Local TV ad sales execs, in recent years, have come under pressure from online channels that can prove their worth and from national TV that can deliver mass-reach campaigns.
But the emergence of digital attribution technologies plugged in to local TV ad sales now promises to bring ad spending back to local TV operators.
That is according to one TV ad-tech platform which is watching an in-flux on money back to certain operators.
“We’ve seen (certain) automotive dealers double their spend (with) local TV),” says Jo Kinsella, TVSquared chief revenue officer, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
“And it’s not just about doubling spend. It’s also been about committing to much longer-term campaigns to the point where Comcast is saying (to advertisers), ‘You know what? Let’s sign up for a longer commitment because now you know it works’.”
Kinsella’s TVSquared helps power Instant Impact, an analytics platform at Comcast Cable’s Spotlight ad sales unit which shows the impact on web traffic from airing an ad on Comcast, within 30 minutes of transmission.
In this Beet.TV interview with Maryann Halford, senior advisor at MTM Consulting, Kinsella says the relationship started with a proof-of-concept in three to five markets, followed with a pilot involving 25 advertisers and the full roll-out announced this week.
Comcast Spotlight has also said it intends to apply Instant Impact to more customer types outside of automotive.
“TV viewership has gone up and actually, we’re seeing media dollars come back to television because now we can prove that it’s working,” Kinsella adds.
Local media is widely seen as offering untapped potential for targetability and, because it is often a patchwork of distinct designated market areas (DMAs), the ability to incrementally boost reach.
That potential is slowly being unlocked, as local TV operators plug in a new wave of software.
“They’re able tie (TV ad exposure) back to lower-funnel metrics,” Kinsella boasts. “But I think the easiest way to explain it is really proof of performance All of a sudden, in the same way that we’ve been able to measure digital all these years, we can now measure TV in the same way.”
This video is part of a series from the Beet Retreat in the City, “We’re Going Local!” hosted by GroupM Worldwide and sponsored by Amobee, Comcast Spotlight, TVSquared and WideOrbit. Please visit this page for additional segments.
