Alex Pineda
Executive creative director, TBWA\RAAD
Yes & No
If you think of TV as the classic media, we grew up within the living room, broadcasting fixed programmes filled with million-dollar production cost ads, then, No.
But if you think of TV as something you can sync with your phone (albeit actually a pocket-size hard drive with Wifi and an HD camera), watch Netflix and Apple TV, stream YouTube, play music straight from Spotify, watch TED Talks, get movies and sports on demand and a million things besides, then Yes. TV is redefined as a gateway to endless possibilities. It has become a true ‘magic box’.
Lara Saab
Associate marketing director, Weyyak
Maybe
The Golden age of the TV ad has passed. Today’s consumer touchpoints are very fragmented. The audiovisual media landscape has witnessed a paradigm shift with the rise of digital media consumption year on year. The whole e-commerce ecosystem revolutionised communication, which resulted in an evolution of non-traditional media. Hence brands’ marketing effectiveness depends on strategising a 360-degree media mix that orchestrates relevant touchpoints that serve business objectives and drive ROI. The TV ad’s longevity is highly dependent on multidimensional innovative media planning, particularly in an era when digital media and video-on-demand platforms are proven to be effective as standalone players and constitute the highest share of voice in the current
market scene.
Antonio Boulos
Vice-president, BPN MENA
Yes
TV consumption has evolved and is living another golden age, judging by the sheer number of people who are consuming video content across different platforms. Video advertising is the interactive brainchild of TV advertising.
On the other hand, many regional brands view traditional TV advertising as “Golden” for the following reasons:
Leading Pan Arab TV channels allow these brands to target 22 Arabic speaking markets across MENA with one spot, reaching tens of millions of consumers at once. No other communication channel can deliver this performance.
Such advertisers benefit from a CPM that other channels cannot compete with.
Danny Bates
Co-founder & chief commercial officer, Starzplay
Yes
TV advertising witnessed a remarkable evolution with the advent of digital advertising, which opened a whole new era of opportunities. Linear TV has long dominated the marketing play for a lot of brands. However, today TV advertising is adapting to new formats that help optimise reach to offer a breadth of content personalised for the consumers. Engaging content is now more important than ever. Further, other factors, such as high production values driven by high budgets and the arrival of big movie stars to television, are triggering positive changes in TV advertising.
Youssef Gadallah,
Head of creative lab, global business solutions, METAP – TikTok
No
We are in a golden age, but not of TV. This is the golden age of big ideas. The age of many screens, little attention spans and peak consumer savviness. People want the ‘what’s next’. They want it now, and they want it constantly. TV is focused on traditional, one-way, and almost entirely untrackable content, rather than actual solutions that build brands and sell products. It is less likely to give the space to truly innovate in terms of big ideas and creative solutions than other media platforms. And, let’s face it, most of the TV being consumed is ad-free, so brands are less and less likely to invest in a TV renaissance.
Mustafa Dada
General manager, marketing and communications, AW Rostamani Group
Yes
It’s no secret that spending in TV advertising has declined in the past few years, however the pandemic played a major role in shifting consumer demand and increasing viewership. It’s currently a buyer’s market, where major brands are coming in especially to the streaming environment to take advantage of the increase in viewership. Out of five households, TV streaming occupies three, while only two are traditional TV households, so we are really seeing that pendulum swing into TV streaming and advertisers are really following suit – they are finally buying where the audience is first, versus going straight to traditional TV as an initial step.
Yasser Obeid
Managing director, AKA Media
No
Since the turn of the century, TV advertising has been fighting a losing battle against the digital domain. Access to billions of users across the globe, proper targeting and flexibility in terms of format lengths have made the 30 second TV ad not very competitive, considering the cost of TV media, which is dramatically more expensive and gives brands less value for money. And the statistics speak for themselves: TV media spend has not seen any dramatic growth over the last decade. Most marketeers when producing content for TV have digital versions made out of the same content, and with more and more internet penetration and more OTT ad-free platforms, marketing budgets will continue to increase on the digital front.
Carolyn Gibson
Chief revenue officer, Euronews
Yes
TV is radically changing and while its traditional linear model is still very popular, video streaming services are rapidly developing. It is predicted that by 2026, 73 per cent of the US population will turn to OTT video streaming for their media consumption, a trend that is accelerating worldwide. At Euronews, we anticipated this shift early and are already in a market-leading position on the majority of platforms worldwide, with millions of hours of content streamed on the likes of Rakuten, Roku and Pluto TV. This has allowed us to grow our audiences not only in Europe, but also in the USA, Latin America and APAC, creating new opportunities for our advertisers.
Julie Caironi,
Regional head of marketing, Snap Inc. MENA
No
TV’s reach and viewership have declined steadily over recent years, making it increasingly challenging to reach the vast potential audiences of the past. This change has given way to new modes of advertising to achieve the reach and frequency of content that advertisers are looking for.
Direct response solutions and immersive AR technologies supported by ROI and performance-driven KPIs have changed advertisers’ perception of TV – highlighting its limits in achieving holistic brand objectives. Mobile consumption has been at the heart of this, delivering dynamic and immersive video content from brands, creators, and publishers directly into the hands of their audiences, where it can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
Walid Yared
CMO, Choueiri Group
Yes
We definitely are, but it is no longer just a standalone linear TV play, as TV advertising has evolved significantly from its traditional model.
Broadcasters and publishers must embrace a holistic approach towards TV, that extends from linear to connected TV, AVOD and SVOD. Moving ahead, the new TV play will continue to be all about harnessing the convergence of content and distribution.
This evolution will help increase TV’s reach and will empower and enable users to consume TV content on their own terms, at the time and location of their choosing, utilising their preferred devices or platforms.
Makram Abou Fakher
Business unit director, Havas Media Middle East
Yes
TV ad spends have continued to grow YOY accounting for approx. 65%-70% share of total ad spend. Since the pandemic, streaming TV services that attract record numbers of viewers are said to have increased by 50%-55%, demonstrating that we are still very much in the golden era of television viewership. More people are watching, and more often binge-watching OTT content. However, that and subscriptions are still considered to be complementary and incremental, and are not an alternative to TV which still holds the highest daily reach of 93%-95%. Brands understand that the way to drive awareness at scale and strengthen brand identity is through TV, which is still very often the centre-piece of many media plans.
