A Big Mistake: Regional Companies That Repurpose TV Ads

A mid-market company that saves a buck using a “Made for TV” commercial online loses more than they gain.

When online video channels like YouTube started taking off it wasn’t long before advertisers looked to capitalize on it with ad pre and post roll commercials to their campaigns Advertisers found a way to repurpose their creative originally developed for television by running it on popular online video channels. While this is an effortless way to extend a marketing effort and defray creative costs from one medium to another, the results may fall flat or roll back on you, making the investment in these online video ads a waste of media budget, which often will cost more than making additional true digital creative depending on the size of the buy.

There is so much more insight available from digital advertising than other forms of advertising. This audience information has led to the opportunity for hyper-level targeting and sets up the opportunity for using interchangeable creative to match the audience. Rather than running a one size fits all digital message, brands can run multiple creatives to ensure that the message matches the consumer’s interest and work at retargeting their messages to the ones deriving the best results, which could lead to a higher ROI.

Just as advertisers can target consumers with online display advertising, they can also target online video ads. Since the same data applies to online video audiences, advertisers can customize messages as well, but many regional advertisers don’t take advantage of this and use it to create content to engage the audience viewing it.

Consumers are increasingly watching online videos across multiple devices, so it’s vital that marketers begin understanding how this experience differs from traditional TV. Advertisers must create content that is designed for digital audiences who consume video in very different ways than a TV viewer. Since much of the online video formats allows the user to control their video ad experience, including whether they watch, skip or opt out completely. If brands want to extend the use of their TV commercials into the digital environment, they’re best to think about it twice.

Communication via behaviorally targeted ads to consumers will increase response rates, especially if it is content that is relevant to them. If a company’s target audience is adults ages 21-54 there should be an understanding that women between the age 21-34 and men between the ages of 35-54 will respond differently to an ad. Thanks to technology, each of these online consumers can have a different ad served to them, making the same valid point but in very different styles that will resonate better with that smaller segment of their overall audience. The winners develop ads, that don’t appear to sell but connect and are more customized due to the deliver method.

A regional company that is planning on spending money on digital video advertising should remember that it is more digital than it is “TV.” Investing in a medium without taking advantage of all the opportunities that pin point targeting brings, might not actually be a sound investment at all.