Short Takes: TV Beats Digital Again

Time to start embracing the GRP, reach and frequency, three martini lunches, handshake deals, whatever it takes. Because TV is beating digital by playing the same old low-tech games.

At least that’s a takeaway from a new survey released by the Association of National Advertisers, which found that 47 percent of marketers increased their TV budgets since 2009. That’s during a brutal recession and during a time when online media consumption ballooned.
For executives from the digital media world, this should be eye-opening. Marketers still love the sight, sound, motion and brand impact, despite all of its targeting shortfalls and lack of interactivity. During a panel session at Digiday’s Digital Publishing Summit in Bonita Springs, Fla., on Monday, MediaKitchen CEO Barry Lowenthal lamented the idea of the digital media industry adopted TV’s the GRP as “sad” and “backward.” It will be even sadder if the digital ad industry doesn’t start commanding a bigger share of dollars. Fights over metrics will seem backward at some point.

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