Marketing Spend is on the up according to IPA Bellwether report

According to the latest IPA Bellwether report, marketing spend has grown at a phenomenal rate in the first quarter of 2015.

Budgets were up 11.8% in the early months of 2015, with the largest sector of growth being online and SEO. The internet, search and SEO are marking their 23^rd successive quarter of growth in 2015.

This is the most upbeat assessment of the market signalled by the Bellwether report for the past 8 years! The report suggests that companies are continuing to invest their marketing spend in high level media formats such as TV, cinema and press whilst also looking to further increase their footprint in cost-efficient online marketing solutions.

There appears to be a growing optimism about marketing industry prospects with budgets now rooted in an ever strengthening macroeconomic climate. Paul Bainsfair, IPA Director General gave an encouraging comment about the report; “With over 10 successive quarters of growth in marketing budgets and the best budget year for marketing spend in a decade, this latest Bellwether provides welcome evidence of the extent to which clients recognise and value the significant contribution marketing communications makes to their business success. This stands us in good stead for what is set to be an unsettled few months politically.”

At The Media Angel we provide impartial, innovative and creative marketing advice to businesses across all sectors. Give us a call on 02921 320 200, or drop us an email for expert guidance on the best media formats for investing your marketing budgets this year.

TV campaigns prove to provide the best ROI

A study conducted by the RAB presented the industry with momentous proof that TV and radio are by far the most effective mediums for advertising.

The study, named ‘The ROI Multiplier’ produced findings to show that for every pound spent on television advertising, brands were receiving returns of £8.70 on average. Radio followed closely behind, with reported revenue returns of £7.70. These figures out-performed all other advertising channels in terms of efficiency, and suggested that brands might want to re-allocate more of their ad budgets to TV and radio to capitalise on these considerable returns.

In order to effectively reach audiences on radio, a combination of creative content and optimal frequency are required. Whereas television viewing is sometimes referred to as appointment viewing with audiences intending to sit down and watch shows their entire way through; radio is not often the primary focus of attention. A creative message broadcast regularly and often over several bursts is more effective at feeding into audience listening patterns and influencing their decision making processes.

In contrast, outdoor and online advertising was presented as less likely to cut through the large volumes of advertising messages that audiences face every day. Press advertising performed better than expected, with an average of £5.80 being received in returns. This could be explained by the continuing loyal readership base of most press publications.

Get in touch with The Media Angel for more information on where best to invest your advertising budget. Send us an email or give us a call on 02921 320 200 and you could potentially unlock millions through incorporating television and radio into your marketing plans.

TV viewing figures remain stable and strong

The latest television viewing figures are in from Thinkbox – the marketing body for commercial TV.

People in the UK watched an average of 3hrs and 50 mins a day of TV, including the BBC, during February using their digital TV sets.

Further figures from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) show that commercial TV, that includes channels such as ITV, Channel 4 and Sky, accounted for 65% of total TV viewing on a TV set in February.

In summary, the report shows key audiences such as men are watching TV for longer. They watched 2 hrs 26 mins a day of commercial TV (3 mins more than the previous year.)

16-34s watched 1 hour, 52 mins a day, (5 mins less than last year.) This decrease comes as no surprise as millenials are increasingly accessing the growing amount of content on video-on-demand and catch-up services. Viewing figures for ABC1s, females, kids, all remain pretty stable. This supports television’s strong viewership, See below for weekly reach.

Get in touch with The Media Angel so we can logically plan and launch your next television campaign and sit back and watch it perform.

Despite a digital shift, TV ad revenue sees little, if any decline

Industry researchers have predicted that more than half of the nation’s advertising budget is likely to be spent on digital media this year. Perhaps surprisingly, certain traditional media platforms continue to thrive, despite a digital shift.

Even with this rise in digital media, TV is expected to see its advertising revenue rise by 3% to £3.bn seeing little, if any decline. A spokesperson from the Strategy Analytic’s Report describes the future of television advertising as “simply experiencing a shift in the source of revenue from linear TV ads to online video”.

The UK’s weekly population reach for TV remains stable at 94.2% and the traditional TV set remains the screen of choice for 98.4% of the population. Viewing on other devices such as tablets, laptops and smart phones has grown year on year by 17% but has yet to overtake the traditional television set as the preferred way to watch content.

