing Strategy of TV, but of some vital principles for and Executive Director recommend to a colleague anyone who works in advertising. Effectiveness Week, IPA 97% scored the content excellent or good
58 A YEAR IN TV TV’S TRANSFORMATION
Who it’s for: What you’ll achieve: Who it’s for: — Whether you’re new to TV, an — A comprehensive understanding — It’s free advertising allrounder or a media pro of today’s TV and TV advertising — Spring, Autumn and Winter courses looking for a refresher, TV Masters — Expertise on how TV works is essential learning. — Up to 10 weeks to complete with other media — It’s designed to be as useful and — Learn at your own pace — An informed appreciation of practical to new starters with TV’s multiple marketing roles — Six on-demand video modules everything to learn, as it is to more experienced hands looking to refresh — A command of the principles of — Presented by TV experts their knowledge and skills. advertising effectiveness and how — Downloadable charts & TV drives business growth — Most likely, you’ll work in marketing additional reading for a brand or at an advertising or — Confidence to discuss TV’s — Tests to help you learn media agency. digital transformation with clients and colleagues — Optional final exam to earn — You may even work at a TV company. a Distinction Or you may be a business leader who — Insights, tips and skills to be more wants to broaden their horizons and be effective at work — CPD certified and IPA CPD able to ask your marketing teams and hours eligible — A career-enhancing qualification agencies some tricky questions. Go to www.tvmasters.thinkbox.tv to enrol, or contact [email protected] for more information.
Just some of the brands who have signed up:
TV MASTERS 59 The smartest planning The smartest Brassic, Sky One Sky Brassic, planning 61 THINKBOX Smart young things
What was it like to plan media in a year when plans got moved, cancelled and changed constantly? The 2020 Thinkbox Young TV Planner of Year finalists share their thoughts and what there is to be excited about in 2021.
WINNER JAMIE CALLAGHAN IAN DALY CHARLOTTE KNOPE BUSINESS DIRECTOR HEAD OF AV, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR CONNECTIONS PLANNING, OMD BOUNTIFUL COW (BROADCAST), RUNNING TOTAL Biggest planning Biggest planning Biggest planning opportunity of 2020/21? opportunity of 2020/21? opportunity of 2020/21? It’s been super interesting figuring out The whole planning cycle has been We currently live in a world where the the best way to test the impact of stricter reduced from months to weeks, even government’s management of the pandemic HFSS regulations across TV and also online. days. Advertisers and agencies with their can drastically affect a client’s business fingers on the pulse could be rewarded for What TV developments are you overnight – flexibility for advertisers in quick thinking. excited about in 2021? market has been essential. 2020 became (ITV Platform) Planet V, (Channel 4’s) What TV developments are a year of relaxed late-booking charges Brandm4tch, and Sky Analytics. you excited about in 2021? and waivered cancellation penalties. There’s plenty to be excited about… TV, a channel with notoriously long lead TVs are getting bigger, better and smarter, times, could suddenly be switched on and whilst they continue to dominate and off within a matter of days. Such our attention there will be an abundance a gear change started to de-risk TV of planning opportunities. for advertisers and it was suddenly easier for agencies to sell TV as a core component to tactical ‘lockdown-sensitive’ media solutions. What TV developments are you excited about in 2021? The relentless sophistication of BVOD targeting definitely keeps things interesting. Two years ago, BVOD audiences varied little beyond BARB segmentation, yet today I have live campaigns that target TV viewers based on how many cars are on their driveway.
