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Is TV Advertising Dead? Ad Revenues Suggest Otherwise

Written by

Beth Kindig

Founder, CEO and Lead Technology Analyst

Published: June 12, 2018

Last Updated: June 12, 2018

Ideally, advertisers experience the same brand recall from TV combined with the audience-based targeting advertisers use in digital. By combining the best qualities of television with the addressability of digital, advertisers could have targeted, dynamic video ads in TV-quality streaming environments.

Cord cutters are getting a lot of attention these days. Perhaps justified considering 95% of homes with TV have access to services that can be viewed on another screen, contributing to the lowest growth rate ever for worldwide pay TV subscribers. Globally, Asia-Pacific saw the biggest gains adding 2.4 million homes compared to the Americas which added 850,000 homes and EMEA adding 210,000 homes[1].

However, while eyeballs may be shifting, many advertisers report TV ads delivering better ROI than digital. Coca-Cola’s global chief marketing officer famously declared to conference attendees they see $2.13 returned for every dollar spent on TV compared to $1.25 for dollars spent on digital.

Beth Kindig, founder and lead tech analyst of I/O Fund

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A recent study by Accenture found that marketers over-state ROI from digital at almost 18% when seen as a standalone channel by failing to track and measure the halo effect from multi-platform television. Conversely, multi-platform TV’s adjusted ROI is understated by 10% according to the study by being mistakenly credited to single channels which analyzed $12 billion in anonymized marketing spend. In addition, while ROI from search, display and short-form video is high at initial spend levels, returns diminish as spend increases.

This infographic on The Current State of TV Advertising illustrates key points on the importance of TV Advertising today:

About the author

Beth Kindig

Beth Kindig

Profile

Beth Kindig is the Founder, CEO and Lead Technology Analyst at I/O Fund, with more than 15 years of experience covering private and public technology companies. Known for her early Nvidia research beginning in 2018 and bold, high-conviction calls on emerging technology trends, Beth also manages I/O Fund's audited technology portfolio, which has returned 326% since May 2020, or 29.2% annualized. She is a regular guest on Fox Business and Bloomberg and has appeared on CNBC.