DRTV – The Sleeping Giant

DRMetrix, the industry’s leading television research company, has released a surprise study that reveals the size of direct response television (DRTV) industry to be many times larger than previously thought.

DRMetrix is the brainchild of Joseph Gray, a 30-year veteran of the direct response television industry who has long thought that the size of the direct response television industry has been under-estimated by mainstream television research companies.  The ability to measure the size of the industry alluded him as research companies were unwilling to segment ‘direct response’ from traditional branded commercials.

“Back in 2003, a group of DRTV professionals joined together with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to form the DMA Broadcast Council”, Gray recalls.  “I was invited to co-chair the Research Committee.  We worked on a whitepaper to document solutions that would enable the DRTV industry to quantify itself with credible research.  We were hoping to convince the television research companies to start flagging commercials that included 1-800 numbers and web addresses but they were unwilling to do so.”

Nearly a decade later, Gray mustered the resources and started DRMetrix to tackle the problem.  Prior to the beginning of the 2015 broadcast year, the company deployed its AdSphere™ monitoring platform which today monitors over 100 national cable networks 24/7/365.  AdSphere™ was designed using the latest “automated content recognition” (ACR) technology along with advanced pattern and optical character recognition technologies to sniff out any television ad or program that includes direct response attributes such as 800 numbers, web addresses, SMS, etc.  Millions of dollars in investment and four years later, the moment of truth has finally arrived.

AdSphere projections for the 2016 broadcast year are the result of monitoring 92 national cable networks.  AdSphere identified over 3,500 DR brands which have included some combination of 800, Web, Mobile App Response and/or SMS allowing consumers to directly respond.  In addition to detecting over 89,000 infomercial (28.5 minute) airings, AdSphere detected an astonishing 7.92 million spots with an average run time of 39.65 seconds up to a maximum of 5 minutes in duration.  This averages out to 6.49 minutes of DR spots running across the networks every hour, every day, 365 days a year.  AdSphere has calculated the valuation of this inventory at $6.4 billion dollars applying ‘average DR industry rates’ and weighting the value of DR spots running across two different types of national cable ad breaks.

Gray projects that AdSphere™ estimates for network cable direct response valuation are 3-4 times greater than what leading television research companies have reported based on differing philosophies of what constitutes ‘direct response’ vs. ‘brand’ the lines of which have blurred over the years.  DRMetrix presents the following facts for the industry to consider:

AdSphere™

2016 short form media valuation by DR classification
(across 92 national cable networks)

*This number does not include broadcast, satellite, local cable DR expenditures or 28.5 infomercial valuations.

DRMetrix is excited to release these results to the industry so that everyone can understand how much the DRTV industry has grown.

The inaugural 2017 AdSphere Awards will recognize the accomplishments of the top direct response television advertisers and brands for the 2016 broadcast year.

Award recipients will be chosen across several industry classifications representing all facets of the industry.  AdSphere also segments DRTV campaigns across 20 major categories and 145 sub-categories. The complete list of  AdSphere Award winners for 2017 is online at www.drmetrix.com/adsphere-awards.html.

The awards presentation will take place at Response EXPO 2017, the DRTV industry’s yearly trade show, April 25-27, 2017 in San Diego, California

In order to scale a DRTV campaign, an advertiser’s creative and media execution needs to be optimized at the highest level.  Further, the campaign has to resonate with consumers in order to deliver an ROI to the advertiser sufficient to scale the size of the overall campaign.  Accordingly, the brands and advertisers will the highest overall projected schedule valuations have exemplified the art and science of DRTV advertising.  In creating the AdSphere Awards, DRMetrix is proud to bring the most inclusive awards program ever to the DRTV industry honoring advertisers across four industry classifications including short form products, lead generation, brand/DR, and long form.

To learn more about DRTV industry trends, please be sure to subscribe to the DRMetrix blog located at www.drmetrix.com/blog