Author: Jenny Summers, Group Marketing Director, in conjunction with Which Media

• Media channels are reaching more consumers
• TV and radio are attracting bigger audiences
• ABC1s are saving money, and plan to spend when they can

So is now the time to think about advertising? Jenny Summers, Head of Marketing at NCC Events, takes a look at the changing media landscape.

Most media channels have seen increases in reach during the lockdown as people either work from home or are furloughed and have more time at home generally. Some 49% of UK consumers watched more TV in March, while consumption of news was up 70%. There was an uplift of 20% for time spent listening to the radio. However, music streaming experienced a fall of 5% (Source: Marketing Week).

Email open rates have increased by 25% on average and are expected to continue by a further 5% – 10%. Exceptions to this are some vertical sectors, such as fashion seeing an average decrease of 30% in conversions.

Most of the ‘camping and caravanning’ titles are publishing as normal at the time of writing. Regional press is a mixed bag with some closures. Local and regional newspaper publishers have found it economically unsustainable to go on producing papers. In response, they have suspended the publication of scores of titles and placed hundreds of journalists on paid leave. “Furloughs” have become part of the new pandemic lexicon.

At national level, print runs have been drastically reduced because of distribution problems, most obviously resulting from the widespread closure of retail stores. Edition sizes have also been cut back due to the drop-off in advertisers. Similarly, many magazines are also forsaking print in favour of digital-only publication, but there are options to promote dealerships and caravan parks via all methods, dependent on which area of the country you are based.

As we start a new week (14th April), it might be helpful to look at some key industry trends (Source: Marketing Week):

• Consumer optimism in decline with only 15% believing the economy will rebound within two to three months, compared to 23% in late March.
• More than 95% of UK consumers believe it will take more than two months before routines can return to normal, with 43% believing it will be between four and six months; 72% believe their finances will be impacted for more than two months.

According to research company McKinsey & Co, the UK want ads to be more informative (42%). Thirty-five per cent want them to make them feel “warm and happy” while 23% want ads to provide a sense of “continuity and normalcy”.

People are also turning to content relating to hobbies. Echobox, a social media platform for publishers, tracked more than 2.3million stories shared on social media by 700 leading publishers (globally) e.g. they are turning to trusted media/publishers for news and content.

Magazines – a glossy period?

TI Media (formerly IPC) research has revealed:

• 2 out of 3 ABC1s and C2DEs are NOT actively seeking hard news about the coronavirus crisis. Around 1 in 5 are limiting news as it is overwhelming.
• People are saving money and planning to spend when restrictions are lifted. On average, ABC1s are saving 30% of their normal weekly expenditure. 1 in 5 of these plan to treat their families when restrictions are lifted.
• People embracing hobbies/passions. 37% of ABC1s consuming more content relating to their passion and 48% about the same.
• 49% of ABC1s are streaming more online entertainment content at home, the majority of which is via Netflix
• Traffic online has increased hugely. Golf Monthly, Good to Know, Marie Claire, Homes & Gardens, Livingetc, Wallpaper and Woman’s Weekly all recorded highest traffic week ending 10th April 2020. According to TI, content that reflected the current unique situation performed well. Some popular topics in common across brands are exercise equipment reviews, DIY projects, indoor/at home exercise ideas, and apps for various practical needs.

Hearst Magazines (Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Elle etc) findings:

• Hearst’s Chief Commercial Officer Jane Wolfson claimed that their “trusted brands were growing audiences digitally … Positivity is ever more important to them now and unsurprisingly we have seen growth in areas such as Running +24%, Wellbeing +42%, Family + 72% and Homes & Interiors +29%. We’re keeping our content positive by ensuring our consumers get more out of life, which is even more important in time of such uncertainty. For our print brands, we’ve been pushing our home delivery service, as well as our subscription offers – it’s all about making it as easy as possible to get our content to our consumers, through whichever medium they want.”

“With over 75% of people working predominantly at home or not working at all due to COVID-19, our latest research shows that more and more people are turning to magazines and radio as vital lifeline as evidenced by comments captured from consumers…”

“Just make sure the magazines keep coming!”

“Radio is vital in this pandemic situation”

• 26% listening to more radio
• 11% reading more magazines
• 91% have been listening to radio (+7%)
• 76% have read a magazine (+5%)
• 78% have been listening to streamed music (+12%)
• 57% listened to a podcast (+13%)

Research indicates that magazines and radio are providing audiences with connection and information, entertainment, inspiration, companionship and much needed escape.

