|

Can YOU guess the true value of different media?

Can YOU guess the true value of different media?

There is a “significant mismatch” between industry perceptions of the brand building effectiveness of different media types and what the evidence says, a new report from Ebiquity claims.

The Re-evaluating Media report, deemed the first of its kind, states that traditional media perform “significantly better” than they are perceived to for brand building campaigns, giving some hope – and hard evidence – to the likes of radio, newspapers and magazines looking to better compete with newer online offerings.

The report, published today, found that TV and radio are the strongest advertising media for brand-building followed by newspapers, magazines and out-of-home.

However, industry decision-makers believe that online video and social media are the second and third most effective media after TV, showing a clear disconnect between perception and evidence.

Ebiquity was commissioned by commercial radio industry body Radiocentre to conduct the research, interviewing 116 senior executives working for brands and agencies, asking them to rank 12 attributes of media for brand building campaigns. They were then asked which media they perceived to be best performer for each attribute.

Researchers then delved through 75 research reports and their proprietary data sets to find evidence about the actual performance of different media against these attributes. This allowed perceptions about media to be compared against the evidence.

“Alarm bells have been ringing for some time,” said Ebiquity managing principal, Morag Blazey.

“Our analytics research is repeatedly showing that advertisers are not getting the best possible return on their media investment.

“The findings reveal that it is time for the industry to re-balance their use of media to optimise advertising budgets.”

Radio, which ranks second overall to TV on the evidence, was the most undervalued medium, coming only sixth in the ranking of advertiser and agency perceptions.

Mark Barber, planning director at Radiocentre, said: “There is a lot of evidence already available in the public arena examining the efficacy of individual media across a range of criteria but, like with most things online, you need to know what you’re looking for to find it.

“This study brings all of that data together in one place, making it easier for industry decision-makers to review current trends and make more informed evidence-based choices to optimise future media plans. In doing so, we hope that radio will rightfully be considered more often for brand-building campaigns.”

Media Jobs