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| Source: united-branding.com |
This weeks research question was about media agencies and selecting the appropriate media mix. The group decided to research the following learning objectives for next week:
- Discussion of different media channels that can be used for the media plan
- What should be researched when planning the media mix?
- Media habits in participant's country of origin
- Paid, Owned, Earned Media
- Roles of different media agencies
As our group mainly consists of exchange and foreign degree students, each group member should research the learning objective with a focus on his/her home country. For this reason, this blog places emphasis on the German media landscape.
1. Different media channels used in the media plan
What is media planning? Koekemoer and Bird (2004, 201) define it as follows:
Media planning is the development of a specific and detailed process of reaching the right number of appropriate people, the right number of times in the right environment at minimum cost to achieve the advertised brand's marketing objectives.
This definition is especially appropriate since it emphasizes on the different levels of decision making in media planning.
According to Fill (2013, 713), media planning is a selection and scheduling exercise. The selection refers to the choice of paid media channels to carry the message on the behalf of the advertiser. Scheduling includes the number of occasions, timing and duration that the message is exposed to the target audiences in the selected channels. Factors challenging these tasks are:
- Media fragmentation (Variety of available media)
- Audience fragmentation (Changing characteristics of audience)
- Money (Clients have restricted financial resources)
Type of paid media
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Strengths
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Weaknesses
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Newspapers
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+ wide reach
+ high coverage
+ low costs
+ short lead times
+speed of consumption controlled by reader
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- Short lifespan
- Little exposure of advertisements
- Poor reproduction
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Magazines
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+high quality reproduction
+ Specific target audience
+ Longevity
+ High levels of information
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- Long lead times
- Visual dimension only
- Moderate costs
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Television
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+ Flexible format, using sight, movement and
sound
+ High prestige and reach
+ Mass coverage
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- Repetition necessary
- Short message life
- Increasing level of fragmentation
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Radio
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+ Selective audience (e.g. local)
+ Low costs
+ Can involve listeners
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- Lacks impact
- Audio dimension only
- Low prestige
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Outdoor
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+ High reach and frequency
+ Low relative costs and location oriented
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- Poor image
- Difficult to measure
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Digital Media
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+ High level of interaction
+ Immediate response possible
+ Tight targeting
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- Segment-specific
- Transaction-security issues
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Transport
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+ High length of exposure
+ Low costs and local orientation
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- Poor coverage
- Segment specific
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Sources:
- Fill, C. 2013. Marketing Communications. 6th edition. Pearson.
- Koekemoer and Bird (2004). Marketing Communications. Juta Academic. South Africa.
Media Habits in Germany
When choosing the appropriate media mix, it is also relevant to take into consideration the media landscape in the respective country/ target area. The dominating (information) medium in Germany is still TV, although loosing in importance comparing the years 2009-2013. The second most important medium is radio, followed by daily newspapers and the internet. According to the research by BLM, the media habits are dependent on age, gender and also educational status.
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| Media Usage in Germany by generations in 2009, 2011, 2013. Source: Martin 2013. |
The following article by Kleinsteuber & Thomass (1992-2015) provides and overview about the media landscape in Germany: German Media Landscape
One interesting finding, that probably not everyone is aware of, is that Germany has a long history of mass media, since the first newspapers started being printed 400 years ago. During nazi-regime mass media became a tool of dictatorship. In 1945 the media experienced an "hour zero" and started nearly completely anew. The post-war media system was based on the principle of press freedom as stipulated in the Basic Law (constitution) of 1949.
Regarding traditional media, Germany has a "dual system" of both public and commercial broadcasting (in fact, if you include community media it is a trial system).
Print media: The German press is characterised by a large number of titles. In 2008 the number of "independent editorial units" (meaning full publishing entities that produce all parts of a newspaper) for daily newspapers in Germany was 135, and the number of newspapers 354. If local editions of all papers are included, there are 1,512 different newspapers.
The German magazine sector is extremely buoyant with some 906 general magazines (circulation ca. 117.9 million copies) and 1,218 specialised periodicals (ca. 13.6 million) currently on the market. A weekly news magazine, modelled after the American Time Magazine and for long time with a virtual monopoly in its market is Der Spiegel (ca. 1.07 million). With its investigative style of journalism, it represents the most influential political publication in Germany.
Radio is a popular medium in Germany, daily consumption is 176 minutes (2008), of which slightly more than a half comes from public service broadcasters.
