One of the more interesting COVID-enforced changes over the last year has been the vast take-up of technology amongst older demographics. According to YouGov, use of Zoom by those aged 55 or over has increased from 50,000 users pre-COVID, to over 1.5million using it in the last 30 days. They are becoming increasingly adept at not only using technology but also trusting it.
In terms of trust, over 65% of the 55+ audience are comfortable with using online banking and 2.8million regularly buy financial products online. They are increasingly turning to the web and searching out information before making decisions around significant purchases. The first port of call for this audience (particularly with financial products and the like) used to be the direct phone number from a TV ad, and the time lengths of the spots reflected that. 60 and 90 second ads dominated, and resultant premiums acted as a deterrent to new advertisers.
But the increased migration of this audience to the online world has begun to cut into the usage of longer time lengths. In terms of spot counts, 60 second spot counts for 2020 are down by 20% compared to 2019, and the total spot count was down by 9%. You can now reach this audience by driving them to the web and if they still want to talk, they will use the phone number on the website.
So, when planning your TV creative strategy and subsequent spot length and call to action, think again before committing to the increased creative and media costs of the longer time lengths. 30 and 40 second iterations can do a great job and keep resultant ROI down compared to the longer options.
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