Digital or traditional?

In her keynote speech at this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival, Elisabeth Murdoch warned television executives that “traditional” players ignore new digital platforms “at their peril” and that a direct relationship with the viewer is essential to ensure survival.

Mindi Chahal

However, an annual study of 4,000 consumers by Deloitte and GFK is proving otherwise. I am one of those people that never watch ‘live’ television and Sky+ just about everything I want to watch on TV which means I can skip advertising at the highest speed available.

Not everyone is as hasty. The research finds that more than half (57 per cent) rank television advertisements as having the greatest impact on purchasing decisions of any media. Newspaper ads come in second with 15 per cent, one per cent rate online banner ads within smartphone apps as having most impact, and four per cent choose search engine ads or sponsored links.

Paul Lee, director of technology, media and telecommunications research at Deloitte, says the “traditional TV advertising model, is neither broken nor breaking.” This is because it maintained its ranking as the advertising medium with the greatest impact, by a clear margin, for the fourth year running.

How do marketers fare in this? Digital agency Amaze conducted a brand survey at Marketing Week Live! this year, which reveals UK brands have significant digital strategy failings.

The research, which surveyed 52 senior marketers of UK brands, shows that while 71 per cent have what they would define as a digital strategy, 56 per cent do not have a roadmap in place for the next three to five years, and 37 per cent admit they don’t measure the return on investment (ROI) from all of their digital activity. Also, 52 per cent say their social media initiatives are not meeting their objectives.

Not to be outdated by using Big Brother as a cultural reference but…digital or traditional, you decide.

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