TV And Digital Make Advertising’s Top Team

The explosion of media platforms such as social networks in the past few years is giving advertisers and media buyers a slew of new options to reach potential customers. But what sometimes seems like an overwhelming number of options is actually boiling down to two primary platforms: TV and digital media.

That’s one of the insights discussed at NATPE on Tuesday at the Maximize Your Media Mix panel, which was moderated by Nielsen’s Patrick G. Dineen, SVP of local TV product leadership.

“Money is migrating from other media to digital,” observes Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast and media investments for Carat in New York City. “Some of it is coming from TV, but TV is a lot stronger than other media.”

Kathleen Keefe, VP of sales at Hearst Television, says a good chunk of ad money shifting to social networks and other digital outlets is from newspapers and yellow pages.

“In local markets, newspapers are struggling,” she says. “Yellow pages are gone or going. There are a lot of money in those media. That money is moving over to television.”

The panelists note that TV provides the biggest bump for advertisers, whether they are looking to drive consumers into stores or go out and buy a big-ticket item like a car. And, in fact, TV and digital media are often complementary outlets in a media mix designed to achieve specific reach and frequency goals for advertisers.

“Television drives the sales,” says Gibbs Haljun, managing director of media investment at media buying agency MEC. “It drives the decision-making process. When an advertiser is on TV, we also see a spike in search.”

He says it is important for advertisers to use social network sites and other digital media in a well-rounded media mix. But TV, with its mass reach, is still key in most media buys to help advertisers to achieve their goals.

“We should spend money in social, but I don’t think it’s in a place yet where it will drive mass conversion or mass sales,” says Haljun. “It’s great for one-to-one interaction with consumers. But, for those clients who are trying to drive awareness, drive store purchases and things like that, they need mass.”