Outdoor, radio and print-based media -- once the bulk of all ad-supported media
(pre-TV’s introduction in the 1950s) -- now are the overlooked stepchildren of Madison Avenue’s media mix, but a new marketplace report from WPP’s GroupM unit makes a case for
marketers to seriously reconsider them in their plans.
“Outdoor, radio and print-based media offer opportunities for marketers,” GroupM Business Intelligence Global
President Brian Wieser writes in “Media Beyond TV and Digital,” a report posted on GroupM’s blog this morning.
While the ad industry’s growth has seemingly
become reliant on the twin demigods of TV and digital, Wieser asserts that “other media may offer real benefits and maintain the potential for faster growth in the future than in the recent
past.”
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Specifically, Wieser cites that outdoor advertising is “growing faster than the rest of the industry aside from pure-play digital,” and that recent results
reported by major out-of-home media suppliers indicates the ad medium is growing “more than +6% globally this year.”
Wieser attributes out-of-home’s growth to a
variety of factors, including an investment in “digital infrastructure” by the major outdoor ad companies, the relative cost effectiveness of the medium for advertisers, and demand from
“fast-growing marketers who believe the medium is a superior alternative to television.”
In terms of radio, Wieser says it is the medium’s ubiquitous
“reach,” as well as its bottom-line impact that makes it an appealing ad alternative, but its relative growth in ad market share has been “more modest” than
outdoor’s.
“Like outdoor, however, innovation in audio has been percolating for years and has recently achieved more meaningful scale,” Wieser notes, but
nonetheless says the medium still needs to “overcome” negative perceptions about the medium in the ad industry.
As for print, Wieser acknowledges that it “still
struggles” as an advertising medium, but he says there are “niches with opportunities for long-term growth.”
Wieser concludes that “all marketers should
regularly assess opportunities to use media beyond television and pure-play digital in their campaigns. Just because a medium is growing fast, slow or declining does not mean it cannot be impactful
for a marketer now or in the future. What matters is whether or not the media owner is investing in opportunities to connect with audiences.”