This post was originally published on this site
After my last column on making linear advertising a precision mass-reach medium, a number of people reached out to ask why the industry has not taken steps to make this happen, even when it seems so obvious.
We see what I call the “tea leaves” every day. Articles in the daily industry newsletters we all read include data showing how viewership and ad dollars are moving to streaming. They discuss how digital, targeted, precision ads can be more effective at delivering outcomes and how advertisers and audiences are leaning into ads that are more relevant and effective. It all makes sense.
We can see and read the tea leaves, so why are we still talking about linear TV as a mass-reach advertising solution that lacks the precision of audience targeting beyond age and gender?
There are several reasons:
There’s a leadership problem.
Perhaps the leaders of some of these companies don’t want to acknowledge to investors that the industry is rapidly moving to a targeted marketplace. Aren’t stock prices of TV companies already reflecting that? Wouldn’t the market prefer to see broadcasters investing in transforming their medium to compete in a targeted, addressable marketplace? It’s easier to invest in a project with immediate revenue opportunity. This is an 18–24-month project with another year or two to scale ad investment. We all know 2025 is expected to be a difficult year for broadcasting without political or Olympic ad spending. It’s tempting to think of this as an initiative for better times. Or perhaps they believe TV