Television Reigns Supreme as Top Consumer and Brand Medium

Television remains the top medium for brand communication in Indonesia even as consumers are increasingly growing mobile. While the number of television advertisements have stayed the same, the value has risen significantly over the past few years according to Nielsen’s findings as presented during the launch of Indonesia Media Guide 2015.

Perhaps, not surprisingly, tobacco advertising is leading the charge in television ad spend as there are strict restrictions on outdoor and print ads for tobacco brands. In 2015, tobacco ad spend went up by Rp 735 billion over 2014.

Other categories that contribute to the rise in year over year television ad spend are baby milk formula (+361 billion), e-commerce (+353 billion), and beauty products (+318 billion).

On a global scale, print publication is a declining industry as consumers and advertisers look towards digital as the medium of the future. However, print’s decline in Indonesia is not as dramatic as it has been in other countries and publishers have managed to keep themselves well above water despite the closures of several licensed magazines over the last two years.

Print ad spots according to Nielsen have declined from over 13,500 units in 2012 to under 10,000 this year following the closures but the rise in cost of ads have managed to keep ad expenditures higher than 2012 level albeit below 2013 and 2014.

E-commerce companies going to TV
A further evidence of television being the primary advertising channel is the fact that online commerce companies are reaching consumers through television ads. Whereas Tokobagus was the only major online company with a TV spot in 2011, others have followed suit since, contributing to a 4.8x rise in value by 2015. Traveloka, Tokopedia, BliBli, Bukalapak, OLX, and Lazada are among the big ones to go to television.

Another sign of television’s triumph over print is the fact that in 2011, ad spend by online companies was 50-50 between print and television, but in 2013, the split suddenly went to over 80% in favor of television. This year so far, print has only received less than 10% of ad spend by online companies.

The reason?

While Indonesians spend more than 2.5 hours per day on their smartphones for various activities such as chatting, browsing, and for entertainment purposes, television is still the number one medium for consumers.

Nielsen found that across three generations, Indonesians spend roughly five hours watching television per day. Gen X lead the numbers with 5:07 while Millenials spend 4:50 and Gen Z is a little bit ahead with 4:56. Given that people spend 20% of the day watching television, it’s a staggeringly high number which naturally would lure any advertiser to keep choosing television as their number one medium.

Despite all the technology that allow people to watch their favorite television shows on demand at any time after the original broadcast time, the TV watching pattern has yet to change. Prime time remains 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm with viewers starting to rise from 4.00 pm and beginning to drop off after 9.00 pm.