The biggest mass medium of them all is facing its challenges – but television remains the best way marketers can build a brand.

That was the view of EGTA, a trade body representing European broadcasters’ advertising sales units, as it took its members on a study trip to meet US peers in New York.

“If you need to make a name for yourself big time, quickly, I believe and we all believe, that this total video environment, and definitely TV, is the place to be – that’s how you build a brand,” EGTA director general Katty Roberfroid says in this video interview with Ashley Swartz for Beet.TV

EGTA represents 148 companies operating in 42 markets

If European broadcasters find one thing in the States, however, it is declining viewership for TV overall.

  • According to Nielsen data: “For the four weeks ending Oct. 28, coinciding with the start of the official TV season, the number of people ages 18 to 34 using TV has plunged 15% and is down 36% from 2014.”
  • October prime-time viewing of broadcast and cable networks by 18 to 49s was down 11% since last year, according to MoffettNathanson Research.

So, whilst broadcasters’ content teams are busy trying to find the right recipe to attract viewers, ad sales houses are working on wringing higher spend from a declining viewership, using new audience targeting capabilities that can help brands achieve better bang for buck.

“That’s the one part of TV that advertisers are missing,” Roberfroid says. “They’re reaching out to huge crowds at once, but they want refined audiences. I don’t know if the future is one-to-one communication, but certainly one-to-many or one-to-few.

“(Set-top) boxes like Sky in the UK can really go very, very fine and to very small audiences. Others are trying to refine audiences, and just segment better, and give a better approach. That certainly is a good compliment to build for the TV power that we have already.”

This interview was conducted at the EGTA New York meetings hosted by Viacom.   EGTA, the Brussels-based trade association of international television companies, is the sponsor of this Beet.TV series. For more videos, please visit this page. 

By Robert Andrews on    @robertandrews