What I learned from Future TV Canada 2024

What did I learn this year? Quite a lot, actually!?

In previous years, many discussions centred around how to plan and execute streaming plus linear. This year, I felt we moved on from that. There’s still challenges (frequency capping) but solutions are available. While there are still areas to grow and improve upon, there’s not a lot of mystery around this topic. We all want it fixed, and people are working on it. Mostly.

Measurement

Thankfully, we didn’t have to hear clients/agencies need this. We all know that. My takeaway on this topic centres around the viability and survival of Numeris, the Canadian ‘JIC’. ?Again, there’s no mystery about what needs to happen, it’s more about how it will happen. Numeris is funded by the domestic broadcasters in Canada and their revenues are flat or down. For Numeris to evolve to include streaming in a manner that is acceptable to the market, they need continued investment. It’s not a sustainable situation but there are a few fixes. One solution is for new suppliers in the market to support it; Disney, Amazon, Netflix, and perhaps YouTube. Disney said on stage that they are keen and open to support such services and Netflix have said similar things too. It’s worth noting, these organizations, along with Amazon, have supported JICs in other markets so you expect a positive outcome. Don’t hold your breath though. If you are familiar with how Google have flirted with JICs around the world, you can’t be guaranteed of anything. Additionally, and I fear this is an outcome in most markets, streaming services are generally global behemoths who don’t need independent oversight. They can self-report without much pressure from buyers. In addition to that, they can offer clients “outcomes” and all sorts of fancy new measurement solutions that seem to appeal to them. They don’t need the gold standard of an independent measurement solution because they’re big, they work directly with brands and they offer different measurement solutions that buyers seem to crave. For me, and for buyers in the market in Canada, this is an incredibly scary situation. We are probably moving into an era where third-party independent measurement will cease to exist, and suppliers will simply self-report. Ultimately, while clients will say they care, their spend suggests otherwise, which is largely travelling to unregulated environments. I asked the CMO’s on the final panel a series of questions around Numeris. Here’s how that conversation went:

Me: Do you worry if Numeris will cease to exist because of the [aforementioned] business challenges it is experiencing?

Answer: Yes

Me: Numeris said it needs clients to support it. Do you value it enough to support it more?

Answer: Yes

Me: OK, the reality is, money is moving out of Canadian media organizations who support Numeris, and you are putting it into organizations that don’t offer third-party independent measurement. You’re saying one thing and doing exactly the opposite. Why?

Answer: Oh shit.

Tracy Cooke from Nestle she feels as though, “we are (clients) talking out of both sides of our mouths” on this topic. Which was a very honest remark and one the room appreciated. It was repeated to me after the event.

My take: I honestly don’t think they know how precarious the situation is in Canada. I think Numeris, the board and the agencies need to do a better job with clients directly to inform them what is happening, what the outlook is looking like and what will happen if Numeris doesn’t operate.

Supporting Canadian media

The alarming thing for me on this topic was this simple fact - which was beautifully highlighted by Tracy Ball from Bayer after the event:

?“Canadian Content media investment is diminishing while attention for it is growing”

Why is this important? For instance, if Canadians are being served what they want from Global streamers and brands/agencies are getting what they need, then why does it matter?

It matters because Canadian brands – and international brands who operate here in Canada – all agreed with this point: Campaigns that resonate with Canadian cultural moments are always/mostly far more effective when selling to Canadians. We need these “moments” ?we need Canadian content and we need to support Canadian organisations who largely are the ones who produce it.

We asked clients throughout the entire conference, this simple question:

Do you guys feel, from an effectiveness perspective, you have a responsibility to future proof Canadian media? Every client said yes.

Here’s the reality, they are not doing that. Canadian brands highly over-index on global platforms. I believe clients in Canada are overspending on these platforms by some margin. And they are leaving effectiveness, brand growth opportunities and sales on the table. This is all in favour of short-term pressures and simply, this is my view, most organizations are completely outsold by the closeness and relationships that the platforms have directly with clients. There was a moment at the event where we heard clients are getting more “value-add” from some of the global platforms than their agencies. This is an insane position to be in. ?

A really interesting data point highlighted almost the lunacy of what is happening. In Quebec, French TV channels have a massive advantage there. Huge viewership, huge linear viewership and it’s happening at predictable times of the day (mornings and evenings). Fantastic. Yet, spend in this market mirrors what is happening in English Canada where the numbers aren’t quite as rosy. Clients know this but they continue to spend the same percentage on TV in English Canada as they do in French Canada. It’s madness. And there’s no explanation for it either other than, “this is our % split”.

What to do about it?

Education is required. Media companies must get closer to clients to inform them what is happening here in Canada. I speak to clients a lot here in this market and they are just simply not aware of what is happening at a macro level in the country. Which is surprising, considering the recent news from Corus and the fact that all the media companies here in Canada are largely down.