For advertisers, the steadily growing popularity of on-demand services and online platforms is great news particularly for small businesses. These services provide opportunities for reaching audiences on a far more manageable budget. Where national TV advertising is renowned for being massively expensive, the rates for ITV Player and 4oD for example are significantly less and will still reach a majority audience.

Do you want to reach up to 94.2% of the population in your area with your advertising? Contact The Media Angel on 02921 320 200 or drop us an email for impartial advice on the most suitable media mix to suit your objectives.

Newspapers circulation figures ae down, online counterparts on the up

Do you still read your daily or weekly newspaper? According to the latest ABC figures, average newspaper circulations figures have fallen again across the UK.

Alison Debono, Managing Director of The Media Angel commented: “These circulation figures come as no surprise, it’s sad news for press, but great to see growth in the digital sector.

Luckily there has been a massive growth in the number of users to the publisher’s online sites, such as Wales Online which has doubled its audience in the past year. Over 4,025,111 monthly unique visitors took to the site during January 2015.

“Press still has a place. It’s important for advertisers to remember that some of these tight-knit community newspapers and all-Wales titles are still reaching certain audiences that are perfect for certain campaign briefs.”

More than half of adspend goes digital in 2015!

In 2015 it is predicted that the UK will be ranked the first country in the world to spend more than half of budgets on digital media.

Research conducted by market services company WPP has forecast that for the first time every for every £2 advertising spend; the UK will be spending £1 on digital media! The total ad spend figures for 2015 will hit £15.7bn with online spend growing rapidly to hit the £8bn mark!

It is reported that display advertising is the fastest growing market in internet advertising, which is likely to surge by 20% to reach £2.7bn. Display advertising has performed consistently well in ad spend stakes since 2013 with advertiser demand for this format rising steadily. Paid search advertising is likely to grow to £4.2bn with around 29% of that advertising on mobile devices.

The future is looking extremely bright for digital advertising and with observations that the British have a particularly keen enthusiasm for the digital world; there could be fewer rivalling ways to reach audiences in 2015.

Contact The Media Angel for advice on how to incorporate digital advertising into your media mix and harness its huge potential! Give one of our friendly team a call on 02921 320 200 or email [email protected].

Radio ad spend grew by 7.8% in 2014…

Research conducted by RadioWorks has delivered some exciting predictions for radio advertising in 2015. Where radio saw a healthy 7.8% growth in ad-spend last year, a rise of 5.7% is predicted for 2015.

These strong increases in spend are explained by digital audio service’s rising popularity among audiences, with reach figures last year escalating twofold in the space of just 18 months! 12 million unique listeners were reached by audio services in the spring of 2014, and this is expected to rise to 20 million at the start of 2015.

According to reports conducted RAB, brands using radio get their money back nearly eight times over on average!

Such data proves that advertisers are recognising the potential of radio’s significant scale and influence; allocating larger chunks of their marketing budgets to the medium and enjoying maximised returns. With one of the lowest levels of advertising avoidance, radio allows marketers to reach out to millions of new customers as well as current, existing consumers with essential messages at key activity moments across the day. Radio ads are so frequent and high in reach that a brand can create a disproportionately large share of mind for itself.

The time is now to realise the potential in radio advertising investments; January is the perfect time to connect with open-minded, fresh thinking listeners.

Contact The Media Angel today and get started on your plans to make the New Year your most successful yet.

How TV apps are fuelling ‘valued time together’ for the family

The opinion that technology has a negative impact on family life has been turned on its head in a new collaborative research report from OMD UK and Time Inc. UK.

The ‘future of families’ report finds 78% of families believe technology has brought them closer together, rather than cause disruption.

The Goggle Box Effect

TV apps with the ability for on-demand / catch-up streaming and remote recording, not only allow families to better plan specific times together, but also fuel conversations around a range of TV programming.

Mobile devices means family members no longer need to retreat to separate rooms to use technology.

Apps for TV make families more opinionated – such as the X-Factor app allows the sofa to become the judging panel, enabling families to cast their votes and opinions and discuss them.

Catherine Westwood, Goodtoknow.co.uk said in the report:

“Tech is here to stay and will impinge on family conversation, but will inspire in equal measure.”

