All the credit for this article goes to the excellent Response author Jacqueline Renfrow, regarding the declining state of the TV Ad industry.  As an online marketer some may feel that I would celebrate this kind of news since the more traditional marketing continues to fall, the better my business becomes as companies reallocate more of their advertising dollars to online pursuits.

For me, this is not true.  I’m a big proponent of specific marketing strategies for each individual company depending on its own unique business model.

Many companies I work with use online marketing as its main strategy for reaching prospective customers, and research has shown that this is becoming the de facto method for leveraging reach vs dollars invested.

Other companies rely more on broadcast media to reach a wide audience and historically this has served them very well.  And, as of today, continues to serve them very well.  So, why change?  Well… that’s probably a post for another day but suffice it to say that for many companies a solid strategy of diversified tactics works best for most medium to larger sized companies.

Enjoy Jacqueline’s fine work:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – According to an Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Forrester Research Inc. survey of national advertisers, marketers continue to lack confidence in the effectiveness of TV ads and, although they will continue to use 30-second spots, they are looking for an overhaul in the fundamentals. The root of the dissatisfaction stems from the current measurement techniques for TV ads, an interest in more targeted ads, and the desire for less ad clutter and more relevance.

Among the 100 advertisers surveyed, most said their TV ad spending will remain flat this year and that 41 percent of their media budgets will go to television, versus 58 percent of their budgets last year.

Highlighting the lack of confidence, 62 percent of respondents said TV ads have become less effective in the past two years. The main hurdle for advertisers is clutter and so 69 percent of marketers would like fewer commercials per pod. There was also dissatisfaction expressed for the metrics of measurement for commercials, and 82 percent of advertisers were in favor of ratings for individual commercials.

However, most advertisers still believe in the power of the 30-second spot, with only 19 percent believing these spots will be dead in 10 years – this is down from 28 percent last year. Targeting consumers is a concern for more than 78 percent of advertisers and 59 percent said they would pay a premium for it.

Finally, 75 percent of respondents believe that interactive television will be an effective source of lead generation, but only 28 percent plan to spend more on interactive TV ads in 2010.