62 A YEAR IN TV (e.g. audio, display). dynamic creative is already established further with other media channels where integrate to able be will excitingly, TV equally and TV on efficiencies greater see will Advertisers 2021. TV/VOD in addressable within this see we will but video, programmatic within done be can This time. right atthe individual right the to delivered be can creative right the that so on a viewer’s consumption circumstances actual and frames script change based the where Imean video’, ‘dynamic By space. TV addressable the in creative video dynamic about excited most I am 2021? in about excited you are developments TV What brands. more to TV up – opening audiences efficientlyand cost effectively can target their brands targeting means Sophisticated space. this in testing advertisers many we’ll see Ithink area, this in broadcasters developing their offering major the TV. all With Addressable ofopportunity 2020/21? planning Biggest MEDIACOM UK ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, GEORGE VINER
targeted in their video approaches. for advertisers to be much more the broadcasters evolving, allowing Data-matching across capabilities 2021? in about excited you are What TV developments one-size-fits-all approach needs to evolve. –astandard, platforms and channels our reaching all/more audiences through we are –ensuring Inclusion and Diversity ofopportunity 2020/21? planning Biggest WAVEMAKER MEDIA DIRECTOR AV, AIMEE SHEEHAN THE SMARTEST PLANNING SMARTEST THE SMART YOUNG THINGS
without losing scale. specifically,content more relevantbut make AV to and, planning of area every to apply we can that insight and Intelligence viewers. TV of understanding of depth new awhole to we have accelerated content, of volumes (sorry!) unprecedented watching users those with And platforms. content of array awhole to users logged-in of volume the boosted massively has Lockdown 2021? in about youexcited are What TV developments embracing these new rules. beingfast, progressive, being agile and there out back getting is opportunity biggest the think Ireally partners. with we collaborate how media, we plan how day-to-day the we work, –how go about we how reappraise to us for opportunity an been also has it but everyone for has been a really tough experience pandemic The everything. much Pretty ofopportunity 2020/21? planning Biggest MANNING GOTTLIEB OMD INVESTMENT DIRECTOR AV, GABRIELLA MICHALSKI,
63 Hypothetical, Dave THINKBOX
Thinkbox TV Planning Awards 2020 This year the TV Planning Awards took place in the comfort of everyone’s homes. Even though we didn’t have to dress up, we still were able to celebrate award-winning campaigns. Our brilliant judges worked hard to make their choices, such was the high level of entries which stretched out across the expanse of solutions that TV can deliver. With a new category recognising the rising planners of the industry, there were plenty of happy faces throughout the celebration.
64 A YEAR IN TV THE SMARTEST PLANNING
Grand Prix & Best use of sponsorship Best integrated campaign Hillarys’ perfect home Saving the NHS one touchpoint at a on 4, MediaCom UK time, Mediahub for NHS England for Hillarys
In 2018, the NHS had a nursing vacancy of Hillarys were struggling to attract new customers. 40,000 and growing. More nurses were They were unfairly seen as old-fashioned, leaving and fewer school leavers applying. and their competitors had enjoyed significant growth. MediaCom UK were tasked with With research revealing an additional untapped revitalising Hillarys’ image, to speak to a fresh audience of ‘career switchers’ as potential recruits, audience and increase brand consideration. Mediahub crafted a campaign that would inspire people about nursing careers and give them To position Hillarys as the leading authority in the confidence that they could do the job. window furnishings, they sponsored Homes on 4 – a strand of TV shows perfectly suited Armed with emotive creative, the TV plan was to the brand as it encompassed aspirational built around proud, popular programming, property design and home transformation. dramatising the extraordinary, and meaningful moments for the audiences, including Sunday Alongside this, they produced an ad-funded evenings and the ‘back to school’ period. TV series – ‘Your Room or Mine’ – and used the Homes on 4 licence to create additional marketing The original TV creative was expanded using activity, including point of sale, as well as homepage radio, video-on-demand and targeted out-of-home, takeovers on All4 and a suite of interactive formats. whilst paid search and social media drove those interested to the NHS’s owned channels The result was a 13% sales increase despite for help through the application process. a downward market, a 20% increase in web traffic, and a 180% uplift in consideration At launch, search volumes exploded, with TV the for regular viewers of Homes on 4. single most-effective driver of interest. And, after years of decline, Ucas applications climbed back SHORTLIST up. Recruitment was being nursed back to health. Republic of Media, Whyte & Mackay – Shackleton Whisky HIGHLY COMMENDED the7stars, Foxy Bingo Manning Gottlieb OMD, Wavemaker & OmniGOV Public Health England
