Oct 19, 2019

Putting all the Data Pieces Together to Follow the Consumer Journey. Interview with NYI’s Betsy Rella.


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Disconnected data means the consumer journey is all too often a mystery. Advertisers that gain an understanding of that journey can also gain a competitive edge. That’s where New York Interconnect (NYI) comes in. NYI is arguably number one in reaching the full New York DMA because of its integrated data solutions. 

“We are in an interesting position,” said Betsy Rella, vice president, research and data. “We are a joint venture between Altice, Comcast, and Charter and their affiliates underneath them.” Because of this unique set of partners, NYI reaches 6.5 million television households in the New York area and boasts the ability to go multiplatform with a range of granular data available to measure, track, and target viewers, as well as attribute some consumers’ transactions.

Targeting Both Nationally and Locally
In my opinion, one of the most interesting datasets that Rella has at her disposal is from Cablevision (now Altice). I can speak to the richness of this data, having worked with it during my time at Rainbow Media (now AMC Networks) leveraging the range of county sizes, as well as capturing the most diverse and concentrated populations in America.

NYI is, at once, both hyper-local and vastly national. “We are able to find a range of audiences for auto intenders, quick-service restaurants to content preferences and beyond. We then link it on the backend to ROI,” she explained. “We are selling within the NY DMA, as well as partnering with [Ampersand] to layer in our NY campaigns with their national campaigns.”

But NYI also targets by zone. “If our advertiser only has stores on Long Island, we can cover that, too.”

Merging Disparate Datasets
NYI, with all of its available datasets, has the ability to combine data from many different sources.  “With set-top-box data, we have access to Altice,” Rella said, “which is highly granular.” 

NYI receives data from other MVPDs via safe-haven matching partners such as LiveRamp and Experian, “so we can do the attribution across Altice, Comcast, and Charter for exposed ads,” she added. “And, we have multiple partners in terms of third-party data such as IRI and Polk and work with companies for brand studies that match exposure ads to campaigns.”

Rella noted that NYI is bringing Comcast and Charter aboard for addressable for linear. This creates the need to artfully and accurately, “pull the data sources together in one place,” she said. “How does it come in, what does the format look like, how do we store it, and how does that funnel into one report?” This functionality is currently in development and will also include attribution, all in a privacy-compliant manner.

Going Forward
The biggest challenge, according to Rella, is pulling all of the disparate datasets into one platform. “There are organizations and platforms out there that have that ability to tie everything together from start to finish,” [GC1] she explained, “but we have to get all of our partners onboard for that co-mingling of the data.” In some cases, the systems are there; in others, NYI still has to address specific needs with its adtech partners.

“It’s putting together platforms, exposures and impressions, and ad serving,” she explained. “The goal is to have the linear, digital, VOD, and OTT all in one place from start to finish.”

Through all of this, Rella has a wise take on both the opportunities and challenges of shepherding an ad-driven, data-centric business in today’s media marketplace. “We are building the plane as we fly it,” she observed. And, right now, maybe that is the best way to manage ad flights.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
 

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