• by Philip Rosenstein , October 27, 2016

Viewership is down for the NFL so far this year, it was down for the Olympics and for the Emmys. But is the problem that our reach measurement is outdated? That was the question posed by Jennifer Catto, CMO of Tremor Video, at AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O conference on Thursday. Furthermore, how do advertisers make sure they take advantage of these developments?

“Consumption is on the rise, 50% of consumers are watching more video content overall,” noted Catto. However, she also asserts that “it has never been harder for advertisers to grab users' attentions.”

Catto purports that most marketers are not capturing the shift to interactivity.

If a consumer is watching TV, it is likely that she is also on her phone if an advertisement is on. Pairing an interactive mobile ad with a typical TV spot is an effective way to continue to grab a consumer’s attention.

Mobile advertisements are taking various approaches to further capture the waning attention span of the average consumer. “Marketers need to make personalized, meaningful connections with their consumers. A multi-device strategy is central to this,” explained Catto.

The difficulties arise when attempting to measure the overall reach or expected lift from any particular cross-device campaign.

Catto had a couple of suggestions for how creative strategies can benefit from the interactive nature of the modern consumer:

- Design for the device, and think beyond repurposing a TV spot.

- Empower viewers to interact, and make interactivity irresistible.

- Invest in the story. An engaging brand story will be more compelling and will inevitably lead to greater brand lift.

While linear TV is still common in many households, big events from the NFL to election coverage are making their way onto live streaming. Viewership will fall across the TV landscape, but to answer that first question asked by Catto, those lost viewers are moving to other media with stronger interactivity around the same content.