The Sad Story of TV Commercials

The commercial is one of the best ways to tell a story about your brand. The emotional arc of a TV commercial is unique — a 60-second spot allows you to create a beautiful, compelling narrative that engages your audience, allows them to identify with your brand — to feel the way you want them to, including shedding tears if that’s the goal. Don’t believe me? Watch what I dub the true winner of Super Bowl LIII: the Verizon First Responders ad. I’ll wait.

It’s a beautiful story about Los Angeles Chargers coach, Anthony Lynn, thanking first responders for saving people’s lives, including his. As he tells the story of being thrown from his vehicle — how he flew about 50 feet in the air, and the doctor told him that being alive is a miracle. Just then, the first responders who saved his life stepped forward and introduced themselves. Yeah, cue the tears and goosebumps. Those tears are hard to come by and are unique to a TV commercial.

There’s just one problem. It happens to be a big one. No one watches TV commercials. 61% of millennials primarily stream their content — sans ads on services like Netflix or Prime Video. Of those who do watch traditional cable television, 61% of them use a DVR to fast-forward through the commercials. So even if you have the world’s best commercial that will convert everyone who sees it — at best 29% of the population could possibly view your commercial. Ouch.

It gets worse: consumers aged 18–24 years hardly watch TV ads at all. In fact, as few as 82% of this demographic ever watch commercials. If they don’t fast-forward through the commercials, they practice what is called second screening. The fancy term means they do what we already know they do — check their cell phone, scroll on their tablet, or click around on their computer. Whatever it is, they’re not paying attention to your commercial. They are not watching your beautiful 60-second spot.

To be honest, I remain unconvinced that nearly a fifth of young adults aged 18–24 are watching TV commercials. It’s a fantasy of mine to actually to meet the 18% claiming they watch TV commercials. Who are they? They must work in the industry or have some personal connection to the actor or ad agency, or they’re not watching. Truthfully, I don’t believe this mythical 18% exists at all. It’s a fantasy that marketers and ad agencies keep telling themselves, so they don’t feel like they’re wasting their time, money, or energy for no one to pay attention.

There is, of course, one exception. It’s always (kindly) thrown in my face during these friendly industry debates — the opposing side seems to think it’s their trump card that will prove the importance of commercials. You guessed it; it’s the Super Bowl. However, I’ll let you in on a little secret — something that might surprise you — I 100% agree with them.

For the 2019 Super Bowl LIII, CBS charged $5.25 million for a 30-second spot. That’s a lot of money. But I contend that CBS got the short end of the deal — essentially, they ripped themselves off. CBS could have and should have, tripled their rates for the Super Bowl. Now, you might think this is because it’s the highest rated TV show in America with approximately one-third of the country watching it live. But that’s incorrect.

The reason they should have charged upwards of $15-million for each 30-second spot is because the NFL and CBS have managed to make the act of watching Super Bowl commercials as much a part of the experience as the game itself. Not only are viewers actually watching the ads, but the fact remains that many lukewarm football fans tune in specifically to watch the commercials. Commercials aren’t an interruption to the entertainment, but rather an integral part of it.

Quite simply, the Super Bowl is the only effective time to air a TV commercial. In fact, every brand in America who has $10.5 million allotted towards their TV ad spend should funnel every single cent of it into one 60-second spot during the Super Bowl. Outside of that, TV is a complete waste of your marketing dollars because not a soul is watching your commercials.

Let me be clear — I’m not celebrating the death of the TV commercial. Not in the least. It’s a real loss that the best storytelling vehicle — the one that brought us the iconic characters of Tony the Tiger, Ronald McDonald, The Kool-Aid Man, and so many more — no longer holds the power it once did. It’s an end of an era that a medium that can powerfully deliver commercials that can make you cry, make a phrase a part of pop culture or give you chills is now defunct.

Think about it. The tear-jerkers like Verizon’s “First Responders” or the Thai Life Insurance “Unsung Hero”, or the pop culture maker like Budweiser’s “Whassup?!” or “The Showdown” from McDonald’s — ya know, the one that popularized the phrase “nothin’ but net” — or give you chills like the commercial from Always “Like a Girl”. The list could go on and on. Commercials are a part of the fabric of America. Their legacy and the lessons they’ve taught marketers won’t fade. But the media landscape has changed, and this once powerful tool, the commercial, is irrelevant as an advertising tool if you’re trying to reach anyone under 35-years old. It’s sad, but it’s the truth. So while we as marketers, may take a moment to mourn — let it be a moment of nostalgia that ends now.

Consumers are not mourning the loss of commercials — if anything, they are currently celebrating. If you’re honest, when you’re watching your favorite shows — whether you follow the trend of streaming via Netflix or Amazon Prime or record them on DVR, or however you get your programs — I would venture a guess that you prefer to have no interruptions to your entertainment, either. So if we already know your audience is not watching — the only question remains is this: how much time, and money will you and your brand waste on TV commercials?

Whether you like it or not, here are the facts: according to a recent study conducted by the McCarthy Group, 84% of millennials hate traditional marketing and do not trust it. So, 84% hate traditional marketing, and 82% don’t watch TV commercials. Yet US marketers are spending $70 billion+ on something that their target demographic neither likes nor watches. What gives?

The psychology behind that is something I’ll dig into in another article, but in the meantime, it’s imperative that marketers follow the math. They must go where their consumers already are and reach them where they’re asking to be reached. According to a recent study for Defy, 87% of millennials want their advertisements to be in the form of “product placement” in their favorite influencers’ content. That is when an influencer gives a demonstration or shout-out to a sponsor in a YouTube video or an Instagram post or story. Millennials make purchase decisions based on recommendations and word-of-mouth — and not just from their friends, but from their pseudo-friends, a la their favorite influencers. They’re shouting that they want their ads shown in this format, and their dollars are proving that influencers work. Slowly but surely, marketers are beginning to embrace this paradigm shift and currently they’re dedicating about 10% of their marketing spend to influencer advertising.

This is certainly encouraging and is a move in the right direction. It feels like finally, the industry is inching towards the wants and needs of the consumer — and it feels like perhaps my incessant debating and strong encouragement of marketers to embrace the influencer revolution may finally be paying off, even just a little. That said, it’s hardly dipping a toe in the influencer marketing pool. The current state of the industry indicates that 70% of all marketing spend should be in the form of product placements in influencers’ content.

The wisdom of the marketing ages tells us to seek out our customers where they already are, to incorporate your product into their entertainment and your brand will reap the rewards. That advice is still as relevant as ever, the only thing that has changed is the venue. While the target demographic used to be a captive audience during television programs, so it was best practice to spend ad dollars on commercial spots, the way we consume content has changed. Gone are the days of TV commercials holding the audience’s attention. They’ve been replaced with the endless hours of phone-scroll. So, let’s embrace what the people want — and reap the rewards. Because unless you are one of the ten advertisers during the Super Bowl, you are currently wasting 82% of your TV media buying budget. And that’s just a sad ending to the story for your brand.