Driving cost-effective incremental reach for Direct Line Group

Direct Line Group (DLG) is a leading insurance provider in the UK, representing a range of well known and cutting-edge brands like Direct Line, Churchill, and Green Flag.While TV remains the most effective advertising medium for both long-term brand building and short-term sales activation for DLG, the way it is accessed and viewed is evolving rapidly, which has been further accelerated by the global Covid pandemic.

As this TV evolution is leading to more fragmented experiences for both consumers and brands, DLG is constantly striving to stay ahead of the curve and have been working with Finecast to maximise the power of fragmentation in TV. To ensure it is done cost-effectively, DLG wanted to determine the optimal advertising mix across their total TV investment in linear and non-linear TV.

The test utilised Finecast & Audience Project integration with TechEdge/BARB and used independent third-party data for analysing the combined audience reach across linear broadcast TV and Finecast. This approach allowed the team to determine the incremental reach on broadcaster VOD via Finecast, understand how the cost per reach point evolves at different stages of a campaign, and, through further analysis, benchmark these results against social media platforms.

The test confirmed the initial hypothesis that Finecast would deliver broadcaster VOD that was more cost-effective at driving reach when spending high volumes on linear TV. For all adults, that happened when the linear campaign reached 60% of the audience (at 1+ frequency), equating to savings of 5.4%. More importantly, broadcaster VOD planned and bought via Finecast was more cost-effective from day one for adults aged 16-34, equating to savings of 22.3% – however linear TV remained important in achieving scale for this audience.