Media owners and companies that sell marketing and media solutions need to look carefully at what convergence means for the way they sell inventory to the brands they work with, says Elton Ollerhead, MD at Mediamark
"Let's first consider what we mean when we talk about convergence in the media environment. It is about the blending and blurring of various media and channels in brand and media owner strategies, as well as in the lives of their audiences. It is a big shift in how media owners package content and in how consumers consume it," he says.
Today's consumer, according to Ollerhead, is no longer loyal to a single morning newspaper, nor is he or she a faithful viewer of the eight o'clock news. Instead, audiences access entertainment and information from a range of sources during the average day, often multitasking across channels while doing so.
"For example, it's not unusual for people to have Twitter open on a tablet or smartphone while they're catching the finale of Breaking Bad, to listen to the midday news on the radio at work while browsing the Web, or to Google a company after seeing an ad in the paper. This multitasking behaviour is both a boon and a bane for marketers," explains Ollerhead.
He adds that, on the one hand, it means the audience's attention is fragmented; on the other, it means that cross-channel campaigns can be a great way to reinforce a brand message across multiple touch points. Against this backdrop, Ollerhead urges media buyers and brands to partner with media owners who can help them address audiences across multiple media channels with a single campaign or concept.
"Media owners and sales houses that want to do well in this landscape need to be able to offer brands integrated marketing solutions that span multiple channels. Such solutions provide brands and buyers with a single point for cross-channel buys, and allow for execution of campaigns across multiple channels in a uniform way."
Additionally, Ollerhead points out that it's natural for media owners to fiercely protect the yield of individual media channels - radio, for example, commands a premium over print or digital - so multi-channel solutions should be priced to attribute fair value to each channel.
"But it's important to look at yield across the portfolio - if you can get more revenue by offering more advertiser value across channels, it might make sense to do so," he adds. "From a selling perspective, one major challenge media owners and sales houses face is that the technical skills and knowledge required to sell across various media are very different."
The goal, in his view, should be to leverage all your assets as a media owner or sales house to address client briefs with a solution-driven approach.
"This can give clients superior return on investment while allowing media owners and sales houses to generate more revenue from their portfolios," concludes Ollerhead.
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