ROI Drivers: Synergies in Paid/Owned Media

  • Rob Jayson, Martin P. Block, Yingying Chen
  • JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH
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Summary

The growth in digital platforms and resulting increase in digital ad spending have prompted questions about how synergies between a brand’s paid and digital owned media affect brand sales. To provide answers, a trio of researchers analyzed 838 brands in 56 subcategories across 14 product and service categories – a much larger set of ad categories and media types than had been studied before. Overall, they found that paid and owned media together were more effective than either alone and that a brand’s product category and subcategory, its long-term sales trends, and its balance of paid media and owned media influenced the effectiveness of owned media and paid media. Among the budgeting implications from this study:
  • “There is synergy across TV, web, and social media platforms, and marketers should balance both paid and owned media when making budgeting decisions.”
  • The effectiveness of digital owned media is influenced by the long-term trend of brand sales and the balance between paid media and owned media.
  • When brands allocated media investment in paid and owned media, more investment was not always consistent with more market share.
  • “When brands that invest less in paid media shift more of their marketing efforts to owned media, both owned media and paid media will influence sales.”

Rob Jayson is EVP, Lead, Insights and Analytics at the media agency USIM in New York City. He conducted the research when he was global lead, branded applications, at Publicis—one of several leadership positions he has had at major media agencies over the past 25 years.

Martin P. Block is a Professor of Integrated Marketing Communications at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) at Northwestern University. In addition to his academic career, Block has consulted for various companies, including Allstate, General Mills, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Kraft Foods, Miller Brewing, 3M, T. Rowe Price, and
Visa International. His work can be found in books he has authored and in book chapters, academic research journals, and trade publications.

Yingying Chen is a doctoral student in information and media at Michigan State University.