What the Future Holds for TV Marketing

When many of us think of advertising and marketing, we often think of television commercials. After all, these intermissions during our favorite shows are one of the main ways we’ve been getting our daily dose of marketing for decades.

Now, though, this landscape is changing. After all, as technology changes, the way we watch TV is changing. So, it only makes sense that the way TV marketing works is also changing. In this article, we will take a look at what the future might hold for TV marketing.

Advertising with Streaming

The first thing to note about the change in television is that we aren’t as reliant on cable anymore. Especially with the younger generation, the cord is getting cut – so to speak – and the use of streaming services is on the rise.

This might seem like it isn’t a big deal. After all, won’t customers stick around for cable at least for aspects such as news channels? Actually, with services like Hulu Live on the rise, these channels and shows are now being shown on streaming services. Even the idea of streaming as watching your favorite shows months after a season ends is getting to be rather antiquated.

What does this mean for TV advertising, though? Well, it might mean the same thing as cable did. Some streaming plans, such as Hulu’s most basic streaming package, still have ads included. As such, the same companies that create ads on television will simply turn that investment towards getting these ads played on streaming services. Even if a user connects to content on their TVs with an app like YouTube, they are likely to see the same ads they used to see on cable television.

However, there are certain platforms that don’t rely on advertising content to generate revenue. For instance, Netflix, YouTube Red, and Hulu Plus don’t show ads to make a profit. Some network providers like DISH Latino offer packages with a wide range of video content uninterrupted by ads.In these cases, we are likely to see more sponsorships than traditional advertisements. For example, you might see a title card that says something along the lines of “This show is brought to you by Company X” instead of your show being interrupted by a full commercial.

In-Show Advertising

This has already been put into use and it also comes in handy on streaming services that don’t run commercials. In fact, once it has been pointed out to you, you’ll probably actively notice it more and more.

The technique in question is placing a product within a show. This type of product placement is becoming more commonplace and it’s an easy way for companies to not only advertise but make money off of the show or movie in question using their name. For instance, did you notice your favorite character just so happened to use an iPhone branded smartphone? Or maybe they’re drinking a Pepsi with the logo facing out? These are examples of product placement.

On the other hand, you can also easily notice when a movie or show is trying to avoid having to pay to use a company’s name. In lower budget movies, for example, you might notice that the main character’s research scene uses a generic search engine in place of a service like Google.

Ads Need to Be More Eye-Catching

Now that our television viewing has been juxtaposed with near-constant internet usage and other connectivity, we are absolutely bombarded with ads. If we check our email, drive down the road, or turn on our TVs, we see more ads than we can probably count.

For marketing teams, this means making advertisements more memorable. After all, not only do you have to make a strong case for your product anymore, you need to stand out from a sea of ads that most people have learned to tune out.

This is a big reason that you see more ads become catchier, more emotional, or even more cinematic. These advertisements strive not only to be heard or seen but to be paid attention to.

Now, people hear about tens of hundreds of businesses everyday – for marketers, this means that they need to rise above the competition by making themselves known and more recognizable. If someone hears an ad that rouses them to a strong emotion, for instance, they are going to remember that advertisement more than an ad that simply states a service and the company behind it.