The way in which people consume content has diversified massively over the past few
years, and although buzzwords like “programmatic’, “dynamic’ and “targeted’ are
commonly hurled around the digital space, it’s only a matter of time before they can
be applied to TV viewing as well.
Today programmatic advertising on TV is an idea that most people will automatically
reject, the same way they rejected the idea of handheld tablet computers, multiple
TV channels and compost fuel when they appeared as fantastic inventions in the 1989
classic film Back to the Future.
It’s true that in South Africa there is long a way to go in developing and integrating
connected TVs and IP delivered content, but as complicated as the current landscape
may seem, international markets are already tapping into targeted advertising for
television.
Bulls-eye buying
Targeted advertising online is a successful and widely used concept. Information
about a particular user and his or her online behaviour is gathered by internet cookies
and stored in a user’s web browser. This data is then used as a tool to serve a specific
user with adverts that relate to their interests, needs and browsing history. This
means, for example, that if your Facebook profile is serving you ads on engagement
rings and bridesmaid dresses, it has cleverly picked up on the fact that you are at an
age where marriage is of interest to you and that you’ve probably been browsing
websites of that nature.
This makes brands happy because they are able to speak straight to their target
consumers, and it similarly suits consumers because they are being marketed
products which are relevant and appealing to them. But as Marius Greeff, channel
director at Habari Media points out, even though television audiences are measurable
to some extent, the wealth of user information available online doesn’t quite translate
to TV viewers.
“With programmatically placed digital ads we have a very accurate way of measuring
which platforms are the most effective, and can therefore narrow down inventory to
sites that are the most effective. With TV ad placement, though we may not have the
same data available, there are sometimes other ways of measuring a viewing
audience. For example, with infomercials we are able to see how many people are
watching by looking at the number of calls received while airing a certain ad. We can
then look at the information and re-evaluate when the best times are to air certain
adverts.’
Progressive thinking
When it comes to mobile devices, tablets and smart TVs most video content is viewed
in an app or non-browser environment which means detailed user data capturing is
thrown out of the marketing toolbox. But in the US there are a number of digital
marketing companies looking at ways around this obstacle. One such company is
multi-screen video advertising company YuMe, which is working towards delivering
highly targeted brand advertising on connected TVs. In an interview with Video Ad
News, Jayant Kadambi, CEO of YuMe, explains that their cookie-less targeting model
is based on the idea that a user’s TV viewing behaviour can be correlated with their
online behaviour. This, combined with publishing data and information captured from
their own surveys, produces a good gauge of scale, reach and frequency in a video
brand environment.
Andre Steenekamp, CEO of digital consultancy 25AM, adds: “There is a major
television network in Europe that is currently building out a programmatic buying
platform for its channels and territories. A year ago they said they would never
consider it and now they have a launch date of less than 12 months from now. I
believe it’s only a matter of time before all major networks will offer this as a
standard media service.’
Abroad there are also movements afoot to embed smart TVs with video fingerprinting
technology so as to accurately capture information about households, but at present
South Africa seems to be far from this level of development.
Jay Dayaljee, group head of sales at e.tv, says the potential for programmatic
advertising on TV to become a reality in South Africa is directly proportional to the
rate at which broadband costs are reduced and new technologies adapted. “I don’t
think we’ll have the opportunity to target ads directly to households at this stage. It
will take a long time to get there. You’d probably need a box hardwired to each home
to tell you what people are browsing and watching.’
Steenekamp adds: “I believe there is interest but, as is typical, SA broadcasters will
adopt a wait-and-see attitude until the platform is proven, or until a global platform
approaches them for inventory.’
Not “if’ but “when’
Chanel McKay, Digital Media director at Acceleration Media says: “We are living in
exciting times where media and the way we plan and buy evolves at a rapid pace.
Cost efficiencies in the way we buy become a necessity for effective audience reach;
this means that buying methodologies need to change too.’
When targeted TV ads do breach the technological threshold, the rewards and return
on investment for all players in the brand marketing value chain will be plentiful.
Wayne Bischoff, managing director at Habari Media, puts it plainly: “The more levels
of granularity that you are able to provide advertisers, the smaller and smaller that
audience is and the more brands are going to pay for that audience.’
Similarly for broadcasters like e.tv, the possibility of offering advertisers very specific
reach is exciting. “Should we want to target specific ads to specific households we
would be able serve certain groups one ad and others a different ad, so yes if that
were possible it would increase revenue,’ adds Dayaljee.
With these kind of targeting capabilities agencies and brands will be able to marry
products and services to the people who really care about them. In addition,
advertising plays an important role in subsidising content and making it available to
audiences. Therefore the more engaging ads are to a TV-viewing consumer, the more
broadcasters will be able to acquire quality content to deliver to them.