By this Catherine means there is an increase in opportunities for advertisers to divert attention in, but this is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact it’s a good thing. This means audiences are empowered to act on advertisements, and are informed about products, services and entertainment that interests them.

Two screens are better than one

Lastly, for TV advertisers this is good news all round. New ad platforms such as ITV’s Ad Sync, enables broadcast advertisers to take over The X-Factor programme app at the same time their spot appears on TV, creating mass awareness. Whether it’s advertising Cheryl Cole’s latest new single, which clicks through to iTunes or Domino’s pizza that let’s you order a takeaway online.

Therefore, brands next year should think more about the ‘living room plan’ and utilise the option of the second screen experience, getting their messages across multi-platforms to start discussions in the home and making their messages more memorable.

Get in touch with The Media Angel today to find out more about VOD, online and mobile advertising or any other forms of advertising.

And 2014’s Top TV Christmas Ad is…

Here’s the top 10 Christmas ads for 2014, polled by phone number provider, City Numbers.

More than 1,000 consumers were asked asked about the effect of Christmas branding. 37% surveyed said it made people feel good. Take a good look at the top adverts raising spirits this season…

Cinema delivers low ad avoidance and high engagement

It has been reported by the RAB that cinema delivers the lowest ad avoidance across all media platforms. Only 8% of people manage to avoid cinema advertising, with individuals claiming to engage positively with an estimated 33% of cinema adverts.

This engagement is said to be at a much higher level compared to other forms of media.

These findings are perhaps unsurprising; particularly given that the ads are seen by many as part of the overall cinema-going experience. Despite respondents claiming that cinema advertising is difficult to avoid, consumers of cinema are actively engaged, captive and willing; they have consciously ‘opted in’ to this viewing experience. Cinema is one of few ways to reach audiences on a large scale, with such deep engagement in content.

The cinema experience is said to encourage these audiences to relax and a focus on the big screen in front of them. This focus forms a deep engagement with brand messages being shown; the impact of which is believed to be 8 times greater than advertising on television. This intense focus inevitably leads to an improved ability to recall detail in advertisements.

Given that there are on average 10 new films of different genre released every week, a broad and varied range of audiences are attracted to cinema screens; the reach of cinema advertising is therefore extremely wide and diverse.

Where cinema takes the lead with lowest ad avoidance figures; radio was close behind with only 16% successfully avoiding adverts broadcast through this medium. Looking at these figures in the context of television (44%); newspapers (68%) and magazines (61%), cinema and radio advertising are the clear front runners!

The Media Angel team are on hand to provide guidance on whether cinema advertising can fit in well with your campaign objectives. Give us a call or drop us an email for advice on the best cinema locations to suit your campaign and reach your preferred target audience.

More people in Wales listen to radio than any other UK nation

If the latest figures from Ofcom’s communication market report are anything to go by, radio should really be considered an important part of your advertising plans, particularly for advertisers wishing to reach a high percentage of adults in Wales.

The radio reach figures for Wales appear to be extraordinarily high, with services reaching 95.4% of the adult population! These massive figures accompanied further impressive statistics to show that Welsh audiences also tuned in for longer listening hours than any other of our UK counterparts. South Wales based stations in particular are reaching large numbers of the population, with Capital for example reaching a massive 98,000 listeners between the ages of 15 and 34 every week. Similarly, South Wales’ Nation Radio has a considerable weekly reach of 173,000 listeners, accruing a total average of around 688,000 listening hours for every week.

These figures no doubt suggest that radio should be a vital element in your marketing mix, if you aren’t making use of this medium and its benefits already. We Angels know that radio advertising can sometimes be costly, and when the purse strings are little tight, plans to make use of those airwaves might be first to face the chop.

However, with the right mix of creativity and innovation, and with the potential to reach huge numbers of the population, radio advertising could potentially produce great returns on that investment.

As always the Angels are on hand to make sure you make the most of your marketing potential, and can help with your plans to identify the perfect mix of media for your campaign.

With the largest increase in DAB radio set ownership over the past year, perhaps there has never been a better time to advertise over the airwaves in Wales. Improvements in DAB coverage are likely to have encouraged these increased figures in DAB ownership and reach. Perhaps it’s time to make the most of these exciting developments and incorporate radio into your marketing mix! Get in touch.