The Value of Audience Based Marketing. A Discussion with NYI’s Betsy Rella.

In the world of media measurement, there is arguably nothing more valuable to advertisers than delivering on their KPIs. For Betsy Rella, Vice President of Data and Research for New York Interconnect (NYI), measurements based on TV and Digital audience based targeting as well as tracking attribution are the core essences of demonstrating ROI.

Where is Audience Based Marketing Now?

In the recent past, audience based marketing has been viewed as a customized opportunity for advertisers. For Rella, however, audience based marketing, “is table stakes at this point. It depends on what your goal is for your campaign.   You don’t necessarily need to target a certain audience if you are at the beginning of your product cycle. But if you are further down the line and you are honing in on a specific group, then you are talking about audience based targeting. You can do that with linear, with addressable and with digital as well.”

At the current time, the state of audience based marketing depends on the platform. “With addressable we are able to deliver audience segments effectively. For digital, it depends on what you are collecting off of the tags if you can get down to that segment level. But right now we are at impressions and some of the other basic KPIs but not at segment level yet. We are working towards that and also automating that process in real time,” she explained.

Audience Based Marketing Campaigns in Action

NYI offers an expansive inventory selection from top distributors. “We rep inventory for Altice, Comcast, Charter, Direct, Dish, RCN, Blueridge and Verizon,” she noted. “For digital it is primarily Altice and other extension partners as well.”

Impressions appears to be the one benchmark metric that enables buyers and seller to link all platforms and data sources together to get a holistic view of campaign performance. But, “If we are looking in the attribution realm, we are looking at impressions and the closing reporting of sales lift,” she stated.

The proof of the value of audience based marketing is in the deliverables. NYI has conducted many campaigns across several sales categories with great success. A recent example was an Auto advertiser who used two targeting segments. “They had a significant sales lift and all segments did really well,” she revealed and added, “and that is not always the case. Sometimes one segment can do better than others. It depends. These did very well the last few quarters.”

Future Plans

There are a number of initiatives that NYI is working on for the future including real time functionality, increased frequency of reporting throughout the campaign and an enhanced dashboard. “We're moving more towards the automation of our reporting as quickly as we can,” she stated. “We hear from the clients that the campaign runs and then there is the attribution which can take a month and a half. They can’t wait. So we are trying to speed up that process. We are also trying to measure reach and frequency.” With dashboards, Rella is exploring those who can provide more granular results. Clients, “would see their overall campaign results with the with the specific API so we're trying to move more quickly with less manual work and more automation so that our people can focus more on the planning and partnership piece.”

As far as the future is concerned, “Two years from now I think everything that we're working on now will be at a completion point. We are moving more quickly, expanding inventory, making more of that shift from linear to digital and streaming, securing more inventory and increasing our reporting. It’s all about having all the processes in place so that two years from now, it will all be ready. That's the goal … along with securing those partnerships from an inventory perspective,” she concluded.

 

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 

The Best of Charlene Weisler in MediaVillage

I am thrilled to see a "Best Of" email blast of my top articles in MediaVillage from 2019.

Featured Commentaries from MediaVillage.com

Unlocking the Addressable Future By Charlene Weisler for Media Insights Addressable TV ad spend is on a tear, according to eMarketer, increasing from $760 million in 2016 to a projected $3.49 billion by 2021. The advantages that addressable offers both buyers and sellers… Read more

TV Measurement in a Digital World By Charlene Weisler for CBS InSites and Media Insights In a highly fragmented media world, where the consumer is at the cutting edge of media consumption, media measurement and attribution can be a moving target. How does the industry keep up? Several in… Read more

Next Big Data-Driven Ad Opportunity? Sports, Says Xandr and WarnerMedia By Charlene Weisler for Media Insights For some, according to consultant Mike Shields, when you think of sports advertising it generally consists of "big brands doing tentpole sponsorships. Sports doesn't scream data technology and progra… Read more

Just in Time for the Upfront, A+E Guarantees Audience-Based Advertising By Charlene Weisler for A+E Networks InSites and Media Insights The folks at A+E Networks understand the value of a well thought out process.  As they announce the launch of their audience-based advertising solutions for both digital and linear platforms, all of … Read more

