Linear TV vs.

Digital Advertising
There has been much speculation in the outdoor industry concerning where advertising dollars are best spent. This report, prepared
by media planning expert Brad Adgate, is fact based bringing clarity to this all important decision.

Demographic makeup of the Outdoor Community and its relationship with Linear TV:
• The outdoor communities greatest support in both purchases and participation comes from Generation X (adults 35-54) and Baby Boomers (adults 55+).
• Nielsen reports that traditional TV reaches over 90% of adults 35+ each week and 78% of Millennials (adults 18-34).

Television Viewing Habits for all age groups:

• As settled adults, Generation X and Baby Boomers continue to consume traditional linear TV at basically normal averages YOY.
• According to Nielsen, in 2017 Generation X (adults 35-49) still spend an average of over four hours each day watching traditional television, down only
slightly since 2015.
• Baby Boomers (adults 50+) watch an average of over six hours each day watching traditional television the same amount as in 2015.
• Millennials (adults 18-34) still watch an average of 2½ hours of traditional television each day, a drop of 16% since 2015.
• PLEASE NOTE Millennials who move from being dependant on their parents for shelter, marry and have children increases their TV watching time greatly.

What group can likely afford to make purchases of outdoor gear:

• Baby Boomers and Generation X also have the largest disposable income and give the greatest support to the outdoor industry. Fact.
• Millennials, as group will hopefully inherit Generation X and Baby Boomers passion for the outdoors, are saddled with the greatest debt, have a much lower
income than older adults coupled with paying off their college loans.
 • As a result, many Millennials are postponing many young adult milestones such as marriage, buying a home, buying “big ticket” items and settling down.
Thus this “delayed adulthood” creates a lifestyle that consumes less TV than previous 18-34 who were more advance into adulthood during the same stage
in life.
• The Census Bureau reports, the median net worth of adults 45-54 is nearly fifteen times greater than the median wealth of adults under 35.
The median net worth of adults 65+ is nearly thirty times higher than the median net worth of adults under 35. This translates to greater
disposable income for older age groups. Your target consumer who has the income and watches Traditional TV.

Media Trust and Influence:

• According to Clutch, advertising influences 90% of consumers to make purchases.
• Traditional television drives consumers to purchase 60% of the time while print, online and social media are in the mid to low 40%.
• The least trusted media is social media 38% while television leads at 61%
• Furthermore, advertisements are far more influential in higher income households. Advertisements influence 83% of consumers with a household
income of $100,000.
• Digital media underperforms compared to television even with Millennials and as they get older, get married and become parents, television
increases even more as the preeminent medium to reach them.

Media Buyers overview of the advertising market place:

• Advertisers are beginning to take note on the continuing power of television to build brand awareness and sell product in a brand safe environment. During
Comcast’s strong first quarter 2018 earnings report, NBCU CEO Steve Burke, when addressing digital versus broadcast and cable said, “advertisers are coming
to the conclusion the pendulum ought to swing back in our *TV’s+ favor.” Burke continued, “there’s certainly signs and people we’ve talked to of a coming
home to a trusted environment, where an ad can be in context, where an ad can be watched the way people watch television ads, from the beginning until
the end.”
• Digiday Daily: “Advertisers are more concerned that they are wasting money on Facebook than they are about the platform’s privacy lapses. They are
unhappy about how expensive it’s gotten to advertise on a platform that has openly admitted it hasn’t always charged the correct amount for ads. Combine
that with lower-than-expected return on investment from pricey inventory like video, and some of those companies are starting to question why Facebook
dominates so much of their media plans.”
•Radisson Hotels Group will continue to spend on Facebook, albeit with a closer eye on how its ads compare against other platforms. The hotel chain wants
the social network to play a key role in its efforts to go all-in on performance marketing, but accepts it may need to revert to a test-and-learn approach that
could reduce certain media buys in future. “If something isn’t working, change it,” said Remy Merckx, VP at Radisson Hotels Group. If Facebook can’t deliver
any more returns for Radisson, “then we will spend on other platforms,” he said. (Digiday Daily)
• Adidas has already stopped buying video ads on Facebook and has not ruled out other cuts, said another executive, whom Adidas briefed on the matter.
Decisions won’t happen until the advertiser concludes a media review, after which it will work with its chosen agency to decide how much to spend on
Facebook. Advertising on Facebook isn’t getting any cheaper — in the first quarter of the year, the average price per ad on Facebook jumped 49%, according
to Facebook’s latest results. If people share less data with Facebook after General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the social network limits what
personal data it shares with advertisers, targeting would be harder and more expensive. (Digiday Daily)

Conclusion: To reach adults 35+ who are more likely to hunt-fish-shoot, advertisers “should fish more where the fish are” and that remains traditional
television. This age group made up of mature adults is more likely to be settled and spend more time in their own home which accounts why they watch more
television than Millennials, many of whom are unmarried and have not started a family. Adults 35+ also have the disposable income required to make “big
ticket” purchases needed for outdoor hunting and fishing equipment. This group also trusts TV which explains the high rate of converting that viewer into a
buyer for an advertiser’s products.

For further information, please read the accompanied write-up, which offers a comprehensive look at the economic status and media preferences by age
group, along with comparisons of television and digital media as an advertising platform.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brad Adgate is an independent media consultant based in Cambridge, MA. Adgate is an award-winning media analyst with 35 years of experience working at
top tier advertising agencies and media companies. Adgate has written numerous articles on the media industry and has been interviewed extensively on the
media landscape and financial implications on CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg TV, Wall Street Journal and many others. Adgate is currently a contributor to
Forbes.com writing about media.
The Pursuit Channel commissioned Adgate to write this summary. He can be reached at bradadgate@gmail.com for any comments or questions.