LONDON – Marketers have just begun to scratch the surface of mining the biggest behavioral data set ever amassed: social media. “There’s just so much there,” says Josh Dreller, VP of Product Marketing at multiscreen analytics and activation provider 4C Insights.
With more than 1.5 billion social media users in database mapped to 250,000 interest categories, 4C Insights traffics in real, observed behavior.
“Not what the average 18- 24-year-old male does but actually the engagers of your brand,” Dreller says in an interview with Beet.tv. “It’s a real-time nature, not something you mine at the beginning of the year and use for your year’s planning.”
The company’s algorithmic insights are derived from Facebook and Twitter’s “fire hose to their anonymous engagement data,” Dreller explains. “Who’s commenting, sharing, what’s connecting.”
He’s gotten used to meeting with marketers that advertise on television armed with two lists: One showing the 100 programs those marketers are advertising in most and the other listing the 100 shows those brands’ “engagers” are most engaged with. “Why aren’t you advertising there?” Dreller says of the discrepancy.
A “fairly new data set” beyond social media consists of second-by-second feedback of how viewers are consuming media on television, according to Dreller. Among the takeaways are whether people are skipping, fast-forwarding through or changing channels to avoid commercials.
“It’s kind of like the viewability piece in digital,” says Dreller. “Are they even seeing your commercials? I think this is a very important signal that TV marketers can start to mine.”
Asked about second-screen viewing, Dreller cites media usage research showing that total time typically exceeds 100%. “That’s because people are consuming two channels at a time,” he says, adding that it’s not uncommon for him to use three devices simultaneously.
“For most television marketers, they’re seeing how TV advertising is evolving and they’re realizing they need to adapt. Social data provides an interesting outlet for TV marketers to see these insights,” Dreller says. “Marketers are just scratching the surface now.”
We spoke with Dreller at the Future of TV Advertising Forum in London. Beet.TV’s coverage is presented by the 605. For other videos from the series, please visit this page.
