Previously, in part one and two of this series on adjusting your DV360 media buying strategy during COVID-19, we discussed how to analyze who might be new target audiences and how to maintain control of your brand’s visibility and messaging to audiences. You can read post 1 here and post 2 here.
Global Trends and Strategy – The impact of COVID-19 on user behavior & online advertising
When examining changes in user behavior during COVID-19, it is essential to bear in mind that all media content consumption has changed from a global perspective. For example, say your Pre-COVID-19 daily routine consisted of waking up every morning at 6 AM, commuting to work by train at 7:45 AM, reading local news on the way while listening to Spotify from 08-08:30 AM, every day, five days a week. Today, we’re in a completely new realm of routines. Now, you’re working from home! Media consumption has inherently changed, as well. What you read, where you read it and especially when you read it has changed. All of these significant increments that your company precisely defined and relied on are now entirely flipped for you and your audience. Everything that was once relevant is now far different.
WHERE can you find your ideal customers right now?
To respond to the multitude of drastic changes that have occurred in user behavior, marketers and digital advertisers should consider the following:
- Analyze creative formats – Which are performing well, which are not? Look into where the ads are displaying? And, which types of content are you targeting your ads to?
- Media plan spend – How are you going to stay relevant?
Bear in mind that, as you try to understand and examine these elements, there isn’t one right answer. Since this is a fluid situation, you should react and evolve daily to what works best for your company and target audiences.
Notable Shifting Trends:
- OTT (especially CTV) – Increased viewership for TV, content consumption (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu)
- YouTube – E-learning to learn new skills, from baking bread, to developing new capabilities to advance professionally.
- Children related content (as mentioned in the above WHAT section) Cooking sites (Display & Video)- YouTube has become a babysitter for millions!
- Local & International News- Consuming local and international news to understand what is going on in this uncertain and ever-changing world!
After understanding and acknowledging the dramatic changes affecting your current audiences’ life routines, the following step in involving your company, is the process of identifying and effectively allocating the right portions of your budget to present and future campaigns on DV360 could help you elevate your buying tactics.
HOW much should you budget for your campaigns?
As the CPM prices decline in some content-related topics, others are surging. As a holistic trend, we are witnessing a CPM decline of 20% to 40%, depending on the advertiser category.
(Credit to AdExchanger: https://www.adexchanger.com/publishers/publisher-cpms-are-down-but-not-everyones-equally-affected/ ) If you can identify and build new audiences, it potentially means that you will be able to purchase media cheaper than before. You will need to examine the performance to allocate budget to the best performing campaigns while aiming to secure the lower prices possible. In the next article, we will show you pragmatic ways to impart theory into real buying tactics using this set of tools in DV360. If you have any questions or you have additional information about these methodologies I described in this or the past two articles, please feel free to reach out to me personally by email at gadi(at)totalmediasolutions(dot)com.