“Preparing for Scale” – Q&A with DirectAvenue’s Senior Media Director
While the last few years have been anything but traditional, do you feel that this year has been a turning point? Should we expect this year to follow the media patterns of pre-covid years? If not, in what way(s)?
It is paramount for our clients and advertisers alike to feel confident in their marketing investment initiatives. The year 2023 has marked the return to “relatively” traditional marketing landscape patterns and trends. We say “relatively” as there are other factors such as a down economy that are certainly still influencing consumer confidence. With that in mind, and with the right marketing strategies, we know how to stay top of mind to consumers and navigate any landscape, to provide service in line with our client’s ROAS goals. Afterall, DirectAvenue was founded during the 2007 recession, ensuring we were, and are, hardwired to focus on a core set of fundamentals.
Whether its prospecting or retargeting, methodical optimization across aggregate media mix Linear and Connected TV is now, more than ever, the driving force for ROAS. The comfort of pre-covid advertising patterns stabilizing in 2023 married with the consumer consumption shifts of Connected TV positions advertisers to continue to invest strategically with the YoY industry growth patterns of combined ad spend. The appropriate balance, diversity and reach of media mix in real time optimization prepares advertisers for scale for 3rd and 4th quarter.
Given that, please talk through the trends you identified in the media landscape through Q2 and into Q3.
Advertiser levels have remained consistent in terms of marketing budget allocations (higher than Q1) through the evolving macroeconomic factors. The Q2 levels remained steady as expected, before notably opening with typical Q3 patterns. Liabilities (owed impression deliveries on audience guarantees) result in fluid Direct Response / Performance inventory levels across tier-one entertainment networks, with news and sports remaining stable, resulting in some week-to-week adjustments throughout network groups.
Continued performance best practices within a very diverse media mix helps navigate fluctuations in inventory. As anticipated for Q2 there was greater demand for inventory with more seasonal advertisers in the space with Easter, and tax season, followed by Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. DirectAvenue closely monitors inventory and rates daily for intentional optimization and shifting flights where inventory is the most open and rates are advantageous.
To highlight the stability of the news, FoxNews recently saw a notable shakeup with the layoff of long-time prime host Tucker Carlson. Despite what some media headlines might say though, the fact is that the network has not actually seen a huge shift in viewership, and even that program slot itself has only seen about a 10% decrease. With that said, conservative news is seeing an overall lull (in line with normal seasonality and news cycle fatigue), with more left-leaning news remaining even steadier.
Brendan Murphy is DirectAvenue’s Senior Media Director. He is a highly skilled and dedicated professional with expertise in the field of media buying and advertising. With extensive experience in identifying, developing, negotiating, and placing direct response television (DRTV) and branded media buys, he has made significant contributions to the success of various campaigns.
