The Digital Media Collective

The Digital Media Collective Shopify Experts | Google Premier Partners | Meta Badged Partners

Our small team of highly skilled digital marketing experts provide a uniquely blended service across Search, Social Media and Display to deliver tactical, accountable and measurable results for our clients.

Post work shenanigans with the Durban Team. Thanks Uncle Dyce for catching the moment even if it’s a tad out of focus 😂
11/06/2026

Post work shenanigans with the Durban Team. Thanks Uncle Dyce for catching the moment even if it’s a tad out of focus 😂

What a joy to have been invited to the graduation ceremony for and 3 x BCOM Digital Marketing Grads in the house 🎉🎉 a...
29/05/2026

What a joy to have been invited to the graduation ceremony for and

3 x BCOM Digital Marketing Grads in the house 🎉🎉 achieved while juggling real life and full time jobs. Beyond proud for more reasons than I can mention. These 3 passionate, determined humans have become the first in their families to be capped - to now sit in the 7% of South African adults who hold a Bachelors Degree. Wandi, Nella and Khans - I am in awe. Studying is hard. Studying while juggling life is harder. And then you did it while never compromising your full time job at TDMC and amongst it, still maintaining your Google and Meta certifications. Well done to the 3 of you - it’s been a privilege to journey alongside each of you xx Cheryl

08/05/2026

When a client celebrates your appointment and sends and activation to the office so you can celebrate in style! Thank you for sharing the love!

2 Word: Mobile First. If you are not thinking Mobile First - you have some catching up to do.
07/05/2026

2 Word: Mobile First.

If you are not thinking Mobile First - you have some catching up to do.

A philosophy that defined William Bernbach’s work from 1950 to 1970 has gone from being a creative principle to a surviv...
05/05/2026

A philosophy that defined William Bernbach’s work from 1950 to 1970 has gone from being a creative principle to a survival principle today. Why? Because in an era of AI-generated everything - and brands inventing their own facts, nothing is more relevant today than the truth.

The behaviour already moved. The measurement is just catching up. (And not a moment to soon either) DStv has lost 2.8 m...
04/05/2026

The behaviour already moved. The measurement is just catching up. (And not a moment to soon either)

DStv has lost 2.8 million subscribers since March 2023. That’s a 16% drop in two years on its own product. In FY25 alone MultiChoice lost 1.2 million subs, with around half of those from South Africa. At the same time, DStv Stream subscribers grew 38% and DStv Internet subs grew 45%. People did not stop watching video. They changed where they watch it and what device they watch it on.

The set in the lounge is no longer the centre of the household’s attention economy and when TVM goes live in 2027, the trading currency will finally reflect that. Linear TV will get priced for what it actually delivers: a shrinking, older, more affluent slice of the population. Today, a lot of that inventory is still being bought at rates that assume the 2015 audience. That gap closes the moment the new currency lands.

South Africa is one of the most mobile-first markets on the continent. YouTube already reaches close to half of all SA internet users, and globally roughly nine out of ten YouTube sessions happen on a phone. Your audience is sitting in a taxi, in a queue, on a couch second-screening, or in bed at 11pm watching on a 6-inch screen. If your media plan still treats the lounge TV as the primary touchpoint, you’re paying a premium to reach the wrong room.

And yes we expect to hear things like:

“But linear TV still drives the biggest single reach moment.” True for sport, true for some news, sometimes true for soaps. That is exactly the role linear should play in 2027 - a tactical reach amplifier, not the engine of a plan. It earns its line item; it does not deserve the lion’s share by default.

OR

“Our brand needs the prestige of TV.” Prestige is a function of quality of attention, not the device. A polished six-second YouTube pre-roll seen by the right buyer with sound on is worth more than a 30-second spot during a low-attention break.

Clients who wait for TVM to “prove” the shift are not being cautious. They’re being late.
The clients who are going to look smartest in 2028 are the ones who have already started.

Howard Gossage - one of the industrys greatest copy writers famously said, “Nobody reads advertising. People read what i...
29/04/2026

Howard Gossage - one of the industrys greatest copy writers famously said, “Nobody reads advertising. People read what interests them - and sometimes it’s an ad.” Decades later, the platforms have changed, the scroll is endless, but the truth hasn’t moved.

What stops the scroll isn’t the fact that it’s an ad. It’s whether it earns attention.

Are you entertaining? Are you real? Does it feel human? And just as importantly - who’s telling the story?

People don’t engage with brands. They engage with moments, voices, and stories they recognise or aspire to. If it feels forced, it’s skipped. If it feels honest, it lands.

The medium evolved. The instinct didn’t.

Since it’s International Book Day - this has to be one of our best reads this year.
23/04/2026

Since it’s International Book Day - this has to be one of our best reads this year.

Takeaway #2 from the Brand Report. Your ads don’t need to be long. ⏱️They need to be good enough that people choose t...
21/04/2026

Takeaway #2 from the Brand Report.

Your ads don’t need to be long. ⏱️
They need to be good enough that people choose to keep watching. And, Dentsu’s Brand Report confirms this with data.

After 20 seconds, attention delivers almost no additional impact. This what that actually means for your brand.

👉🏼 You don’t have an attention span problem.
👉🏼 You have a brief problem.

SA brands are still commissioning 30 - 60 second TVCs because that’s what the have always done.

Meanwhile creators - who live and die by watch time - have already solved this.

👉🏼 They earn attention in 3 seconds.
👉🏼 They hold it voluntarily.
👉🏼 They exit before the 20-second cliff.

And, the data backs it up

👉🏼 Creator-led ads drive 159% higher engagement than brand ads at the same CPM.
👉🏼 Creators generate 14x more engagements than brand-owned content.

The question isn’t how long your ad should be. It’s whether your creative is worth watching at all.

Whether it’s Uzalo or a major Springbok match, both represent the absolute ceiling for linear TV reach. In contrast, di...
17/04/2026

Whether it’s Uzalo or a major Springbok match, both represent the absolute ceiling for linear TV reach.

In contrast, digital platforms now offer a “floor” that is significantly higher:

👉🏼 Facebook & YouTube: Each commands a user base roughly 5x larger than the most-watched TV show in the country.

👉🏼 TikTok: With its gain of 6 million users in the last year, effectively “added” the equivalent of an entire top-rated TV show’s audience to its ecosystem in 12 months.

And yet, brands are still pouring budget into TV like it’s 2005.

TRUTH: While 90% of internet users might still “use” broadcast TV, they are rarely doing so with 100% attention. The “Second Screen” phenomenon is now the primary way South Africans watch TV - scrolling social media during ad breaks or using WhatsApp to discuss the show.

A modern 2026 media plan for South Africa shouldn’t be “Digital vs. TV.” It should be “Audience-First.”

👉🏼 High Impact: Use CTV and YouTube for brand storytelling.

👉🏼 High Frequency: Use TikTok and Meta for daily mental availability.

👉🏼 Conversion: Use Retail Media and Paid Search

The “good night” for TV is now a “slow day” for digital. Brands that don’t adjust their budgets to match where the eyeballs actually are aren’t just being traditional - they’re being inefficient.

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