Internet, new DTT and pay channels, the only media whose advertising investment will grow in 2010

According to the Quality Study of the Media in Spain, prepared by Grupo Consultores, while investment in television has presented negative results for the first time, the Internet, the new DTT channels and, slightly, thematic pay channels are emerging as the only media in which advertising will rebound.

Grupo Consultores has presented the eighth edition of its Media Quality Study in Spain, MediaScope'09, a prestigious work that it has been carrying out for fourteen years with the participation of the three hundred main advertisers according to Infoadex and the main managers of media, agencies and centers.

The media agency professionals consulted in this study think that the ideal media mix includes television (almost 90% of professionals believe this), the Internet, paid press and foreign media. The Internet is already the second medium in that ideal mix without entering into the investment volume when in 2007 it was the fifth medium. Exterior, however, has lost its appeal and moves to fourth place almost at the same level as magazines. It is the medium that has suffered the most decline.

Television continues to be the medium that receives the most investment (almost 80% of advertisers buy TV), but the change comes from
new on the Internet, which grows up to 70% and is positioned as the second most planned medium followed by press, radio and magazines.

New DTT and thematic channels

The new DTT channels are the other medium that is experiencing a more positive evolution. Investment for 2010 will only continue to increase in Internet, DTT channels and slightly in paid thematic channels. Media that traditionally grew year after year in investment volume, such as television, radio or outdoor, join the negative trend of other media such as graphics or cinema. Cinema is the medium in which the least is invested and the most expendable. Its attractiveness has decreased so much, according to the study, that there are almost no professionals who have the media in mind or who plan it.

The Internet is fundamentally the medium to which part of the investment that will no longer be invested in the rest of the media will be allocated, hence also added to the positive trend of recent years, almost 100% of those interviewed in this study believe that their investment will grow.

DTT channels manage to match pay channels in terms of investment intention and planning by media agencies. When the former are valued for coverage although they are asked for a larger audience, the latter continue to be valued for target segmentation.

Free radio and press

According to MediaScope'09, radio, despite the crisis, remains in the ideal mix with a similar percentage of purchases by advertisers and with little decline in terms of trend for 2010. The frequency of impacts, ease of negotiation and involvement of its stars as prescribers continue to be the characteristics that favor it as a medium. The frequency of impacts, ease of negotiation and involvement of its stars as prescribers continue to be the characteristics that favor it as a medium.

Regarding the free press, the study foresees sharp falls in investment during the current year.

High efficiency on the Internet

Regarding the effectiveness of the media, the Internet reaches for the first time a great weight within the ideal media mix, along with conventional television and paid press. In terms of food, automotive, finance and distribution sectors, they continue to be loyal to television, although in the case of the automotive sector, the Internet rises positions, being almost as effective as outdoor advertising.

Although investment in television has presented negative results for the first time, on the contrary, the Internet is the only medium where it has grown, investment in DTT channels has been maintained, while the budget has been cut in the rest of the media. For 2010 everything seems to indicate that the investment that will be cut in the rest of the media will be allocated to the Internet.

The Internet has become, according to this study, one of the essential supports in the ideal mix and one of the ones that large advertisers invest the most in (or at least that is the intention). It is characterized by everything related to innovation and creativity, which makes it the only medium on the rise with a clear tendency to continue growing and become the second king of media, after television.