SHORTLIST m/SIX & VCCP Tango OMD UK McDonald’s
THINKBOX TV PLANNING AWARDS 2020 65 THINKBOX
Best use of content Best small budget use of TV Loyle Carner’s Concrete How Italy’s ‘King of Tortellini’ won the Green, PHD Manchester hearts of UK Northerners, Total Media & DRUM for Timberland for La Famiglia Rana
Timberland has a long-term commitment to After a successful relaunch in 2018, fresh pasta using recycled, organic and renewable materials specialist La Famiglia Rana had a challenge. Sales in their products. When they launched their in the north of England had not witnessed the same Euro Sprint Trekker boot in 2019, they asked level of uplift as the south and they wanted to try and PHD and DRUM to communicate Timberland’s increase them along with supporting their listings in sustainability commitment while making the two key supermarkets. brand cool again with a younger audience. Total Media was tasked with delivering a near Building on the brand’s heritage in music and hip-hop immediate sales lift in the north on a modest budget. culture, they partnered with MTV to create a mini-series They quickly identified TV for its power to drive called ‘Timberland presents: Concrete Green with Loyle short-term response. Carner’. It used the power of TV to tell the story of the A four-week regional campaign was recommended hip-hop artist becoming involved in urban greening. to quickly build brand awareness and consideration The show became the centre of Timberland’s wider among conscious convenience shoppers. campaign, amplified on social media, out-of-home and Analysis of Asda & Morrisons shoppers’ viewing habits in-store. The result was a triple-digit sales increase and fed into channel and programming selection, whilst 100% sell-through. More than three out of four viewers BVOD was vital to reach lighter viewers. said the show changed their opinion of Timberland and made them more likely to consider purchase. After just four weeks on air, results were fast and impressive. TV delivered double the sales uplift target, HIGHLY COMMENDED protected two hard won distribution channels, and MediaCom UK Lloyds Bank lead to a national TV campaign in 2020.
SHORTLIST SHORTLIST Manning Gottlieb OMD John Lewis & Partners december19 allplants and Waitrose & Partners Republic of Media Scottish Government MediaCom UK Tesco
66 A YEAR IN TV THE SMARTEST PLANNING
Best ongoing use of TV Best TV newcomer How TV became the fuel for our Claiming our unfair share journey, Once Upon A Time Media of attention, Craft Media for Greater Anglia & Goodstuff for BrewDog
Greater Anglia Rail’s journey into TV began with a BrewDog’s growth from its original ‘punk roots’ modest annual spend in ITV’s Anglia East microregion. had reached saturation point. With an owner But, over the years, TV has become an essential and who famously doubted advertising, Craft Media integral part of their media mix. and Goodstuff needed to something special to tickle the taste buds of the broader beer-loving Econometrics revealed the untapped potential TV population. They turned to the fame medium: TV. could offer and how Greater Anglia could significantly increase revenue by increasing TV spend. With under £300,000 to spend, they carefully selected 11 TV spots and placed them to Once Upon a Time Media have adapted Greater maximise the impact of creative agency Anglia’s TV strategy to identify new opportunities and Uncommon’s heavy-metal powered creative new audiences to unlock this growth. and claim ‘an unfair share of attention’. First, they used AdSmart from Sky to map postcodes They picked shows with the greatest level of Twitter along the Greater Anglia network line along with conversations to drive talkability; ‘context-spots’ Channel 4 BVOD to target specific towns. As results where the brand fit was spot on; and ‘anti-context came in, they escalated this approach to extend spots’ to keep the spirit of punk alive, where the ad’s reach, awareness and returns. creative would rub up against the programming. By 2018 econometrics encouraged them to still The plan delivered, smashing sales targets and increase their TV spend, but also that their investment driving a staggering 20% in BrewDogs’s off-trade in spot, BVOD and AdSmart was nearing capacity for value sales. Just 10 minutes of TV sold enough their regional strategy. shares in the company to run the campaign again. The solution came in the sponsorship of Anglia Weather. Advertising outside the region drove inbound SHORTLIST journeys. AdSmart and BVOD were used again in PHD Manchester & AMV BBDO The Stroke Association selected London boroughs to identify young families PitPat & UKTV Ventures PitPat looking for local weekend destinations without the hassle of driving. TV has been key to driving Greater Anglia’s business success across the past six years: helping to deliver a consistent brand message, find new audiences and drive commercial revenues. Welcome aboard!
