The Future of TV Advertising Global (the new name for the London edition of Future TV Advertising Forum, held earlier this month) is one of the best places to feel the pulse of the global TV advertising industry. It gives you a sense of the challenges ahead and the solutions available. Here are our key takeaways from the 2019 event.
Takeaway No.6: The real magic is data-driven, audience-based buying
Addressable TV is built upon data-driven, audience-based buying, meaning you can look beyond demographics when segmenting viewers and buy a group of consumers based on their interests, need-state, lifestyle and even attitudes. A simple example is buying homes that have an intention to purchase a new car – those who are considered to be ‘in the market’.
The Future of TV Advertising Global provided another reminder that addressable TV is not the only use of audience-based buying. Another key use-case, which is better known in North America than in Europe, is optimised linear buying. In simple terms, you define the audience target against need-state and interests, etc, and you find which homes these people are living in – as with addressable TV. But rather than seek them out on a one-to-one basis using addressable TV (and so exclude homes that are outside your audience segment), you use set-top box data to figure out what channels and shows this audience segment is watching on linear TV, and what times of day they are watching, and then buy standard (national, i.e. reaching everyone) broadcast linear TV where you can find most of this audience at the best prices.
You optimise your standard (national) linear TV buying by enriching the planning process with new data (e.g. set-top box viewing records). Audience-based linear buying (or ‘data-enabled linear’, or ‘optimised linear’) is not talked about much in Europe, but Fabrice Mollier, VP Marketing, Strategy and Operations at Canal Plus Brand Solutions (sales for Canal+) outlined how it works for the French media owner, having run a campaign for Peugeot that boosted target audience reach by 24%, with attribution.
Canal+ is a subscription and free-to-air channel owner and platform operator that has 8.4 million subscribers in France and 20 million in total across 40 countries, and the company has first-party data including demographics and set-top box viewing insights. It enables data-based planning for broadcast TV using its CanalXchange platform.
Peugeot provided 30 CRM (i.e. insights from the advertiser’s customer relationship management system) segments that were matched against third-party data and the Canal+ audience via a trusted third-party so the advertiser could seek people who intended to buy a certain type of car, rather than use demos as a proxy to find them. “We worked out which channels they were watching and at which times and found the best places to reach these people, and optimised the plan,” Mollier explained.
Canal Plus Brand Solutions then used its data analytics platform, Canalytics, to compare ad exposure (using set-top box return path data) against quotes provided by Peugeot dealers to potential buyers during an eight week period after the campaign. Quotes were chosen as the metric because you see the results sooner than sales, which might take months to complete.
The results of the audience-based buying of classic linear TV (optimised linear/data-enabled linear) were then compared to standard linear buying that was based on demographics. On Canal+ free-to-air channels using a target demo of 24-49 year-olds, the exposed audience was 12% more likely to get a quote at a Peugeot dealer than someone who had not seen the campaign at all.
The target audience defined by their intent to purchase (reached via normal linear TV, but with optimised planning), who were found via the Pay TV platform (where optimised linear becomes possible because of the availability of STB viewing data) were 19% more likely to get a quote than someone who did not see the campaign. Thus, the case for data-optimised linear buying is made (if you accept that the free-to-air versus Pay TV distribution makes no difference).
Read our full list of takeaways from The Future of TV Advertising Global 2019:
Takeaway 1: Television is back on the offensive
Takeaway 2: It’s not a question of if you follow the 60:40 rule, just how you implement it
Takeaway 3: Addressable TV is coming fast, as a complement to ‘national’ ads, not as a replacement
Takeaway 4: Unification of broadcast and digital is everything – priorities No.1 and No.2 for TV
Takeaway 5: TV is an activation medium, which makes it a uniquely full-funnel offering
Takeaway 6: The real magic is data-driven, audience-based buying
https://www.v-net.tv/2019/12/20/the-real-magic-is-data-driven-audience-based-buying/
Takeaway 7: The future of agencies – yes, they do have one
https://www.v-net.tv/2019/12/20/the-future-of-agencies-yes-they-do-have-one/
