The world of advanced advertising continues to innovate. Take
the example of Connekt which makes use of A.I. to dynamically insert
interactive advertising in content and synchronize with T-commerce and
E-commerce. As linear TV moves onto the IP, this form of advertising is poised
to become more pervasive. Tripp Boyle, SVP Sales Strategy and Business
Development, is not only leveraging A.I. in advertising. His company is also
offering the first-ever voice activated, national TV ad campaign which was
recently showcased at CES.
Charlene Weisler: What
is your definition of advanced TV?
Tripp Boyle: Advanced TV is what defines today’s TV
ecosystem. The proliferation of
connected smart TV devices (now active in 74% of US TV households) be it
through HD streaming content, TV everywhere technology, the advent of
t-commerce, addressable linear and VOD opportunities and more means that TV is
more advanced than ever and will continue to evolve.
Weisler: What do you
see as its greatest opportunities and challenges in advanced TV in 2019?
Boyle: TV data has remained largely untapped due to
insufficient and unproven technology that has had difficulty scaling across
providers. Brands are still reliant on
TV for reach and have built proven models that show it works, which why we’ll
never see the switch flip overnight.
Connekt is building technology, integrated at the smart device level
that’s allowing advertisers to leverage both front and back end data to deliver
smarter experiences within linear TV.
Advanced TVs biggest challenge remains device and platform
fragmentation. It’s not a simple task to
unite an ecosystem whose technological backbone is housed within OEMs that have
historically battled each other for market share. Add to this MVPDs and MSOs who are also
looking for new and enhanced revenue streams and it’s hard to get everyone to
see eye to eye on a unified solution rather than build or buy their own and
scale only among their user base.
Weisler: What are the
most critical data points in advanced advertising?
Boyle: Factors vary campaign to campaign. Right now in Advanced TV advertising, we’re
seeing data like location, HH demographics, and context bubble to the surface
in terms of activation prioritization.
Enabling dynamic local messaging on top of national ad spots,
highlighting different products from the same brand depending on household
profile or keying in on a specific offer tied to a precise moment on the
television within ads or programming are some of the most common use cases.
Weisler: Describe
your solutions for an ecommerce project.
Boyle: Our ecommerce solution is an outsourced,
multi-channel, white label storefront that offers clients a new channel of revenue without the
traditional funds and manpower needed to set up an internal site. Connekt handles the back-end technology,
product development, merchandising, marketing, fulfillment of orders and
customer service. For example, we recently announced the launch ShopABCTV.com.
With our ongoing partnership with ABC, Connekt’s platform
supports every aspect of the network’s ShopABCTV.com by managing site hosting
and web development. We also create official brand gear for its franchises,
including apparel, drinkware, home goods and collectibles. Once a viewer purchases
a product, Connekt then fulfills the order, ensuring that the item is processed
and delivered, and all customer service inquiries are met. Connekt is
introducing a future where viewers will be able to purchase items with their
remote or voice through our owned and operated ShopTV smart TV application,
which is currently available on Sony, LG and Hisense smart TVs.
Weisler: Can you talk
a little bit about your recent patent?
Boyle: Our patented technology gives audiences the ability
to interact with, research and purchase items viewed on TV and video, in
real-time. When an ad is displayed on
screen, viewers can purchase directly through a wide array of devices, such as
remote controls, phones and voice-activated assistants.
Weisler: How real
time is your realtime?
Boyle: On linear TV our technology reacts to what is on the
screen within milliseconds to deliver the right message, at a precise
moment. On the data side, we’re
returning viewership and engagement data at the network, program, state, DMA, daypart,
and hour levels within 24 hours of delivery.
Weisler: Do you
collect data? If so, how do you use it?
Boyle: The non-PII data that we gather is centered on
viewership, attention, and engagement at the device level. Our data helps identify who’s watching, what
content, for how long, on what networks, and who’s engaging, at what time, to
understand who is most receptive to a message.
We share that anonymized data back to our advertising partners to help
as a planning tool, we also build audience segments around that data.
Weisler: In the span
of your career what has most surprised you?
Boyle: It is the growth curve we’ve seen with mobile
commerce. It seems intuitive now, given
how capable smartphones are and how easy it is for a new device to make us
forget the previous version, but mobile e-commerce is projected (eMarketer) to
make up half of all e-commerce next year, or roughly $319B. In 2009, it was at
just north of $1B. Take a second to
reflect on what your response would have been 10 years ago if someone asked you
if you purchase laundry detergent on your mobile phone. Now we’re setting up automatic re-orders via
our smartphones on all kinds of CPG goods and doing much of our holiday
shopping via mobile as well.
Weisler: What are
your overall predictions for the state of the media industry 3-5 years from
now.
Boyle: The roll out of 5G services and the host of benefits
that will come with exponentially faster internet connection. Overall, continued convergence is going to
significantly re-shape the media landscape and drive how, and through whom, we
access what content we watch/listen to.
Sports rights will continue to evolve and it will be interesting to see
how that impacts traditional cable service subscriptions now that you have
social networks, TV companies, and streaming services competing. I think the networks are too big in the
foreseeable future to lose much ground on sports but it will be interesting to
see how those rights deals are structured.
Terrestrial radio, digital radio, and podcasted content are also at a
bit of a crossroads and I’m sure we’ll see some convergence there with a few
big players making moves to stay ahead.
This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com
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