HIGHLY COMMENDED OMD UK easyJet
SHORTLIST Arena Media Domino’s UM Manchester Aldi
THINKBOX TV PLANNING AWARDS 2020 67 THINKBOX
Young TV Planner of the Year Special award: Charlotte Knope from Best collaboration Running Total Delivering a TV first with Channel 4, ITV and Sky, MediaCom UK for Tesco
For the first time, the Thinkbox TV Planning MediaCom’s brief was to excite the nation and get Awards added a brand-new accolade in the form them talking about Tesco in order to attract shoppers. of ‘Young TV Planner of the Year’. Being a TV In 2019, Tesco were celebrating their centenary year planner carries enormous responsibility for a and so their Christmas campaign needed to be brand’s success, demanding creativity, curiosity extra special. and collaboration in addition to the rigorous craft The Christmas TV ad featured a time-travelling skills that TV planning has always required. delivery driver, taking Tesco Christmas food to parties Open to media agency planners aged 30 years spanning the decades. To amplify this, they partnered and under, it looked at planners who were able with Channel 4, ITV and Sky to create a further nine to demonstrate a proven track record of making pieces of content, that saw the delivery driver channel an impact for their agency and clients through hopping through much-loved TV shows, such as exceptional media planning with TV at the heart. Loose Women, A League of Their Own and The Last Leg. Running Total’s Charlotte Knope topped an impressive Through huge collaboration, in one piece of content, shortlist containing six planning leaders of the future. the driver visited Fred from First Dates, the Outback Charlotte impressed the judges with her media Shack on I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and knowledge, planning know-how, ambition, and her Sky Sports legend Chris Kamara. enthusiasm and passion for all things TV advertising. Tesco’s driver delivered, with increased buzz, SHORTLIST talkability and brand metrics alongside an uplift in sales. Aimee Sheehan, Wavemaker UK Gabriella Michalski, Manning Gottlieb OMD George Viner, MediaCom UK Ian Daly, the7stars (now at Bountiful Cow) Jamie Callaghan, OMD UK
68 A YEAR IN TV THE SMARTEST PLANNING
The Judges
Tess Alps Former Chair, Thinkbox
Zaid Al-Qassab Chief Marketing Officer and Inclusion & Diversity Director, Channel 4
Nick Ashley Special award: Head of Media and Campaign Planning, Tesco Advanced TV planning Josh Bullmore Domino’s + TV = A Treat Night In, Chief Strategy Officer, Leo Burnett Arena Media for Domino’s Bobi Carley Head of Media and Diversity & Inclusion Lead, ISBA
Lindsey Clay With changing consumer behaviour and fierce CEO & Chair of Judges, Thinkbox competition from takeaway aggregators like Just Eat, the pressure was on Domino’s Pizza to deliver growth. Gurjit Degun Long-term partners Arena Media were tasked News Editor, Campaign with keeping the brand’s No 1 pizza delivery crown, demonstrating short-term success, and building Zoe Harkness longer-term brand health. Head of Planning, Thinkbox They identified a key occasion when Domino’s beat Emma Holmes the aggregators – ‘A Treat Night In’ with friends or Consumer Connections Director, Coca-Cola family. Armed with this and learnings from sales data, econometrics and response, Domino’s moved from Loz Horner short tactical campaigns to reaching as many people Strategist, Lucky Generals in market as possible throughout the year. TV spot and sponsorship in key evening eating times Jon Kershaw were central to the plan, cementing Domino’s place in Managing Director, PHD Manchester Saturday night telly and meal-time football matches. Matthew Landeman Arena Media also embraced data-driven TV Managing Director, Carat opportunities, working with broadcasters to create personally relevant spots and using data matching to Keith Moor segment and overserve specific customer groups – an Chief Marketing Officer, Camelot approach that improved sales uplift by a factor of four. They used Sky IQ to target Game of Thrones fans; and Rhiannon Murphy sponsored ITV Hub and All 4, reaching 76% of their Head of TV, the7stars target audience every month. Sannah Rogers Domino’s ongoing TV investment has been increasingly Managing Director, Zenith effective, with ROI up an impressive 65% since 2016. They have remained the nation’s favourite takeaway Fleur Stoppani and delivery brand. A triumph of a total TV approach. Managing Director, Mindshare
Kate Waters Director of Client Strategy and Planning, ITV
Dylan Williams Chief Strategy Officer, Droga5
THINKBOX TV PLANNING AWARDS 2020 69 Inspiring
Insights70 Inspiring Celebrity Juice, ITV2 Juice, Celebrity Insights 71 THINKBOX Making econometrics free to all The Demand Generation and Demand Generator project is probably the most ambitious Thinkbox initiative in our 16-year history. It is the first freely available industry planning tool that puts meaningful econometric data in the hands of advertisers of all shapes and sizes. And soon we’re expanding what it can do.
