Print Holds Court in the Cross-platform Ad Landscape

integrated_ad_landscape_06_13_2016While “cross-platform” is undeniably a buzzword, this data shows that brands are not all that into multi-channel campaigns.

“Cross-platform is THE new buzzword, but how integrated is advertising really?”

MediaRadar posed this question in May in its post, “How Integrated is the Ad Landscape?

The answer? Not so much. As the infographic in the article shows, most brand campaigns are only using one to three channels. And the most popular channel for ads remains print, according to MediaRadar data.

“It’s especially interesting that print still dominates with the most standalone advertisers at 141,254 compared to only 889 TV-only advertisers,” the article notes.

Hurray for print advertising; clearly the brands analyzed for this study understand the power of print ads. That’s not to say that digital doesn’t have a role. A smart cross-channel ad strategy is vital to reaching the hyper-connected consumer.

One thing is clear, though: Brands that rely heavily or exclusively on digital ad channels are missing the boat. And more agency execs are realizing this and saying pfffft to digital ads. As Lucy O’Dea writes in Ad, digital advertising’s effectiveness is dismal compared to print.

“I read with interest (and much enthusiasm) a recent report published by research firm, Lumen, into the effectiveness of digital versus print-based advertising,” O’Dea writes.

“The study found that in fact, only 44% of digital display ads received any views at all, with just 9% of those ads receiving more than a second of attention and only 4% receiving more than two seconds of engagement.

“By contrast, “O’Dea continues, “the report concludes that print-based adverts fares very much better and are typically viewed by 75% of readers for an average of 2.2 seconds. These statistics tell a rather different story to current perceived wisdom on the comparative value of digital vs paper advertising.”

Look again at the infographic in the MediaRadar; all of those campaigns that focus solely on desktop digital display must not realize that consumers’ eyes are wide shut to digital ads.

Multi-channel? Yes, do. But keep in mind at the end of the day you need to connect to your consumers, not their technology. And the best way to do that is through the “magic” of print.