Interactive Advertising - Survey
Interactive TV Survey 2005 - "Interactive TV - A Maturing Medium"
Summary
In May 2005, ids undertook its second online questionnaire seeking to gauge the perceptions of the advertising agency and client communities towards interactive TV advertising (IA). Four key learnings emerged:
1. A shift of emphasis from response to branding has occurred.
In the 14 months since the last survey, there has been a recognisable shift from the perception that IA is mainly good for response generation to the recognition that IA can be a successful branding tool. This is supported by the fact that more and more advertisers and agencies are using DALs and Mini-DALs, and most respondents said DALs achieved the best results. Additionally, the main advantages of IA are now held to be branding-related such as engagement with the consumers and a greater brand experience. These results are evidence that the media industry has recognised the branding power of DALs and moved away from response maximisation as the main objective for IA campaigns.
2. Creativity has become more important.
The survey highlights creativity as a growing concern this year, whereas it was hardly mentioned last year. Generally, there seems to be a common demand for more involvement of creative agencies. This became apparent in the answers to questions on areas of improvement, the drawbacks and IA education. Additionally, there was a major shift in the areas of improvement away from organisational and educational issues to more detailed issues regarding the creative execution of interactive ads. This indicates that the industry has moved forward and has overcome the problems of a new medium and is now concentrating of getting the details right as well.
3. Costs are still perceived to be a drawback.
Despite Zip TV entering the market and Sky lowering their prices last year, there is still the perception that costs are too high and more competition to Sky is needed. This especially seems to be a barrier to entry for new and smaller advertisers, and many respondents are asking for cheaper testing opportunities for new IA campaigns.
4. Positive results all around.
While the survey highlighted the known reservations towards IA and areas of improvement, the main message is a positive one. More and more advertisers are using the medium, the vast majority of respondents have had positive experiences, and more advertisers and agencies will definitely run more IA campaigns in the future compared to last year. Additionally, the predictions for interactive TV have also become more positive as more respondents than last year think that it will become mainstream and a successful advertising medium once some of the obstacles are overcome.
For further information, please contact Shaun Jordan, Controller of Interactive Sales on 0207 693 8829, or Louise Kelsall, Group Head of Interactive Sales on 0207 693 8683.