Germans spend about 219 minutes per day on television, split about evenly between public and commercial programmers. The market share of all public service broadcasters in television is at 43.6 percent, of which ARD has a market share of 13,4 percent, ZDF 13.1 percent, the third channels 13.2 percent. Among the private channels RTL (11.7 percent), SAT1 (10.3 percent) and ProSieben (6.6 percent) have the biggest audience shares. The television advertising market participates in the whole advertising market with a share of 43.7 percent; the radio advertising share is 6.2 percent. (print: 46 percent)
News agencies: Eight agencies are one the market, which have certain relevance. The dominating, internationally active agency is Deutsche Presseagentur (DPA). As nearly all newspapers are subscribers of DPA, it can be regarded as the primary source, whereas the other news agencies are complementary sources. Its business model was recently questioned in 2009, with biggest regional newspaper WAZ cancelling its DPA subscription. Other press companies are also speculating on following this example.
Sources:
- Kleinsteuber & Thomass (1992-2015). Media Landscapes. http://ejc.net/media_landscapes/germany Accessed: 08.11.2015.
- Martin 2013. http://blog.hemartin.net/2013_09_01_archive.html Accessed: 08.11.2015.
POEM
The following image illustrates the importance of paid, owned and earned media. POEM asssumes that media is not only paid-for media but embraces all means that can be used to convey brand-oriented messages, regardless of whether a payment is necessary. According to Fill (2013, 597), with the digital explosion, reconfiguration of media landscape and changing consumer behaviours, POEM reflects the increasing scope of contemporary media and the range of media to engage audiences. So what exactly is the meaning of POEM?
- Paid: Advertising requires that media time and space are rented from a media owner, in order to convey messages and reach target audiences. The selection of the media mix is planned, predetermined and measured in terms of probable size of audience, costs and scheduling.
- Owned: Organisations have a range of assets that they can use to convey messages to audiences, and through which they can develop conversations. Ownership means that there are no rental costs as with paid-for media.
- Owned media is the content that your brand has complete control over such as the corporate website, blogs, communities, email newsletters as well social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Owned media initiatives typically target to your brand’s existing community and/or current customers.
(Brito 2013) - Earned: Earned media refers to comments and conversations, both offline and online in social media, in the news or through face-to-face communication, about a brand or organisation. These comments can be negative or positive but the media carrying them are diverse and can be referred to as unplanned altough many companies seek to stimulate WOM communications through earned media.
- Earned media is the natural result of public/media relation’s efforts, ad campaigns, events and the content that you create within your owned media channels. It is not really a revolutionary concept either. For the last several decades, brands have been hiring PR firms to reach out to the media in order to get them to write stories about the brand. Today, that has expanded to influencers who have popular blogs as well. When someone not associated with your brand mentions you on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media channel, it’s earned media. Other types of earned media include consumers’ social media posts, tweets, product reviews, videos, photos, and open dialogue within online communities. (Brito 2013)
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| POEM. Source: Brito 2013 |
Sources:
- Brito 2013.Your Content Strategy: Defining Paid, Owned and Earned Media. http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/your-content-strategy-defining-paid-owned-and-earned-media-0533660#szxtcUeCbyCG0fzD.97 Accessed: 08.11.2015.
The following statistics provide and overview over the media landscape worldwide and in Germany. The leading media group worldwide is Group M, followed by Publicis Media Groupe and Omnicom Media Group. The leading media agency in Germany is Mediacom with billings of 3,631 Mio € in 2014, followed by OMD and MEC.
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| Market share of media agency groups worldwide in 2013. Source: Statista 2013. |
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| Media agencies in Germany according to their billings in 2014. Source: Statista 2014. |
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| Media Landscape Germany. Source: medialeaks.org |
The previous illustration highlights the connection in the German media landscape. The illustration is originally titled "the illusion of media-variety" meaning that the German medialandscape is mainly concentrated on 4 big players, which are Bertelsmann, axel springer, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck and Hubert Burda.
The following link provides an overview over the different media agencies and their characteristics: Media Agencies
Sources:
- Statista 2013. http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/72755/umfrage/marktanteil-der-mediaagentur-gruppen-weltweit/ Accessed: 08.11.2015.
- Statista 2014. http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/73243/umfrage/groesste-deutsche-mediaagenturen/ Accessed: 08.11.2015.
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