AMENIA, N.Y. – Amid the proliferation of “walled garden” media platforms that jealously guard their user data – such as Facebook, Amazon, Google and connected-television apps that require a login – advertisers are seeking ways to get more complete information about consumers and their behaviors.
Technology startup Telly aims to provide advertisers with that more holistic view of audiences by asking consumers for more detailed information about their households in exchange for a high-end – and free – smart TV. Its set also is different from others because it has a second screen that shows unobstructed ads.
“We like to say it’s the smartest TV ever produced and I think that’s true,” Bob Ivins, head of data strategy at consumer electronics company Telly, said in this interview at the Beet Retreat Berkshires with Beet.TV contributor Rob Williams. “What we’re seeing is usage of that device double what normal TVs are getting.”
Telly’s operating system enables its televisions to run apps for video calls, music listening parties and at-home workouts. Ivins compares the more advanced set to smartphones that incorporated cameras and music players that replaced formerly separate gadgets.
In addition, Telly’s set offers more ways for advertisers to engage viewers. The goal is to not only give marketers a chance to raise awareness of their brands, but also to help guide consumers into the purchase funnel toward some kind of interaction.
“The upper-funnel component of TV does one thing, and it does it really, really well, but there’s no performance on TV,” Ivins said. “What we’ve developed is a bunch of new ad units that are starting to collapse that funnel.”
A carmaker, as one example, can show a spot on the upper screen of the television and a dynamically linked ad on the lower screen, Ivins said.
“The interaction between the two screens enables advertisers to do a lot more with a device than they would with just putting a 30-second spot on a big screen,” he said. “Because we have no restrictions on what we can take off the glass, qe know what you’re watching even in the walled gardens, and that’s good for advertisers.”
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