Advertisers who use econometrics It built the Demand Generator, a unique sales, and desire to minimise risk. see how media have powerful indirect online tool that determines the optimal Its key findings included proving that effects, and invest accordingly. But many media mix specific to a brand’s category, while most channels boost the efficiency can’t afford econometrics and depend budgets and goals. of others, the scale and consistency on short-term, easily accessible data, differ significantly, and that some forms which encourages over-investment into Smarter media planning of advertising are far riskier than others channels most obviously linked to sales. Demand Generation identified the key – linear TV advertising and broadcaster Media like TV, print and radio miss out. variables that influence advertising VOD were found to be the least risky. Our Demand Generation research effectiveness. They are a brand’s category, addressed this and made rigorous budget, size, appeal, proportion of online econometrics available to all for free.
Some channels massively boost the effects of others
Channel benefiting from the effect
TV Online Social Online Out of Radio Print Cinema Direct Generic video media display home mail search & VOD
TV 20% 31% 31% 22% 31% 31% 54% 20% 8%
Online 3% 5% 2% 5% 3% 12% 7% 2% 1% video & VOD
Effect Social media 2% 2% 2% 3% 2% 3% 3% 1% 1%
Online 3% 4% 4% 4% 3% 9% 11% 4% 3% display
Out of home 6% 8% 9% 8% 9% 11% 3% 1% 1% Channel GeneratingChannel
Radio 4% 4% 4% 6% 4% 3% 1% 1% 2%
Print 5% 6% 7% 5% 6% 4% 13% 7% 4%
Source: ‘Demand Generation’, Nov 2019, MediaCom/Wavemaker/Gain Theory 0–2% 3–4% 5–8% 9–20% 20%+
72 A YEAR IN TV INSPIRING INSIGHTS
Based on these findings, the Summer 2021 data refresh Demand Generator optimisation The Demand Generator is only as good Demand Generation methodology tool enables individual brands to: as the data behind it, so we’re bringing Demand Generation was a meta- that as bang up to date and relevant as — Determine the optimal media mix analysis of econometric models possible with the following updates: for their specific business conducted by WPP’s MediaCom, — Including the latest pre-2020 Wavemaker and Gain Theory. It was — Generate ‘what if’ scenarios for econometric models in the database huge, analysing £1.4bn of media varying budgets over three years spend by 50 brands across 10 forms — Adding Telecoms to the existing suite — Understand the impact of different of advertising over three years. of categories budgets on immediate returns and And it analysed six different categories: longer-term base level sales — Breaking the current FMCG category FMCG, finance, retail, online retail, into food and non-food sub-categories automotive, and travel. — Determine the value of individual This was the first time WPP had channels and resulting trade-off — Breaking the current Finance category collaborated through pooling their relative to creative costs into insurance, current accounts, respective econometric databanks. mortgages, and other — De-risk their media mix to It required permission from all 50 achieve a more certain return. — Breaking the current Retail category brands in the study, a huge undertaking. into food grocery and non-food The study also analysed channel risk and channel variability, based on — Updating media pricing to give users the variance of ROI within the middle the option for 2019 prices or WPP- 50% of all campaigns analysed (i.e. it predicted 2021 pricing excluded the worst performing and Demand Generation is a — Enabling users to define campaigns best performing 25%). neutral planning tool based as either brand or activation This approach ensured we had credible, neutral data with immense on real business results, You can find the Demand Generator at scale that would be recognised which enables us to reinforce www.thinkbox.tv/demandgenerator as unbiased. Such is the curse of our planning position with research commissioned by a our clients. media-specific trade body.
