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Re-Evaluating Media, the Belgian Edition

Ebiquity, the independent marketing and media consultancy, has released a Belgian edition of the “Re-Evaluating Media” study that they first was produced in 2018 for the UK market. This edition was realised in collaboration with Echo Research and UBA and was commissioned by VIA.

The study is ambitious, as it aims to produce “the true worth of media” for brand advertisers based on a simple idea :

“if we take all the research on all media that was done over the last 10 years, and add our own media knowledge and benchmarks, can we produce “meta evidence” of the worth of media on the attributes that matter for marketeers?”

By first asking marketeers and media specialists what are the attributes of media that matter to deliver a campaign that grows the business in the long term, a ranking of relative importance was recorded. This survey was conducted in collaboration with UBA in march-april of 2019.
Respondents of the survey were also asked their own opinion and experience about the worth of media. This allows an interesting comparison between what they say, and what the evidence says.

While the evidence puts TV first and Radio second on the overall ranking, the perception is that Social Media and Online Video are now doing a better job – while the evidence does not support this at all.

The survey also indicates that targeting (“the right person in the right place at the right time”) is by far the attribute of media that counts. The ability to increase brand consideration and to trigger a positive emotional response are the second and third most important attributes.
Targetability has grown its weight in this Belgium edition versus the 2018 UK survey. This could be a sign of the growing importance of this attribute apart from local intrinsic market elements.

Targetability is an important attribute of digital media, so the top score of Social Media is no surprise. But we think that it pushes the positive perception on other attributes. While the evidence shows that these scores are (far) below average.

In general, traditional media are undervalued by advertisers. There is a clear disconnect between the level of investment in digital media in the Belgian market and the value it delivers. Re-evaluating the media mix could help advertisers achieve better long-term growth.

The study also highlights the potential that traditional media like TV have when they will progress on targetability and addressability. And how they can upgrade the value of online video by offering premium quality.

The full survey, with all the sources of evidence listed and the scores that were derived, can be downloaded here