Marketers are over-indexing on platforms, such as search and social media, while undervaluing above the line media channels such as TV, BVOD, radio and out of home, according to a new study by Prophet.
The study, commissioned by Seven Network (now part of Southern Cross Media Group), looked at marketing activity for BYD, MYOB and Kitchen Aid over a two year period, analysing more than $73 million in media investment and 615,000 customer outcomes.
The findings were presented at a Southern Cross Media Group’s insights breakfast, ‘Behaviour, Accelerated’, in Sydney this week.
The research found that many measurement systems (MMMs) and last click attribution reward the channels closest to the conversion (search and social), while undervaluing the channels that create demand.
“I think there’s a massive gap between perception and reality when it comes to such a dynamic industry,” Prophet CEO Jordan Taylor-Bartels said.
“If you look at traditional MMM, it’s completely discrediting a hell of a lot of the effort that goes above the line. It’s giving it to the pockets of Google. It’s giving it to the pockets of Meta, which tells a really interesting story for them. But in reality, it’s dangerously honest.”
Seven Network national television sales director Katie Finney said that many marketers have built their careers by relying on the attribution of platforms such as Google and Meta.
“They’ve come from performance marketing. They’ve gone through that stream the whole way, so they haven’t been as heavily exposed to the upper funnel role of traditional channels,” she said.
“So the likes of the platforms are coming in and saying, ‘We’ve done this for you’. They can take that into their CFOs and say this is why the marketing works.
“But if you’re not doing the upper funnel brand building, reaching audiences before they are customers, then the performance media will stop working because upper funnel activity is not driving them to those performance channels.”
In analysing BYD’s demand system, Prophet observed that approximately 37 per cent of test drives were directly influenced by marketing activity, while 63 per cent were driven by baseline demand and broader market conditions.
The modelling also pointed to clear differences in how channels contributed to that outcome. Radio delivered roughly three times the demand contribution relative to its share of investment, while premium video consistently outperformed (70 per cent lower CPA) than platform-level reporting by creating demand that other channels went on to convert.
At MYOB, 55 per cent of subscriptions were influenced by marketing activity, with the role of television extending well beyond immediate conversion.
Rather than driving short-term outcomes alone, Seven linear TV built mental availability over time, strengthening the performance of Search, Paid Social and other lower-funnel channels later in the customer journey.
Meanwhile at Kitchen Aid, lower-funnel channels played a clear role in capturing that demand. Search contributed approximately 44 per cent of influenced revenue, while Facebook accounted for a further 22 per cent, reinforcing the importance of performance media at the point of conversion.
At the same time, broader-reach channels were working earlier in the journey. Television, BVOD and premium video contributed approximately 22 per cent of influenced revenue, while also building awareness and consideration before consumers actively began researching products.
Finney and Taylor-Bartles noted that combining multiple channels often compounds the effectiveness, delivering the best results.
Earlier in the event, Jasmine Beech, head of SCA IQ, and Charlie Brown (pictured above), national head of strategy and partnerships, spoke about audiences for both businesses.
They explained that Seven’s TV assets provide big ‘moments’ for audiences, such as the final of My Kitchen Rules or the AFL grand final, while the radio and audio assets provide ‘rituals’, such as work day journeys listening to Triple M, the Hit Network or a podcast.
The pair mapped out how radio dominates morning audiences, while TV is stronger in the evening (see below).
Southern Cross group digital commercial director Olly Newton and Head of Digital Ad Product and Operations Kim Loasby presented insights that combine data, technology and audience intelligence to help advertisers work smarter.
For example, a third of The Front Bar viewers watch Farmer Wants a Wife, and 47 per cent like pop music, creating unexpected opportunities for brands to connect
Newton explained how Southern Cross has recently brought together the sales teams of Seven and SCA to provide a more integrated approach.
The final panel turned the attention to one of the most trusted and influential content categories in Australia – news.
Seven director of news integration and strategy Ray Kuka was joined by LiSTNR’s The Briefing host Sacha Barbour Gatt and Seven News presenter Michael Usher for a conversation on the changing news landscape, audience trust, and the role quality journalism plays in an increasingly complex media environment, especially with AI supercharging the spread of mis and disinformation.
The trio discussed the challenges modern news operations now face to reach audiences where they consume news content, and at pace and the importance of having multiple channels, such as broadcast TV, radio, podcasts and social media.