(Source: Bauer Media gathered between March 31st and April 3rd from the Bauer Media Insiders panel. Sample size 1346 nationally representative sample (weighted on gender, age, social grade and region)

TV – daytime viewers goggling at the box

TV and radio are experiencing some of their biggest audiences this year. Celebrity Bake-off recently recorded its largest overnight audience ever (4.1million viewers), Channel 4’s highest overnight rating of 2020 so far. ITV daytime audiences have also soared. Loose Women and This Morning pulled in year on year increase of 76% and 70% respectively (March 18). Streaming service Disney+, which rivals Netflix and Amazon Prime has almost doubled its users since February from 26.5m subscribers to just over 50m.

Thinkbox revealed: “With people having to spend more time at home, we have seen a dramatic effect on TV viewing, with huge rises across the board. Two weeks after lockdown started, TV viewing was up by 32% year on year, having been tracking down about 4% this year. That’s 50 minutes more a day. Daytime TV viewing was also up 32% and daytime reach up 34%. Viewing among children grew 47%. These figures are varying week to week, but the impact is clear”

“Some sectors will be affected more – travel is the obvious example. We have seen some campaigns put on hold.

“Some, though, could see a surge of interest because their products and services will be vital in this period. There can scarcely be a better time to be an online retailer, for example. Home entertainment too has never been more central to our lives. Disney+ launched at a good time, if this time can ever be described as good.

“As some advertisers, like travel, have little choice but to reduce their TV spend, and TV viewing shoots up while more people spend more time at home, the average price for a TV spot has come down (in TV terms this means demand is down and supply is up). The impact of this for advertisers is that TV advertising pricing will offer even better value over the next couple of months.”

“When we emerge from this crisis, brands that maintained or built during it will be much stronger for it. This is easier said than done, and it may feel weird to be talking about opportunities at a time like this, but the worst thing to do would be to grind everything to a halt. We must engage with the real world and its future still. And advertising has an important role to play in keeping commerce going and fueling the economy.

“But the way businesses advertise now will change. Sales activation, for example, is currently only appropriate for a narrow group of lockdown-friendly products. But when we emerge, brands that maintained or built will be much stronger for it. Now is the time to back up your brands.”

ITV (written as at 9th April)

Whilst the nation is in lockdown, more people are watching TV. ITV has seen a continued increase in both linear and hub viewing. Here’s a snapshot from the last seven days:

• Viewing on ITV Hub is up across all days of the week and was highest on Tuesday (7th April) by 32.5%
• Viewing at breakfast has increased by 55.2% on year-on-year, driven by Good Morning Britain
• The Virtual Grand National averaged 4.3m viewers across the 30 minutes with a peak of 4.8m. This was up on the channel’s year-to-date slot average by +71%
• Episode 4 of The Good Karma Hospital had an audience of 4.5m, the biggest of the series so far
• On Sunday 5th April, ITV was up by +1.1m viewers (+40%) in prime time year-on-year
• The new series of Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip launched with an audience of 4.7m, up a significant +1.2m viewers (+35%).

ITV Daytime saw its second highest levels of viewing for a Friday so far this year with an average of 1.5m. Good Morning Britain, including GMB with Lorraine, attracted an average of 0.9m viewers. This Morning had its best performing week since at least 2010, averaging 1.6m across week 14! Four of the top five episodes came from this week.

With reference to the soaps, ITV had its best Thursday performance since November last year. The first episode of Emmerdale brought in the soap’s biggest Thursday audience since January 2019, while Coronation Street had its biggest overnight audience since January 2019 with 6.6m viewers.

Films did well too. On Sunday (5th April), ITV2 had the biggest audience of the day across digital channels with the film Skyfall which achieved an audience of 0.9m, the channel’s biggest Sunday audience since the Love Island final this year. ITV4 achieved an audience of 0.4m with the film The Magnificent Seven which outperformed the Sunday year-to-date slot average by +90%.

Britain’s Got Talent (Saturday 11th April) had a peak audience of just under 10m, the second most watched show this year so far, outside of news programming.

It might seem like a strange time to be considering advertising a product that people can’t buy or a holiday that they may not be able to go on, but there are certainly opportunities for building brands, brand advocacy and furthering demand. It makes sense to plan a campaign for lift off when lockdown is lifted. After all – you have something of a captive audience!