Lee Baring Head of Agency Trading, VCCP Media
The variability of returns differs significantly across channels A high level of variability away from the median return denotes a greater level of risk. The more variable the return, the greater the risk an advertiser has of making a poor media investment.
The variability of returns by channel 100
60
20
0
-20 Spread of middle 50% of of 50% middle of Spread results around the median median the around results -60
-100
TV VOD Print video Radio media Social Social Online Online search display Cinema Generic Generic Out of home Broadcaster Broadcaster
Source: ‘Demand Generation’, Nov 2019, MediaCom/Wavemaker/Gain Theory
MAKING ECONOMETRICS FREE TO ALL 73 THINKBOX
What does advertising on TV say about a brand? Is ‘as seen on social media’ the same as ‘as heard on radio’? Does a TV campaign say something about your brand that one on social media doesn’t? Our Signalling Success study had the answers….
74 A YEAR IN TV INSPIRING INSIGHTS
Signalling Success, by house51, is the TV drives the strongest fitness & social signals first known UK research dedicated to the behavioural science principle of media ‘signalling’ – how the perceived cost Fitness signal and scale of advertising channels can 50% enhance brand attributes in the eyes of 50% the consumer. You can read the full methodology 39% 39% 38% 40% later in this article. In a nutshell, thousands Average of people were split into groups to judge fitness signal fictionalised brands based solely on a 28% description of them and details of a launch 30% 27% advertising campaign using a single medium. In each case, the information given was identical except for the medium being 20% used in the ad campaign. This isolated the signalling effects of the media channel Fitness signal (% positively positively (% signal Fitness 10% used, as all other variables were identical. statements) to scoring/agreeing There were three types of signalling effect analysed: 0% — Fitness signals: perceived brand TV Newspapers Magazines Radio Social media Video quality, financial strength of the sharing sites company, and the company’s Source: Signalling Success, 2020, house51/Thinkbox. Base: all adults (3,654) confidence in their brand. — Social signals: the brand’s perceived fame, popularity and success. Social signal — Trust: the degree to which the brand 49% 50% was perceived to deliver the promises 42% 41% of its advertising. 40% Average social signal
The results showed the immense 40% variability in how different forms of 32% 33% advertising communicate vital brand signals. Here are the key charts and findings: 30%
TV drives the strongest fitness and social signals 20% Performance across each media varied little by category but TV drove Social signal (% positively positively (% signal Social the strongest signals in all categories 10% tested (online retail, FMCG, mobile statements) to scoring/agreeing networks and home insurance). Social media and video sharing sites were the 0% advertising channels least likely to drive TV Newspapers Magazines Radio Social media Video sharing sites these signals. Source: Signalling Success, 2020, house51/Thinkbox. Base: all adults (3,654)
There is a hidden trade- off between efficiency and effectiveness. The perceived size of audience and the perceived cost of signalling significantly add to the signaller’s power to convince.
