Monday, July 25

Which Media Diet for Light TV Viewers?

(FMCG) Advertisers continue to spend large amounts on expensive TV campaigns. The (long time ago) announced death of the TV-spot is still not a reality. On the contrary! Honestly I'm wondering why, knowing that 4 out of 10 Belgians are light TV viewers. My gut feeling says that these people don't like pushy TV ads. Unfortunately, the CIM-PMPA*-study - which contains data about media audiences and frequency of usage - doesn't measure advertising likeability. But it defintely can help you in your media choice with specific analysis on light and non TV viewers.

Why would advertisers be interested in reaching light and non TV viewers? According to an analysis I've made on the CIM-PMPA, this category represents 3.700.000 people in Belgium (over 12 years old). Not a minority. More than half are the ones in charge of picking up the groceries (the so-called Main Responsible for Purchases). My 'investigations' also demonstrate that light viewers have a more attractive demographic profile: 37% of them are classified in the highest socio-economic groups (1-2)  and 36% are highly educated. It's also a very gender-balanced profile with 51% women. So don't make the wrong match:
LIGHT or NON TV USER =  
MAN or CHILD PLAYING with a MOBILE/COMPUTERLIKE THING
Talking about segmentation, it seems that cultural differences don't play a big role in the media behavior. But gender does. It was really not a surprise to me that women tend to be more print-minded and heavy users of magazines (both weeklies and monthlies). Men seem to appreciate internet and the seats (or popcorn?) of movie theatres more.

Female light viewers represent 20% of the Belgian population. As an employee of Sanoma Media Belgium, with a women-oriented portfolio, I have a strong interest in the media behavior of this target.The CIM-PMPA study gives me insight into the reach and the coverage of magazines in general and of our titles specifically. The most important findings are summarized in a presentation below. As usual, you can download this material for free on SlideShare, with speaker notes for the most difficult slides :-) If you like it, feel free to share.
Even with its limitations, the CIM-PMPA survey is a wonderful tool. All the (most important) media brands with a 'Belgian' ratecard are taken into account. It has one handicap: it doesn't measure (big) foreign channels/titles and of course, non-subscribers. That could be a little bit tricky, especially when 'measuring' the 'real' impact (reach) of TV and some radio channels in the south of the country. Why? It's commonly known that a lot of French-speaking Belgians turn to French TV-shows for entertainment. Each survey has limitations. This is one of them. It's not the Holy Grail. But even if it only gives us an indication of each medium, it's still a valuable tool with a qualitative and quantitative sample. 


*CIM- Center for Information about Media in Belgium
  PMPA: Pluri-Media/Products/Attitudes