Steve Heroux, Hampton Direct: In regards to short
form, December bounced back nicely after a
tough but expected October and November.
There has been a good amount of inventory and
results have been better than expected. The third
quarter was by no means stellar for short-form.
Lack of inventory made it very challenging to
reach budgeted results.
Rob Medved, Cannella Response Television: It was
an atypical year. The first quarter started off slow
due to the unseasonably warm weather in January.
When winter finally arrived, DRTV marketers
were eager to capitalize on the opportunity. That
surge drove greater demand for media in February
and March. The good news is strong consumer
response continued longer into the second quarter, driving better overall performance for the first
half of the year. Consumer response in the third
and fourth quarters of 2012 was more consistent
with 2011, yet demand for media was greater due
to the political spending and heavier investment
from non-traditional DRTV marketers (i.e., insurance marketers).
David Savage, R2C Group: It will definitely be a
strong second half of the year for both long-form
and short-form. Even though results were challenged, and the Olympics, elections and Hurricane Sandy took their toll, demand remained
high in national cable, regional cable and local
broadcast.
What’s your outlook for DRTV
media in 2013?
Peter Koeppel, Koeppel Direct: Based on 4Q 2012, I
believe it will be a good year for DRTV. A combination of favorable rates and increased consumer
confidence bode well. We experienced the softest
November, in terms of rates, since the crash of
2008. I expect the marketplace to continue to be
soft as we enter 2013, which should translate into
improved performance/ROI for DRTV marketers.
Fern Lee, THOR Associates: DRTV will have a huge
presence in all 2013 marketing plans. First and
foremost, marketers now understand that they
need to have all the pieces of their marketing pie
working in coordination, with DRTV being the
driver for overall ROI — whether the sale comes
from DRTV, digital or retail. Second, marketers
have finally taken responsibility of driving consumers to their websites — whether to educate to
drive to retail or actually take sales into their cart.
Jennifer Peabody, Havas Edge (responding for advisor
Steve Netzley): Consumer confidence will play a
key role for DRTV marketers in 2013 as we face
uncertainty relative to the economic outlook.
First-quarter impulse purchases are still likely to
have traction with consumers looking to improve
appearance, health and family life. However, the
opportunity is for service-oriented marketers offering simple solutions to entrepreneurs, small
businesses and individuals to help ease financial
stress and facilitate opportunity to succeed. The
economic landscape is ripe for these to be evergreen advertisers of 2013, with the timely ability
to build goldmine databases for long-term growth.
Digby Orsmond, ARM Direct Ltd.: In the U.K., “
product sell” short-form DRTV advertising in several
consumer sectors is beginning to switch to what
we refer to as BRTV (brand-response TV). These
are 30-second spots that promote a URL to drive
viewers with tablets or smartphones to visit a
website and make a purchase — or to drive viewers into retail stores. Classic “product sell” DRTV
spots are being seen less and less on U.K. TV
