10 ‘Must Do’ 2018 Total Video Guidance Lessons

London, December 4 2017 : RTL AdConnect presents 10 key tips about total video to help global brands make the most of total video in 2018, taken from its recent publication of Total Video Key Facts 2017

Impact, transparency and innovation are still all true of TV as a medium, making it unrivalled as an advertising platform of choice

Place linear TV at the heart of your Total Video strategy

Linear TV is again on top of overall media consumption with over four hours’ worth of daily viewing time among European Adults (+21 min in 10 years, +39 min in 20) and TV maintains a penetration rate of 91.5%. Worldwide, linear TV consumption is stable, with three hours daily viewing on average, while TV‘s daily reach is the highest among all media: in most European countries, it ranges between 70% and 80% of the total population, every day.

Optimise your coverage by using online VOD in addition to linear TV

TV is no longer television only – it’s total video. Using all screens and VOD in addition to linear TV allows advertisers to reach light viewers and optimise the penetration of any campaign, especially among younger target groups: 50% of TV viewers using digital screens are young adults, against 17% for the TV screen, for example. TV is also benefiting from other screens usage: in France, TV viewing on digital screens is estimated to come in at 20% of its monthly reach, in the Netherlands it’s 50%.

With 900 million 4G terminals in 2017, the smartphone is now officially ‘the Second Screen’, with the highest penetration rate (66%) behind television (91.5%), enabling TV consumption "anywhere any time, on any device".

Combine reach with affinity

Linear TV combines both affinity and reach. On one hand, major international TV formats are able to generate massive audiences worldwide: Chinese Spring Festival on CCTV has reached 29.6% audience share in 2016, which represents 158.1M people; in Germany, 9.4M people watched the Final Eurovision (36.7% audience share). On the other hand, taking into account cultural diversifications permits closeness to the audience. In the recent years, we’ve seen a shift from international US series towards strong local productions. European TV broadcasters are now increasingly focusing on local series, very popular across Europe, e.g.: Call the Midwife in UK (34.2% audience share), Commissario Montalbano in Italy (33.2%), Divorce in the Netherlands (28.1%).

Adapt your investments according to local specificities
Advertising broadcasting practices and regulations differ depending on country and local media consumption, advertising space, legislation and other relevant factors.

For example:

• TV advertising for alcoholic beverages is allowed in Germany and Belgium, while banned in France and the Netherlands
• Not all countries have the same amount of individual TV viewing time: from 124 minutes per day in German-speaking Switzerland to 329 minutes in Romania
• Not all countries have the same TV coverage ratio: from 61% daily coverage in Austria to 77.7% in Italy.

Total Video measurement: on the way to truly unified 4-screen data
It is essential to understand the country specifications regarding audience measurement – what is measured and on what device. In 2016, 39 countries measured time-shifted viewing in their TV audience measurement. In countries where the split between live and time-shifted viewing is available, we note that time-shifted viewing brought in an audience hike of 7% on average over the entire population and the entire day (2016 figures).

As a result, the challenge for measurement is now to include TV viewing on all screens and obtain a unified data on 4 screens (TV, PC, tablet, smartphone). France and the Netherlands are among the most advanced countries for online screen measurement of TV programmes.

TV can prove actual viewability
According to RTL AdConnect’s survey , the most pressing topic for advertisers in digital media are brand safety (38%), viewability (35%) and ad fraud (13%).

In contrast to digital media, television is an easy to track media. Whereas TV has a central source for all industry partners for measuring impact and cost efficiency, digital is fragmented in a variety of sources. And about 50% of display ads and 39% of video ads are not visible in most global markets, according to Integral Ad Science (IAS) and 1/4 of web traffic is generated by "bad bots" (source: Incapsula). This generates an increasing cost for advertisers, estimated at $ 16.4 billion in 2017 (source: Adloox). But on whatever screen you use, your message should be visible and clear as the TV screen.

Brand safety: a challenge within major media groups
In the UK, according to IAS, 13.1% of video ads were exposed to “high brand risk” in the first half of the year. To communicate in a completely brand safe media environment, all content from RTL AdConnect’s offer are premium and the environment secured.

Rely on transparent media data alliances, ensuring premium and brand safe environments
In the light of upcoming European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), media groups in France and Germany are joining forces to provide advertisers with global offers and better targeting through the pooling of personal data collected. Two such alliances have already been created this year: Gravity in France with M6, Lagardère Active, Les Echos-Le Parisien, SFR and SoLocal, and the Log-In Alliance in Germany with Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and United Internet AG.

Match your brand’s values with large communities
Reach does not stop you having to worry about affinity and targeting. StyleHaul, the leading beauty and fashion multi-channel network that reaches more than 500 million people, has created the "Vlogorithm", a tool that helps advertisers choose the talent with the greatest affinity with their brand. This technology allows campaign optimisation by re-targeting the most engaged users with the brand and its content. RTL AdAffinity by RTL AdConnect also provides access to content produced by the talents of powerful and brand safe Multi-Platform Networks (MPNs) such as Broadband TV (85,000 talents), StyleHaul (20,000 talents), Divimove (1,200 talents), Golden Network (M6 Group) and RTL MCN (from RTL Nederland). This offer allows advertisers to select the most relevant YouTube channel according to their campaign goals, and guarantees the quality of the content produced by the influencer.

Innovation is at the core of total video
TV is in constant evolution as a technology platform, and innovations around TV advertising are flourishing every day: Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality, branded content, addressable TV… Advertisers can pick their favourite. In any case, according to our study, 52.5% of those concerned see Addressable TV as the innovation they are most interested in investing in. The good news: in 2018, 91% of European households will be accessible to addressable TV via their connected TV. All in all, TV is far from having said its last words!

About RTL AdConnect
RTL AdConnect is RTL Group’s total video advertising sales house, representing RTL Group’s European media portfolio as well as partners such as ITV, RAI, Medialaan, Goldbach Media. RTL AdConnect provides easy access to a complete, secured total video inventory to ensure that effective media decisions are made for pan-European campaigns. Thanks to its media partners from RTL Group and beyond, RTL AdConnect reaches around 160 million potential consumers in Europe every day. RTL AdConnect offers exclusive solutions for high-quality content across a broad portfolio of multimedia partners, including more than 100 TV channels, 300 digital platforms and 30 radio stations in 12 countries. With 360-degree solutions, RTL AdConnect supports brands every step of the way, ensuring wide coverage, in-depth market analysis and multi- screen solutions.

Press Contact:
Carina Birt, Sarum
UK PR for RTL AdConnect
+44 1722 322916
carina@sarumpr.com