Advancing Your TV Ad Measurement

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Editor’s note: Kyle will join experts from Publicis Media and NBCUniversal on a panel session moderated by Business Insider and sponsored by Adobe at Advertising Week NYC on Monday, 9/23: Redefining Your TV Advertising Measurement Strategy for the Future

One of the best things about being in the TV ad business right now is that a decade of debate about where the industry is headed, arguing whether “TV is dead”, and wondering who are going to be the winners and losers, is finally giving way to the actual paradigm shift we longed for as we plunge deeper into the TV and video renaissance.

Humans are a visually oriented species, so video ads, regardless of platform or delivery mechanism, will always be as relevant to audiences as those they see elsewhere across the digital landscape. Thanks to digitalization and automation sweeping through all parts of the TV ecosystem, brands now have more precise measurement and control over the outcomes of the biggest investment in their media mix. And it is only getting better.

According to Nielsen, live TV reaches 88% of the US population. That is greater than reach on smartphones and significantly more than desktops and tablets. The hours upon hours of daily TV consumption means it remains at the top of the media podium. The “death” of TV has been greatly exaggerated over the years.

Consider this: Google, with all their mighty capabilities across digital, still turns to TV to sell the Google Pixel or Home. Amazon does the same with Alexa, and Facebook’s “apology tour” used TV as its main component as well. That’s because cultural and emotional experiences are still made on TV – it’s a format that can trigger an immediate response, become a key ingredient to persuasion and, eventually, translate into revenue. And luckily for us, with the recent advancements in the TV measurement ecosystem, we’re finally able to more effectively quantify that response.

With the foundation set, we can separate the state of TV advertising into four interrelated areas that will surely be in the limelight at Advertising Week:

  1. Unify your TV advertising approach across Linear, addressable, and over-the-top (OTT)

As consumers’ TV viewing habits have changed over the years, so should our approach to our TV strategies. This may be a surprise to some advertisers, but linear TV (traditional TV), addressable TV, Connected TV (CTV),and Over-the-Top (OTT) are not interchangeable – even if they do share the same exact content in some cases. As such, simple budget shifting strategies aren’t enough. However, improvements in data accessibility, measurement capabilities, and targeting methods are converging at a pace that has shrunk the divide between the previously disparate formats. While your target audience can flow across screens and content fluidly, it’s important to be able to analyze these formats at a granular level to plan both holistically and intentionally. By analyzing TV audience viewership patterns and matching that to digital audiences, we can begin to more precisely incorporate the different TV & video formats into a cohesive marketing strategy and ensure maximum unduplicated reach with greater performance.

  1. Automate the end-to-end process where you can

The many benefits of advanced TV software will only be fully realized when media owners, suppliers, and technology partners work together to automate the advertising process from planning to execution and measurement. We can now build and execute TV plans that reflect real-time rates and inventory availabilities – ensuring that the buy that was delivered reflects the strategy that was created in the planning process. Using automation means you don’t need to buy pre-packaged inventory bundles and you’re able to reduce waste by buying less off-target impressions. In turn, you can deliver greater reach and impact of every dollar spent.

  1. Use precise, data-driven targeting across all of your screens – including TV

Buying against simple demo GRPs and “spraying and praying” across the marketplace is no longer an effective way to target TV ads. This method diminishes the overall TV experience for consumers while simultaneously wasting your impressions on consumers who aren’t interested in your brand.  With all the software, technology and capabilities that we have today to define target audiences, why would any marketer use the most outdated methods for targeting for one of the biggest portions of their media mix? When it comes to television advertising, three out of four media executives say they are not proficient in moving a deeply planned TV media strategy into execution. By utilizing third-party behavioral, psychographic, and demographic data, in conjunction with first-party data – such as website visitor data, past purchase data, or CRM data – you can seamlessly inform your linear, addressable, and over-the-top TV buys against a single target. This is the best and most effective way to reach valuable audiences efficiently and effectively.

  1. Drive growth using holistic measurement

By using advanced Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology along with digital delivery mechanisms, you can measure the success of your TV & video campaigns in ways that were never possible. With real-time insights on the impact of every TV spot, advertisers can understand which ads are best at breaking through and engage customers both online and off. Innovations in TV measurement and attribution now allows you to deterministically understand which ads motivated customers to visit your website, initiate a search, or even visit your store, and use these learnings to optimize future campaigns. TV measurement has finally moved from long-established assumptions and guesses to more concrete answers and optimization.

Today, you no longer need to choose between digital’s vast targeting and measurement opportunities, and TV’s massive reach and scale. With software, automation, and a strategic technology partner, you can create efficient, holistic, and scalable video campaigns that find and engage consumers however they choose to watch content.

Read about Adobe leadership in the Forrester New Wave for Cross-Channel Video Advertising Platforms.


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3 Comments
  1. Advanced TV is shaking up how we buy TV advertising today, making the TV landscape more complex and difficult to navigate. But that’s a good thing for marketers due to the benefits it offers: greater flexibility;  robust data; and better measurement and reporting that can lead to deeper insights and improved results. In this Huffington Post article, Goodway Group’s COO, Jay Friedman, explains advanced TV and why it holds such promise.

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