Is DVR the end of television advertising? And, how to make bad advertising good again

DVR or Digital Video Recorders (think TIVO) are starting to have an impact on how well ads fare. Though the penetration of DVRs is still very low, only about five percent of households currently have them, it is anticipated that 41% of households will have a DVR in the next five years.

Forrester research just did a very comprehensive study on what DVR is doing to advertising and though much you might guess, some is unexpected.

Real time viewing drops by 60%, but sporting events and news maintain high real time viewing.

Respondents reported watching only 8% of advertising though not all ads were viewed the same. Upcoming attractions and movie trailers were viewed at a much higher rate than credit cards, car dealers, long distance carriers and banks.

You can read more about the report yourself here.

A little deeper analysis of the report shows some interesting ideas about advertising. It begins to show not that people don’t want credit cards, long distance carriers or banks, but that those industries (and many more) have done a horrible job of being relevant to their potential consumers and have given them no real reason to believe (or care).

It also shows that radio has a dramatic opportunity to use the power of its intrusiveness to deliver messages to people who are otherwise avoiding them in another medium (the idea of marketing mix takes a blow). But, if they are not relevant, well done and provide a message to the listener or viewer that is compelling, then it won’t matter.

Ad agencies in their race to the next award have forgotten about relevancy, they’ve forgotten how to tell a story about the product they are selling and they focus on an arguably effective version of image or brand advertising.

Let me say this loud and clear. Consumers want to be educated about products and services to the point that they can make the very best decision possible about whatever it is that they are considering. Going back nearly 100 years, Albert Lasker called advertising “Salesmanship in print.” Substitute print with any other media today and that statement remains truer than ever. I challenge any big advertiser today to arm their salespeople with their broadcast messages and have them deliver them unchanged to the end user and see what happens to their sales . . . they’ll go down.

So, does DVR spell the end of television advertising? Of course not, at least not until the DVR penetration rate is upwards of the 70 – 80% range AND then only if advertisers haven’t taken control of their message and started talking about what consumers want to hear.

Radio, targeted direct mail and print media will gain influence opportunity with the growth of DVRs, but only if advertisers go back to focusing on what is important to me, the consumer, not what paid focus groups or award winning ad agencies think is important.

For a discussion on why radio works, take a look at this.