Targeted Ads for Television: As Elusive As It Ever Was
One of the interesting aspect of the “digitalization” of media is “traditional” media slow movement to become more trackable and targetable. Televisions, the grand-daddy of all mass media, is one of them. The “TV 3.0: Reach + Targetability” session covered this very topic. Unfortunately, the holy grail of targetable television has proven as elusive as the actual Holy Grail. From the case studies presented, we seem no closer to targetable television advertising than from what I saw from last year’s ad:tech session on the same topic.
MODERATOR:
Daisy Whitney, Host/New Media Minute and Reporter, TVWeek
PANELISTS:
Mitchell Oscar, Executive VP, Televisual Applications, MPG
Joshua Herman, Digital Marketing Innovation Leader, Acxiom
Davina Kent, Director of Strategic Alliances, Comcast Spotlight
While the panelists were great in talking about the mechanics of how targeted and interactive TV advertising works, the meatiest topics were focused around the challenges of targeted/interactive advertising with some helpful case studies to indicate possibilities for advertisers.
Challenges
Privacy and Implementation
Cable operators have issues with allocating bandwidth to allow for interactive advertising (ads that you can click on with the TV remote) and targetable advertising (target cable users by demographics etc).
Additionally, legal laws regarding privacy issues surrounding have also to be worked out. How narrow can you target base don the cable company’s database? To what extent can advertisers marry their CRM data to the cable operators for targeting purposes? Indeed, one of the attendees stated to the panelists that he was unable to execute the type of targeted advertising the panelists discussed; the cable operator told him it went against privacy policies.
Project Canoe
Project Canoe has been a lot like mobile marketing: it’ll hit mainstream next year. Project Canoe‘s aim is for cable operators to build a method for advertisers to purchase advertising time through a single mechanism, instead of separately contacting and negotiating with dozens of cable operators. The project aims are high, yet results have proven elusive.
Level of Segmentation
The panelists discussed the issue of over segmentation. Cable operators are still attempting to define how much they can segment users, balancing between: 1) being highly targeted ads; 2) having a large enough audience; and 3) the budget to create targeted ads. As Daisy Whitney of TV Week, if an advertisers segments too narrowly, you may end up with only a reach of two cable users.
Results
When it came to results, the panelists had a few case studies but it was apparent it lacked depth in terms of metrics and insight. The lack of a formal PowerPoint case studies may have been a factor.
Dog Ads
A targeted advertisement in Huntsville for dog food found that TV viewers were 38% less likely to turn away from a commercial if they were actual dog owners versus a non-targeted dog food ad.
ING Insurance
Mitchell Oscar of Televisual Applications talked about a targeted advertisement for ING Insurance. They used Acxiom to marry ING’s CRM data and the cable operators to target and upscale existing ING customers on insurance products. Acxiom was also used as a “safe harbor” so personal information from ING and the cable operator were not directly exchanged.
Oscar explained they used a Domino Pizza coupon to attract sales leads. He noted a high CTR rate.
Pricing
In terms of pricing, the panelists stated that the average cost for targeted advertising was 30% higher than regular TV advertising. From the panelists, it seem the higher cost seemed to be worth in terms of achieving successful engagement but more case studies are needed. But, with targeted advertising also comes to requirement to create relevant advertising for each segment.