I know it sounds basic, but the reality is Canadian brands are overspending by some margin in digital advertising that offer short-term/performance metrics. There’s very few clients who disagree with this point. Google, particularly, are just very good at selling what they do together with offering “value-add” services.

If (Canadian) TV plans to grow again, they need to do something about this and actively do a better job to attract spend from the performance bucket. Ugh, I hate that word! Not bucket. Incidentally, I like that word a lot.

The C word.

Yes, if this is my classic joke. The C word is not a rude word, it’s collaboration. Bizarrely, collaboration – in the context of media companies working together to fight off these challenges – didn’t come up at all. We saw brilliant presentations from Quebecor, CBC, Bell Media, Corus and Rogers. But they remain siloed innovation efforts. At the same time, around the world, most broadcasters are talking a lot about how they should work together in order to challenge the dominance of global platforms. Kelly Williams of ITV put it this way recently, “we compete on content but collaborate on technology”. In the UK, nearly every announcement around technology is delivered together between the main three broadcasters. In Canada, relations are frosty right at the time they need to work together. And there’s so many ways they can do that.

I find it surprising that Canadian media companies can’t work together on content. Here’s what I’m thinking. Pretty much all Canadian channels are available via Pay TV. What if Bell Media (TSN) and Rogers (Sportsnet) worked together on securing sports rights? It would be fantastic for Canadian consumers to have one subscription to a sports package that included more sports other than hockey, football, golf and some tennis. I’m sure there’s others but it’s not soccer, so I don’t care. ?Currently, Canadian consumers must have multiple sports subscriptions to watch the sports they love. It’s expensive, it’s a nightmare, some of the sport subscription services are poor and all this could be cleaned up if more sports were available through the domestic outlets. That’s one of many areas media companies in Canada could work together. And don’t even get me started on buying solutions to help clients with scale and consistency. I’m here all day and my consultancy fees are relatively cheap.

Alas, it’s all pipe dream and I just struggle to see how they can compete with platforms without collaborating on something. At the event this year, I felt that they are even further apart than when we first started the event back in 2015.

It was very interesting to hear from Guy Bisson, as usual, about how streamers are now building more aggregated services within their apps. Amazon has been doing this for a while and Disney too with services like Hulu and ESPN onboarding to Disney+. I asked whether Disney would consider a non-Disney service within their platform, like Sportsnet, for example. The question was expertly invaded by Lily Panchasarp from Disney but she didn’t dispute the fact they are looking to make Disney+ more “sticky” and, as Guy put it, “more broadcast-like.” The reason they are doing it is because, as they sell advertising, it’s more beneficial to have more people on their platform for much longer periods of time and for more predictable periods of time. You can expect streaming services to therefore invest in content that is appointment viewed, stickier (think Reality TV) and aggregate more services to keep people on their platforms for longer. Consider this too. Disney+ have been in Canada for a couple of years and they have the ability to reach 9m Canadians. How that doesn’t inspire domestic media to collaborate, I do not know. ?Disney are also very keen on sports rights around the world as are Amazon. Watch out Bell and Rogers.

The real value of TV

We saw a couple of amazing presentations about the value of television and connected TV. Laura Chaibi stole the show with a witty and data rich presentation about how buyers are under-investing in TV in Canada, despite the available eyeballs. This was followed by Wade Kuiken-Rogers from GroupM, who expertly outlined why advertises need to look at value over cost. The industry, globally, has been guilty of chasing cheap reach and comparing TV to social video and other digital inventory. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this, but it isn’t as effective, it doesn’t deliver the attention you need to grow your brands, sell your products and it doesn’t fuel an entire industry to produce Canadian content. If you want that, start paying the price premium deserves!

As much as clients pile more money into these platforms, whatever you believe, it is not the most effective way for you to spend your advertising dollars. As Brian Weiser once said to me, if clients planned on effectiveness and impact, they would be spending a lot more on radio and flyers. Yup, printed flyers sent to people’s homes! Fun fact, I do love the weekly Canadian Tire flyer, but I don’t like to admit it. Makes me sound old.?

But, we don’t live in a world of rational, objective and science based action. That would just be too easy and there wouldn’t be a need for people like me to run events. ?

Until next year, Canada!

In case you were wondering.....This year’s event consisted of a private gathering at Corus HQ called Advertising Pathfinders and the main conference the following day. ?Advertising Pathfinders is our private executive forum, which we typically run the day prior to the main conference. 100 executives from the Canadian market were full engaged to hear about how best to support Canadian media while carrying out business objectives for clients. These were the most enthusiastic, rewarding and spirited discussions we have had in the Canadian market, ever. ?The following day, over 700 attendees packed into the Carlu in Toronto to hear from broadcasters, CMOs, agencies and streamers. Now, I would say this, but I think it’s true, it was one of the best events we have held in Canada.

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