New research highlights highly competitive nature of December charity TV ads
London, 31 January 2017: Charities at Christmas could be missing out on valuable donor engagement opportunities thanks to the sheer volume of TV charity ads running during the month of December, according to new analysis conducted by digital media agency, equimedia.
Over the critical Christmas period, a time when 33% of an average not-for-profit’s donations are accrued[1], equimedia has revealed that charities are competing against an average of ten other causes for viewers’ attention. In many cases, this means that channel viewers could not only be suffering from Christmas Charity Commercial Fatigue, but that each organisation could be directly competing for attention on the same channel as other charities active in very similar fields.
By analysing Nielsen data on December 2016 TV ad campaigns, equimedia found that across 413 digital, freeview, and satellite TV channels, there were 60 separate charities running TV campaigns in December. As a result, there were an average of ten charities competing for donations, per channel. The most popular TV channels for advertisers had up to 35 charity campaigns running at the same time – in many cases during the same month as organisations with very similar interests and propositions.
The most popular channels for charity commercials in December were:
|
|
Animal
|
Armed Forces
|
Children
|
Condition
|
Emergency Services
|
Environment & economy
|
Seniors
|
|
1=. Eden (35)
|
11
|
0
|
9
|
6
|
1
|
7
|
1
|
|
1=. Good Food (35)
|
10
|
0
|
9
|
5
|
1
|
9
|
1
|
|
3= Home (33)
|
10
|
1
|
7
|
6
|
1
|
7
|
1
|
|
3= Yesterday (33)
|
9
|
1
|
9
|
4
|
0
|
9
|
1
|
|
5= Yesterday +1 (32)
|
9
|
1
|
9
|
4
|
0
|
8
|
1
|
|
5= Good Food +1 (32)
|
9
|
0
|
9
|
4
|
1
|
8
|
1
|
|
5 = Eden +1 (32)
|
10
|
0
|
9
|
5
|
1
|
6
|
1
|
|
8. = PBS America (31)
|
12
|
0
|
6
|
6
|
0
|
6
|
1
|
|
8. = Sky News (31)
|
9
|
1
|
6
|
6
|
0
|
8
|
1
|
|
10. Gold (29)
|
9
|
0
|
7
|
6
|
0
|
6
|
1
|
Louise Burgess, COO and founder of equimedia, comments, “Christmas is a focal point for charity campaigns and it is not surprising that so many would be running appeals at this time of year. However, what many may not realise is that their campaign could be so much more successful if it were not competing with so many others at the same time and on the same channel – and in many cases, against charities with very similar interests.
“For very worthy causes to truly stand out at this vital time of year, they should be considering every communications option available to them, and how they can work together. TV has an undeniable impact and reach, but it should be matched with concurrent and cost effective digital strategies to make sure that the cause can be located online and that the messages align. In some cases we found that heavy TV charity advertisers were entirely dependent on their TV ad campaign as a donation source.”