CMO Club and Simulmedia Survey Finds Over Half of CMOs Supplement TV Ads with Digital Video, But Only 31% Align Their Budgets Around the Two Media Types

NEW YORK – Over half (54 percent) of Chief Marketing Officers surveyed said they use digital video to supplement TV as a holistic strategy, but only 31 percent align their budgets for TV and digital advertising spend. This separation leads to a disconnect between the value of each medium, as just over half (52%) claim that they have different expectations across the two platforms. In addition, three quarters of CMOs say that they measure reach the same way for both TV and digital video and but only one-third see Nielsen as the ongoing foundation of their reach metrics.

These findings were the result of a survey conducted recently by The CMO Club and Simulmedia, and can be found in the report “The Future of TV and Digital Video.” For the study, The CMO Club, a community of Senior Marketing Executives, in partnership with Simulmedia, the pioneer in bringing audience targeting to television advertising, surveyed over 80 senior marketers.

Also from the survey: In the past three years, digital spend has gone from 10 percent of advertising budgets to 24 percent and is forecasted to rise to 36 percent in the next three years.

“For over a decade, marketers have attempted to find the most efficient balance between TV and digital video spend,” says Pete Krainik, Founder of The CMO Club. “Our report shows that it’s not TV vs. digital video, it’s about TV and digital video, both today and for the foreseeable future.”

“CMOs say they want a holistic strategy, but neither plan, measure or budget for it as one thing,” says David Cooperstein, CMO at Simulmedia and author of the report.

The interest in digital video is just now gaining noticeable traction as budgets have started to grow. In the US, digital video advertising expenditures are exploding: Figures from eMarketer show that digital video ad spending is estimated at $6 billion this year, growing around 42% annually. However, the actual dollars spent in TV still greatly trumps digital video. TV advertising dollars in the US were approximately $76 billion in 2014 and still growing just over 3% annually. While both will continue to grow, TV will continue to add more raw dollars of advertising than digital video will, particularly during pivotal political and Olympics years.

“Digital depth cannot match TV’s breadth. Nor should it. Conversely, TV has not historically been as measurable or personalized, so it cannot perform the magic that digital delivers. In that very unique way, TV and digital do not compete, they complement. The winning combination is the joint approach. TV’s reach and digital’s depth make them amazing partners in the marketing mix,” says Mr. Cooperstein. “This solution guide is a unique perspective from a range of CMOs and seeks to provide senior marketers with a roadmap to help them navigate the relatively uncharted territory of digital video. CMOs will learn how to use the best of TV and digital to engage consumers and deliver business results.”

The survey was the basis for the just released The CMO Solution Guide to the Future of TV and Digital Video report. To download it visit: http://thecmoclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-CMO-Club_Simulmedia_The-Future-of-TV-and-Digital-Video.pdf

The CMO Club (TheCMOClub.com) is the world’s most engaged and inspired community of Senior Marketing Executives who help each other solve their biggest challenges, within a candid, trusted, and sharing environment. Collaboration fueled by inspiring events and within the members-only Digital Solutions Clubhouse raises the standard for what is required to be a successful Chief Marketing Officer. With more than 850 members The CMO Club is the go-to center for today’s Senior Marketer for peer-based personal and career success support.

Simulmedia, Inc. (www.simulmedia.com) is the leader in helping advertisers and agencies find targeted TV audiences. By taking a digital approach to linear TV advertising, the company delivers targeted audience reach at national scale. Its Simulmedia Audience Network reaches 110 million households across the US through partnerships with 85 national cable networks and the top multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Based on a proprietary analysis of second-by-second activity for over 50 million people, Simulmedia determines the best options to extend the reach of campaigns to specific target audiences, and places advertising across those disparate TV networks. Since it began in 2009, Simulmedia has delivered campaigns for more than 70 advertisers and their agencies, to target, deliver, and measure hundreds of TV campaigns, and on average reached their target audience 32% more efficiently than they were able to with traditional TV ad scheduling and targeting methods alone.