• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 5, 2003

Shifting Budgets From TV to (some) Internet Increases Reach

Designed to demonstrate the impact of shifts in media allocation on audience reach, a DoubleClick study by Nielsen//NetRatings and IMS, reveals that by using standard media planning tools for both offline and interactive marketing, marketers could increase reach by shifting dollars originally spent on television to the Internet.

The study, using MRI data, shows that by dividing the campaign target audience into online and offline segments, the online portion of the target tends to watch less television, be younger, more affluent, more educated and more likely to be a professional.

To reach American Airlines' target audience, business and leisure travelers aged 25-54 with incomes of over $60,000, their advertising agency used spot TV and cable augmented by newspapers. In comparison to the offline target audience, the online target audience was younger, with a higher income, and watched television infrequently. A planning scenario was developed which increased online spending from 5% to 15%. This lead to the following results:

• More than 3 million additional consumers were reached due to the increase in online spend, revealing a reach increase of 3.2 points from 61.1% to 64.3% of the target audience.

• Among light-to-medium television users (the more desirable portion of the target), GRPs increased from 34.9 to 44.1.

"This will give the media buy better 'load balance'," said Rob Britton, Managing Director, Advertising, American Airlines.

Subaru's advertising campaign was targeted to adults aged 25-54 with incomes of over $60,000. Its online target audience was younger, more educated and were higher income consumers, compared to the offline target audience. In order to increase reach among its target audience, a planning scenario was developed which increased online spending from minimal to 7%.

This lead to the following results:

• Among light television users (the most desirable portion of the target), GRPs increased from 75.4 to 78.4.
• Frequency of exposure among light television users increased from 3.98 to 4.11, but declined among heavy television users from 35.6 to 34.3.

Richard L. Crosson, Vice President, Marketing, Subaru, says "Online advertising offers opportunities for highly targeted audience composition, a factor that can no longer be excluded for successful media planning and buying."

The Kraft Foods' Oscar Mayer Lunchables goal was to identify opportunities to extend their reach of women aged 25-54 who have children. The online audience is more likely to be younger, more educated and watch less television than the offline audience. A planning scenario was developed which showed that increasing online spending from 0% to 15% lead to the following results:
• Overall increase in reach of the intended audience (from 83% to 87%) due to the campaign's focus on mothers.
• Among light television users (the more desirable portion of the intended audience), GRPs increased 7%.

"Since the rate of TV viewing has declined for online users over the last few years, it is essential that we are able to effectively reach the right audience so that our media planning and buying initiatives are as successful as possible," said Carole Walker, Director eCommunications, Advertising and Strategy, Kraft Foods North America.

You can find out more here.