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK and author of Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense:
WHAT DOES ADVERTISING ON TV SAY ABOUT A BRAND? 75 THINKBOX
TV ads suggest quality, TV ads suggest brand quality, self-confidence self-confidence and strength Interestingly, respondents consistently and strength rated brands that advertised on TV as having the strongest fitness signals Fitness signals and those on video sharing sites and social media as having below average 60% 58 fitness signals. This is likely driven by the perceived cost of advertising on these 50 50
49 49 channels (despite the reality that TV 50% is very competitively priced vs social 45 42 43 media and online video). In addition, the 39 39 40 company brands keep is likely to have a 40% 38 38 37 34 marked effect. If a medium is saturated 32 32 32 with small, lesser-known advertisers 30% 28 it will affect their fitness signals. 27 21 22 TV ads drive the strongest 20 19 20% popularity and success signals positively (% signals Fitness TV was by far the best driver of social statements) to scoring/agreeing signals and outperformed the average 10% by 23%. Again, social media and video sharing sites performed less well. Although the differentiation was less 0% than for the signals relating to fitness, TV Fitness Signal Confidence Financial strength Quality was still perceived as having the broadest reach of any media – significantly Source: Signalling Success, 2020, TV Newspapers Magazines outperforming other media in making house51/Thinkbox. Base: all adults (3,654) Radio Social Media Video sharing sites brands appear well known and popular. This echoes the work of Binet and Field, which has shown how reach and fame are inherently linked. TV ads drive the strongest popularity and success signals
TV was by far the best Social signals driver of social signals and outperformed the 60% 52 50 average by 23%. 50% 49 48
44 44 43 42 40 41 40 39 41 39 41 40% 38 37 38 33 32 32 29 31 30% 24
20% Social signals (% positively positively (% signals Social scoring/agreeing to statements) to scoring/agreeing 10%
0% Social Signal Well Known Popularity Success
TV Newspapers Magazines Source: Signalling Success, 2020, house51/Thinkbox. Base: all adults (3,654) Radio Social Media Video sharing sites
76 A YEAR IN TV INSPIRING INSIGHTS
TV, magazines and radio TV, magazines & radio deliver the most trust deliver the most trust In line with other research, brands advertised on TV were viewed as the Trust to deliver on promises made most likely to deliver on their claims, with a third (30%) trusting what they say. 30% 29% Magazines and radio followed closely 30% 28% behind at 29% and 28% respectively. 26% Average Trust in video sharing sites, however, trust signal was significantly lower. 25%
20% TV and radio signal the 19% strongest emotional trust 20% Trust in TV and radio was significantly stronger and more automatic than the 15% trust in social media and video sharing sites. This was determined by an implicit test – one that timed the speed with which 10% respondents agreed or disagreed with a statement. Researchers house51 termed this automatic response for instinctively signalTrust positively (% scoring) 5% trusting a media channel to deliver on their promise as ‘emotional trust’. This is important for brands as 0% TV Newspapers Magazine Radio Social media Video emotional trust is deeper and more sharing sites resilient than trust based on rational thoughts. Whilst rational trust can disappear after just one bad brand Source: Signalling Success, 2020, house51/Thinkbox. Base: all adults (3,654) experience, emotional trust generally weathers the storm – brands with high levels of emotional trust will effectively be given a ‘second chance’ and a negative experience is seen as more of a blip than a dip.
TV & radio signal the strongest emotional trust
High, more effort Trust High & automatic
100% % Agree TV Radio Magazines
Video Newsbrands sharing sites
Slow Fast
Social media Rational Trust Emotional Trust
0%
Low, more effort Avg RT Low & automatic
Reaction Time
Source: Signalling Success, 2020, house51/Thinkbox. Base: all adults (3,654). Please see notes for detail on implicit trust calculation.
