RIP TV.
Alright, we know it’s a little controversial to declare TV dead. Especially when you’re in the toy business. But none the less, that’s exactly what it is… dead.
Hang on! LEGO, Mattel and other huge toy companies are still running ads on kids TV… so, are you saying you’re smarter than they are??
The short answer is “no”. The long answer is “hell no”. But one thing is certain.. Their marketing budgets are a tiny bit bigger than ours. And for that reason (and maybe something about brand safety), they still run ads on kids TV. But let’s look at the facts:
Turner (Cartoon Network and Boomerang) just announced that they are pulling out of the Nordic kids TV market.
Disney XD is no more.
And all the latest data/insights on kids TV coverage in the Nordics, are pretty gloomy reading. Just take a look:
To put the numbers into perspective, we’ve compared coverage with Youtube. To make matters worse - these numbers have been pumped up by Covid-19, which means a lot more people are watching TV due to restrictions. And last but not least. These numbers are +1 minute (meaning that if you spent more than 1 minute watching anything on the network, you count) of editorial time, not even commercial time.
At best, your TV campaigns will carpet bomb the same few kids with your spots over and over again.
Conclusion.
Well… our conclusion is that we are no longer going to spend any of our marketing budget on TV, when the return of investment is so low. We can’t drive sales or branding, when the reach is so low and still declining. Our money is far better spent on digital platforms, where we know the kids are present - and where we can reach the right audiences with the right campaigns.
TV is no longer need to have, but very much nice to have, when planning media for your campaigns. LEGO, Mattel and all the other big toy companies simply have the cash to add nice to have platforms to their media plans. We only want to invest where we can achieve the best ROI.
More to come.
We know it’s a little simplistic take on TV as a marketing platform for kids in 2021. But to go further into depth, would mean a much longer ‘article’. But our digital transition is something we can talk about all day long - and we will! If you stick around, we promise much more on the subject.
Hope to see you soon.
