Our industry has come a long way since the bad old days of 800 numbers and mail-in addresses for checks and money orders. Today, companies of all sizes and brand strengths are utilizing our selling methods, and response mechanisms have evolved beyond Web addresses to SMS short codes and app store logos.
So just how popular has "act now" advertising become? Quite popular, according to a new study by DRMetrix:
[M]ore than $12.3 billion of national ad spending last year went to TV commercials that ask consumers to take action, such as by visiting a website or going to an app store. Moreover, that amount represents an increase of nearly 17 percent over the previous year.
The information comes from a recent press release teasing the results of a study DRMetrix will distribute at the upcoming PDMI West show in San Diego.
"Of the $45.5 billion spent on national television advertising in 2018, about $28 billion is attributed to national cable," DRMetrix CEO Joseph Gray told me. "That means, at $12.3 billion, consumer-response advertisements represent nearly 44 percent of total market dollars to the national cable industry.
Gray added that if you look at ad units instead of spending, our style of advertising represents "more than 50 percent" of total 2018 of airings.
What about pure-play DR? How big is that segment? According to the release:
[T]he study finds that 4,751 distinct brands used consumer-response TV advertising formats in 2018. Fully 40 percent of those used traditional direct-response techniques of the kind that allow advertisers to track consumer response back to specific networks, dayparts and programs.
For additional details, check out the full announcement here.
