The tipping point of media jargon: do we understand the meaning of the words we use?

Following the release of OFCOM’s sixth annual media nations report, I have been thinking a lot about its video findings and how the industry will interpret the results.

Reading the headlines, you would immediately believe that TV viewing is in deep decline, and you can no longer reach large volumes of people by advertising on TV. But once you delve a little deeper and read the more detailed data you start to understand the whole TV landscape. More importantly, how the TV landscape has changed and how we need to change the language we use when reporting and talking about TV viewing in the UK marketplace.

Language, for me, is the single most crucial factor when talking about video advertising

Agencies, broadcasters, video platforms, video providers etc….all use different words when talking about video advertising in the UK, which causes misunderstandings and miscommunication of the facts. When we use the word TV in industry news, we automatically think of linear TV viewing as historically this is what it referred to. But the media landscape has changed. So, we must update the meaning of particular words.

TV viewing now refers to all types of broadcasters viewing from linear to streaming. This includes watching on a connected TV (also known as the big screen), via apps, via a gaming device, through a Chromecast device, on mobile, tablet, laptop, desktop, and any other way you can consume broadcast content.

If we do not change our language to the updated way consumers watch video content, then we will continue to misread and misunderstand the advertising video marketplace.

People watching broadcaster or broadcaster quality content do not concern themselves with how they have accessed the content they want to watch. A viewer will watch on the best device available at that time, via any connected platform that provides the content they want to watch. So why do agencies/brands concern themselves with this?

This is due to the historical ways of working for planning and buying TV, Video, Digital. Most agencies will have a TV (AV) team who work on linear TV and broadcaster streaming platforms. Digital teams will work on broader video platforms such as YouTube. But the confusion for these teams comes when providers such as Channel 4, launch a YouTube channel. Where does and should this sit within the agency teams? This is a big question and one that agencies have been asking themselves for a while and each agency will have their own way of working.

So, for me, as we navigate through this process our priority in the short-term is to align the language we use when talking about video viewing and video advertising.

• TV viewing should include all video viewing on the big screen that is broadcaster or broadcaster quality content. We know on average people watch over 60% of quality video content on the biggest screen in the home, the TV. This means when we talk about TV viewing in the UK, we should include people watching content not only on ITV, Channel 4 and Skymedia both linear and streaming but viewers watching Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV, DAZN and many more. TV viewing is in good health in the UK marketplace.

• Video viewing should include all viewing to any device, (including TV) broadcast or broadcaster quality content. This means we include people watching ITV on linear, Channel 4 YouTube through a Chromecast stick or someone watching premier league highlights on YouTube, on their phone, on their way home from the match.

TV viewing and Video viewing both include Connected TV, we should not be looking at this as a separate entity, this should form part of the video ecosystem in the UK. TV’s (the big screen as it was formerly known) have been internet enabled for over 10 years. But the COVID pandemic and advancement in technology has enabled more people to own a smart TV. The latest figures show that over 70% of all households in the UK have an internet-enabled TV.

This buying route to reach audiences can be misleading with different platforms included in a variety of research pieces. An example of this would be an article stating, ‘Connected TV is up 54% YoY’. However, do we know what CTV platforms this includes and how this is broken down further by individual contribution. If we did, I would expect that YouTube and Broadcaster streaming services are the biggest contributors. We know CTV is a growing trend in the UK but for me, this trend is still small and should only be applied to new CTV platforms such as Pluto TV and Ketchup TV. This will then allow us to make true and accurate trends within the video marketplace.

I am the type of person who knows I need to be more open to change and therefore the changing TV landscape can seem scary at times. However, we can only embrace change if we understand it correctly.

A recent article from The Media Leader, promoted Lindsey Clay CEO of Thinkbox to make this comment. And, once again, TV has been split into component parts – linear, on demand, sponsorship – rather than looked at as a whole. If you must single out linear TV, then call it linear TV. Otherwise, you are being unhelpful at best and misleading at worst”

And I could not agree more. We need to be careful of the language we use and understand what the data/research is before using it to make media decisions.

At Republic of Media the video marketplace is a core objective of our senior leadership team. The working group aligns on language and the meaning of data to be on the front foot for all new developments within video advertising.