GroupM: TV ads 40% more efficient than other communications

TV advertising was 40% more efficient at driving long-term response in terms of per-pound spend than the next best forms of communication, according to new research.

The GroupM study, commissioned by UK TV marketing body Thinkbox, said that outdoor and print were the next-most efficient forms of advertising after TV. Online display was found to be the least efficient generator of long-term response, with TV 180% more efficient than this.

“Because of its reach and scale, TV advertising keeps generating a cost efficient level of response at higher levels of spend than other media,” said GroupM in its ‘TV Response: new rules, new roles’ study.

“Over the short to medium term the point of diminishing returns – the point at which efficiency of ad spend decreases significantly – is much lower for TV. This means there is more headroom to spend efficiently on TV than any other channel, which enables brands to drive a high volume of response and profit.”

The study said that spend on TV advertising can be 2.7 times higher than online channels before there is a significant decrease in efficiency, 2.5 times higher than print and 2.8 times higher than radio.

GroupM found that TV advertising is responsible for 44% of media-driven Facebook interactions for brands – such as ‘likes’ and ‘comments’. It also said that TV generates 31% of all media-driven sales delivered via telephone, 35% of all media-driven sales via bricks and mortar shops and 32% of media-driven sales through direct-to-site driven web traffic.