How is COVID-19 Impacting Advertising, Marketing and Media?
Philip Smolin, Chief Strategy Officer of Amobee, discusses, how no industry is immune from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as governments, industries, companies, and individuals around the world rally to fight this disease, media, marketing and advertising have an especially important role to play.
How Has the Pandemic Impacted Our Industry?
Like everyone else, those of us who work in media, advertising and marketing have seen a dramatic disruption to our work and daily lives as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies have instructed employees to work from home in order to practice better social distancing.
But social distancing also places a unique spotlight on our industry. The more society leans into social distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the more each of us will rely on media, especially digital media, to keep us informed, working, learning and entertained. Here are just a few examples of what I’m talking about:
- PBS and the Los Angeles Unified School District (the largest in the nation) teamed up to launch distance learning.
- Video-conferencing services and collaborative working tools have become essential to a distributed workforce.
- Entertainment is now home entertainment. One noteworthy example: Universal shifted its theatrical releases to streaming.
- Many phone, cable and ISP companies are vowing to keep customers connected, even if they can’t pay right now.
Already, we’re seeing the early impact of this shift to a more digital society. In the U.S., our Brand Intelligence tool shows a 40% boost in COVID-19 content engagement. With so much news changing so quickly, it seems likely that reading, viewing and listening to COVID-19 related content will continue to grow in the coming days, weeks and months. Likewise, as more and more people are being asked to stay home, we’re also seeing a rise in digital video and connected TV impressions. Our internal research shows a 10% week-over-week increase in ad opportunities globally.
Is any of this surprising? In short, no. The Internet is a necessary tool for sharing information, and its importance only grows in the face of a crisis like this one. Social media provides a mechanism for both distributing information and combating social isolation. Digital video keeps us informed and entertained while providing important distance learning tools for students who have seen the school year disrupted. At the same time, television, especially connected TV, is both an important source of news and entertainment.
Learn more: How Can Brands Navigate Crisis in a Way That Safeguards Their Future?
The vast majority of these services, whether digital or television, are ad-supported. That means our industry has an enormous and critical role to play in the fight against COVID-19. To be clear, the work we do will make it possible for society, the economy, and individuals to continue to function in the coming days, weeks and months.
How Can Individual Brands Respond?
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all advertisers will need to adjust their media plans. One important decision marketers need to make right away is whether they want their ads to appear within the context of news stories about the pandemic. Choosing the right context is important and each brand will make its own decisions.
Though, regardless of the strategy each brand sets, our internal research shows that there are media opportunities to support news coverage of the pandemic, as well as media opportunities to bring consumers much-needed entertainment, business utilities, social engagements and education. Technology vendors and agencies have the tools to control for proximity so that brands can navigate their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
How Are Consumers Reacting?
With an onslaught of news and the biggest social disruption in generations, it’s not surprising that consumer sentiment is constantly evolving around the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why it’s very important for brands to lean into consumer sentiment tools. By understanding the topics and trends audiences are engaging with, brands can determine if, where and how they want to engage in the conversation.
Learn more: What You Should Know About Over-the-Top Media
In many cases, the tones and messages that were ideal before the pandemic may need to be adjusted to meet audiences where they are today. In some specific categories, such as food and health, marketers need to understand consumer sentiment around COVID-19 so that they can push out the most relevant and useful information as quickly as possible.
What Will This Mean for the Upfronts?
Advertisers need to plan for disruption to this year’s television advertising upfront presentations. The majority of the 2020 upfronts have already shifted to virtual events. Presentations will be more like webinars; deals will be struck over video conference, email or through programmatic interfaces.
However, there is no indication that the upfront negotiations or commitment to spend are being negatively impacted. While the industry as a whole will experience a decline in live sports and live entertainment inventory, we anticipate sufficient impressions from regular online video and connected TV to compensate for the decline in other areas. Simply put, the type of content we watch will certainly change as a result of social distancing, but the rate at which we consume media will likely hold steady, or even increase.
What Can Our Industry Do?
Our industry has an important role to play, both in social and economic terms. Our work will not only support individuals in their time of need, but it will also keep commerce flowing during these unprecedented times.
Additionally, we have an important role to play in helping to stop the spread of misinformation. By reducing the reach of misinformation, our industry can help save lives.
