Digital-native brands are embracing buying ads on good ‘ol television, thanks to an upgraded range of targeting capabilities.
But they should nevertheless be realistic about the kinds of super-powers they can find on the screen, says an executive whose company manages the movement of TV ad inventory across the country.
“We’re seeing the shift from digital coming towards the TV space,” says Frederick Lee, WideOrbit director of sales, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
“That’s exciting because they’re looking at it from an (ad) impression standpoint; it makes perfect sense for them to have an easy way to access that inventory and marry it with their data on the backend.”
Advanced TV capabilities include targeting viewers at the household level and attribution which allows brands to track a viewer exposed to an ad, all the way to outcomes like website or store visitation and even sales.
Lee says traditional agencies and digital agencies are connecting to TV inventory through APIs in order to take advantage.
Amongst the digital-style brands embracing TV is the wave of direct-to-consumer (D2C) ecommerce companies that are selling direct, without the need for intermediary retail platforms.
In January, eMarketer counted more than 400 D2C brands operating in the US. IAB analyzed 250 of them.
Meanwhile, an umbrella group, the VAB, in a new report, has observed how D2C companies it tracks hiked their TV spending by 60% last year, bringing the total up to $3.8 billion.
San Francisco-based WideOrbit offers a software platform that handles scheduling, billing, content management and invoicing for mostly local TV ads.
But Lee also cautions the new digital brands not to expect things to work the same on TV as they do online.
“I think we have to be careful because the difference between digital and TV is you are dealing with a finite amount of inventory on the TV and an infinite amount of inventory on the digital,” he says.
“There’s a way to manage those expectations. It’s just something that we constantly have to be aware of. What works for digital might not necessarily be the same as how it is executed on the linear side.”
Lee says a consultative approach is needed by brands as they make the transition.
He was speaking with Janet Balis, global leader of EY’s media and entertainment practice.
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.
