GroupM is out with a useful new report on the media landscape, authored by Brian Wieser the company’s president of business intelligence, and Rob Norman former North America CEO and now an
advisor to the company.
“These are dangerous days for advertisers—at least those who have used television as the foundation of their communication strategy,” the duo write in
a section of the report entitled, “The Great Disruption.” “With shifts in viewing habits, commercial impressions in the most viewable, highest attention media are in free fall across
the world. The problem is universal and if the viewing behavior of younger audiences is a harbinger, things are not going to get better.”
Well if those words don’t grab your
attention, you must not earn your bread and butter in the media space.
They go on: “The simple truth is that Google and Facebook on the one hand and Netflix on the other have
structurally undermined a century-old economic model: the former two companies by advertising-led monetizing of intent and social interaction in the absence of content, and the latter one by
monetization of content in the absence of advertising.”
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I totally get it. TV channels constantly splatter viewers with a barrage of completely irrelevant advertising. It’s almost
like they’re engaged in a competition to deliver the least relevant advertising they can transmit to most households. Between Netflix and other streaming services and the VCR, problem
solved!
The report also provides a detailed breakout on the big media kahunas serving GroupM clients. In GroupM’s top 15 global markets (by billings) Google and Facebook represent 19% of
the total.
Google is the largest supplier to GroupM clients in those top markets. Facebook is fourth. In between are The Walt Disney Company and Comcast. Somewhat surprisingly Bertelsmann is
5th. Rounding out the top 10: ITV, CBS, Viacom, Publitalia ’80 and Germany’s SevenOne Media.
And while traditional media have lots of issues (that the report
delves into) so do the likes of Google and Facebook. One particular threat looms large and it’s not the competition. Rather, it's regulation, per the report.
There’s a lot more in
the report, which you can access here.