WHAT DOES ADVERTISING ON TV SAY ABOUT A BRAND? 77 THINKBOX
Implications Despite the popularity of social media and online videos, for advertisers TV remained the most powerful in terms of signalling for younger people The medium really is the message Advertisers should factor-in the relative Average scores by age Fitness signals ability of channels to deliver on crucial brand signals, as they have such a 60% significant effect on brand perception 50 50 51 50% 48 and message communication. 45 40 40 39 40% 37 35 Newer brands must choose their 34 33 signals wisely 30 30% 26 26 26 They have low levels of awareness and 24 25 are building their reputation, so they 20% need to borrow their brand credentials from the advertising environments statements) to /agreeing 10% they inhabit. scoring positively (% Signals 0% Not all video is the same 16-34 35-54 55+ With TV advertising, we know that TV Newspapers Magazines many other people are seeing the Source: Signalling Success, 2020, house51/ Thinkbox. Base: 16-34, 35-54, 55+ Radio Social media Video sharing sites same thing we are, at the same time. Other video platforms have appropriated the language of ‘social’ and ‘community’, Average scores by age Social signals but the reality of hypertargeting and personalisation on social and video sharing platforms is that people have 60% no idea what advertising other people 52 51 50% 48 like them are seeing, or what information 45 43 44 they are receiving about a brand. 41 40 41 41 40% 38 36 37 This means that social media and 34 34 31 30 video sharing platforms are much 30% 28 less effective than TV at building ‘common knowledge and cultural 20% meaning’. That is why TV remains the best way to build popular, statements) to /agreeing 10% mass-market consumer brands. scoring positively (% Signals 0% 16-34 35-54 55+
Source: Signalling Success, 2020, house51/ TV Newspapers Magazines Thinkbox. Base: 16-34, 35-54, 55+ Radio Social media Video sharing sites
Average scores by age Trust signals
35% 33 30 31 31 31 30% 29 29 27 27 27 26 25% 23 22 20 20% 18 18 19 17 15%
10% /agreeing to statements) to /agreeing
Signals (% positively scoring scoring positively (% Signals 5%
0% 16-34 35-54 55+
Source: Signalling Success, 2020, house51/ TV Newspapers Magazines Thinkbox. Base: 16-34, 35-54, 55+ Radio Social media Video sharing sites
78 A YEAR IN TV INSPIRING INSIGHTS Big Zuu’s Big Eats, Dave
Why signalling matters How we did it more than ever The research methodology took We live in unpredictable times. Risk and This finally provides concrete the form of an experimental design, economic uncertainty are highly salient evidence of the superior inspired by US academic research for everyone. In the advertising industry, signalling ability of TV and from Duke and Stanford universities. the instinctive reaction of many to signs The quantitative study took of recession is to double down on offers a huge amount of place in July 2020 and involved a cost-cutting and efficiency. depth to our understanding controlled experiment with 3,600 But evolutionary biology and psychology of how signalling works across participants aged 16+. Participants (and a wealth of advertising industry case different media channels, were split into 24 demographically studies and data) shows that applying the matched ‘cells’ of 150 participants. ‘narrow logic’ of efficiency is the wrong categories and audiences. Each cell was given a brief way for advertisers to respond description of a new, fictionalised to recession. brand in one of four product Animals and humans rely on the Matt Hill, categories (online retail, mobile ‘psycho-logic’ and social intelligence Research and Planning Director, Thinkbox phone network, home insurance, provided by costly signals to mitigate FMCG). Participants were presented risk and inform their decisions. When it with a summary of the launch matters most, we are instinctively drawn advertising campaign – the only to the highest-quality and fittest option. element that differed between cells In this context, social media and was the single media channel being video sharing platforms may appear used. All other details were identical. efficient, but these platforms are far The advertising channels tested less effective than TV at conveying the were TV, newspapers, magazines, vital, unconscious information that helps radio, social media and video sharing consumers mitigate risk and maximise sites. Cinema and out-of-home confidence in their brand choices. were not tested as fieldwork took place during coronavirus lockdown, so including them may have inadvertently biased results for those two channels.
WHAT DOES ADVERTISING ON TV SAY ABOUT A BRAND? 79 THINKBOX With thanks to:
Shareholders
Associate members & supporters Member of
Cover image: AA ‘That feeling’ Design by Blast: blast.co.uk
80 A YEAR IN TV WITH THANKS
Des, ITV
Grayson’s Art Club, Channel 4
Little Birds, Sky Atlantic
Emma Willis: Delivering Babies in 2020, W
WITH THANKS 81 Get in contact
Lindsey Clay Andrew MacGillivray Chief Executive Marketing Director [email protected] [email protected] Matt Hill Simon Tunstill Research & Planning Director Communications Director [email protected] [email protected] Jaine Tamplin General enquiries EA to the CEO & Company Secretary 020 7630 2320 [email protected] [email protected]