Warning: Everything you read below is not something in the future. It is available and taking place now. It is growing, and you need to embrace it and use it to your advantage.

Here we are once again in the midst of something that most of us never thought would happen! Let me begin with talking about our youth. Remember the days of racing home from school to watch the afternoon episode of Batman, or getting up early Saturday morning to watch a favorite cartoon? Well, those days are long gone and not just because we are older. You guessed it! The Internet has affected those habits and the way TV programming is consumed by everyone.

Fact: TV Viewership is On a Steep Decline
Well, that is not completely true. What I really mean is viewership for traditional TV programming is on a steep decline. Allow me to explain. Individuals are streaming TV via the Internet with platforms such as Apple TV, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon OnDemand, Roku and the 8,000-pound gorilla, YouTube Movies. Streaming on-demand subscriptions are exploding! Amazon just signed a deal that allows it to provide over 17,000 titles on demand, 24/7.
 
TV viewing is where newspaper readership was six years ago, when newspaper publishers knew they were in trouble and tried to fight it instead of changing their business model. I am not saying it will take six years for traditional TV programming to go the way of newspapers. That’s not how the Internet tidal wave works. I estimate it will take two to three years. Hulu has amassed over 20 million subscribers in just a short few years, and now people can watch news, sports and movies anywhere on a tablet or mobile device by streaming. Is streaming TV part of your media mix? If not, I caution you to think again.

What Will TV Networks Do?
Fortunately, networks have already embraced the Internet tidal wave and started programing for streaming channels. This switch provides some excellent opportunities for marketers, but the concern for both networks and marketers could be the plethora of programming that is becoming available if you were thinking traditional, old-school media buying. Programing is now available to viewers when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it. The programming and shows are often available online before they are available on the old-fashioned TV set.

There is an App For That
TV networks, shows and movies now have the opportunity to build apps! Yes, apps like an iPhone app, except for your TV. The use of these apps is proving to increase loyalty to the programmer and will also return insight into the viewers’ behaviors. The question is, when will a dealership have its own app for HD-streaming TV sets? It’s coming.

This Could Be Detrimental For Price-Point TV Ads
New technology offers new ways to market, or really new ways to tune out the unwanted noise. Viewers have options; YouTube is offering a personal preference called TrueView, and Hulu offers a similar tool called AdSwap. The viewer is going to see paid advertisements. However, they have the ability to choose which paid ads they will see, and all the others are blocked. This is detrimental if your ads are typical price-point automotive ads, AKA non-creative.

I am confident Geico and Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in The World will fair well. Let’s be honest and admit that 99 percent of people don’t care about price-point car commercials. If they want price, they will visit your website, so you need to be creative and make them want to visit your website. Telling them to visit your website is not going to cut it. Why not get a custom jingle and have them visit your site by using Shazam on their iPhone? You need to entice your viewer to choose your commercials, and you could also receive the benefit of the viewer clicking and being redirected to a long-form commercial for your dealership.
 
Spray-and-Pray Marketing is Over
In traditional TV advertising, we used to choose from standard demographic profiles, e.g., adults 25 to 54 or females 18 to 34. However, with online marketing and streaming TV advertising, we now have micro-profiling opportunities. The new technology allows us to use what is called a prizm, which represents 58 different segments with 12 different financial sectors. This is important since now we can target based on this demographic profiling and pinpoint individuals with a specific message. For instance, a male that is a DIY mechanic can be targeted with a message specific to him about your parts department. The old adage that tells us 50 percent of advertising is a waste is only accurate for the unsavvy marketer. Combine the prizm data with behavioral, remarketing, social media and marketing automation, and you now have a marketing strategy that would be turning profits like never before.

Vol. 9, Issue 5