SAN JUAN — The world of TV advertising is evolving from generally targeting viewers of broad TV show categories, to one in which marketers armed with consumer data can make more specifically-targeted ad buys.
But what if the presuppositions they made with that data could be improved on in yet another step-change?
One leading TV company researcher thinks viewers may soon elect to give broadcasters and their advertisers far more specific information about their buying intents.
In this fireside discussion with Prohaska Consulting CEO Matt Prohaska for Beet.TV, Janus Strategy & Insights president Howard Shimmel – previously chief research officer at Turner – opens up on how Turner’s research has convinced him the change is coming.
“We did some research at Turner that we call the Consumer Data Value Exchange,” says Shimmel. “We were trying to get an understanding of what consumers are willing to give up in terms of data to get a better ad experience so they’re not getting ads for categories they don’t care about.
“The reality was consumers said they’re willing to give up a lot more than we think they’ll give up. They just need control and they need to be paid for it.”
That realization could have profound consequences for marketers and the publishers or broadcasters they go through.
For one, it could mean a change in emphasis – from second-guessing consumers’ position in the purchase funnel for various products and services, to actually knowing.
“I think eventually we’re going to have to get to a world where there’s more consumer control and they’re giving us signals a little bit more directly than (simply) ‘I’m in the market for a car because I happen to go to a BMW site yesterday’,” adds Shimmel.
This kind of approach may see new power brokers emerge. Shimmel, who joined Janus last year, says comScore and Nielsen evolved to measure media consumption because buyers didn’t have access to first-party data with full accuracy. But now connected TV sets can give off exact data signals about who is watching.
That, he says, should prompt the measurement agencies to change the nature of their service, and – for anyone hoping for a career in media measurement – it will place a premium on getting skills in data science.
This video was produced in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the Beet.TV executive retreat. Please find more videos from the series on this page.
The Beet Retreat was presented by NCC along with Amobee, Dish Media, Oath and Google.
