TV industry starts global initiative to prove medium's power

TV broadcasters and trade bodies from across the globe have partnered for the first time to give advertisers a single databank about the power of television advertising.

The "Global TV Deck" initiative features figures from 19 countries initially and is being released today to coincide with World Television Day. 

The stats are designed to prove the resilience and strength of TV advertising and position it as the most effective advertising medium at a time when it is battling hard for spend against digital advertising.

Fabrice Mollier, president of Brussels-based TV and radio trade body EGTA, said: "It has been very inspiring to see the openness with which major players in the TV industry have come together to share their profound expertise and fresh insights on TV’s strengths.

"In today’s complex media landscape, it seems essential for TV to deliver accurate data and proven efficiency for advertisers and agencies on a global scale.

"The whole is clearly greater than the sum of its parts, and EGTA—on behalf of the Global TV Group - is very proud to bring 19 markets together to highlight the power of television."

Christian Kurz, senior vice president of global consumer insights at Viacom, added: "Without data, you only have opinions. The vast amount of industry-audited data and transparent figures will allow us to dig deeper than ever before and turn data into valuable insights.

"This new compilation of relevant research and qualitative data will equip our industry with much needed insights on where to invest for efficient advertising."

The data in the Global TV Deck has been publicly available in individual markets before, but this is the first time figures from this many different countries have been compiled into a single resource.

Based on the compiled data, TV reaches around 70% of a country’s population a day, 90% in a week and almost everyone in a month.

The Global TV Group claims the reach combined with the volume of time spent watching TV makes it a powerful form of advertising.

In Spain, the average amount of time spent watching TV on a television set has increased in the last decade from 3 hours 39 minutes a day in 2006 to 3 hours 51 minutes a day n 2016.

Adding TV to a campaign generates a 40% increase in effectiveness, according to figures from the UK.