Some Advertisers “Who Fled to Digital are Returning to TV”, Reports Media Life

Over the past year, some advertisers pulled back on their television budgets to funnel money into digital, reports Media Life magazine, and that led analysts “to predict digital advertising could surpass TV as soon as next year, with the trend toward digital and away from TV only likely to increase as the years go on.”

However, continued the Media Life report, “Only, funny thing: Digital doesn’t appear to be doing what the advertisers had hoped. Some of those who fled to digital are returning to TV.

“The evidence comes in the latest report from Standard Media Index, which tracks ad spending on the part of 80 percent of U.S. agencies.

“It found that in October television saw spending grow 10 percent over last year, lifting TV to its best month since January 2014.

““We have seen a number of categories of advertisers really ramping up their spend on TV following a sharp decline in the previous broadcast year,” James Fennessy, chief commercial officer at SMI, tells Media Life.

“These advertisers probably over-invested in digital and didn’t see the returns they were hoping for.”

“Digital still saw substantial growth during the month, up 34 percent. But unlike in past months, that wasn’t coming at the expense of television.”