Just in Time for the Upfront, A+E Guarantees Audience Based Advertising

The folks at A+E Networks understand the value of a careful process. Now, as they announce the launch of their Audience Based Advertising Solutions for both Digital and Linear platforms, all of the critical elements that have taken years to achieve, are now in place. “Seven years ago we started the digital iteration of precision,” noted Peter Olsen, Executive Vice President, Ad Sales and Content Partnerships, “three years ago we added the linear focus. And last year we launched the attribution-based performance system.”

Although the digital and linear marketplaces are very different, the complex integration of data, the streamlining of processes and the ability to customize and then guarantee results places this initiative in a new, higher class of offerings and just in time for the upfront.

Addressing Marketplace Frustrations

Why do all of this? Olsen explained that there are two big frustrations for advertisers. One is the price of entry into the digital and, even more, in linear marketplaces where it is perceived as cost prohibitive. “That is why we launched a new product called Precision One or P1 which is a single network optimization tool intended for clients that want to test in this space or people who aren’t currently big spenders in TV,” he stated.   In this way, smaller clients could participate in television where now, as in digital, they could get rich data and advanced targeting opportunities “as a way to welcome new people in.”

The other frustration, Olsen posited, is the general inability to do cross-platform or multi-platform strategic target optimization. “There is the lack of common currency as well as other measurement issues out there, but we are willing to take a leap and say ‘you give us your target and we will buy the audience wherever it may be.’ Essentially, we need to be able to optimize any target audience wherever they are watching.” 

“These are the new initiatives,” stated Jason DeMarco, Vice President, Programmatic and Audience Solutions, “but the underlying foundation remains, which is to find a solution that is beneficial to all parties involved. We are focused on optimizing the user experience with relevant targeted ads and keeping intact the premium experience of our content.”

Premium Programmatic

How does the team at A+E overcome the nagging but incorrect perception of programmatic as remnant inventory? “I have been fighting that fight for a good seven years,” admitted Olsen. “Programmatic started as a race to the bottom because basically it was a way to sell off distressed inventory.” But the reality is, he added, “No inventory, whether on TV or in digital should be considered distressed when you are applying data sources to it. Each and every impression will be relevant and valuable to someone.”

When it comes to the premium viewing experience, the relevant ads within that experience will have greater resonance as well as brand safety. In addition, there is a wider rotation of ads so viewers will not see the same ads over and over again. “We have identified the ability to increase the frequency of advertisers to have a more well-balanced delivery of ads and creative which helps the consumer on the user experience side,” Olsen noted. On the advertiser side, this method avoids saturation so that, “the premium is maintaining that TV-like environment across all platforms and screens.”

Technology Partnerships

A+E Networks has also partnered with several technology firms to replicate the TV experience on digital platforms. Ethan Heftman, Senior Vice President, Precision and Performance Advertising Sales, explained that, “The SVOD services are taking viewership and therefore impressions away from the ad-supported video market. Where do we turn? Do we go to unsafe, hard to measure spaces that get gets brands really nervous but help on the efficiency? Or do we find ways to explore places in the premium market?” To that end, A+E Networks is placing more of their premium content on Hulu, Roku and Pluto. In this way they can keep the ecosystem “healthy and also retain clients who understand that video works while also making it affordable.”

The ability to blend of all of the different datasets from both the household and individual level is another selling point to this initiative. “This is where we find the best in class partnerships,” noted DeMarco, like LiveRamp, DataPlusMath and iSpot for data, ad serving and tech stack partnerships such as FreeWheel as well as trade desks on the buy side like dataxu. There are a lot of test cases using ingested client data, matching it with viewership data and delivering against targeted audiences with results expected in the next several months. For the upfront, there is the promise that all of these datasets will enable cross-platform measurement and deliverability for advertisers.

“A+E offers the premium content and distribution to deliver audiences. We are partnering with the best in class technology and data to bring together all aspects of cross-platform viewership synchronized, collaborative way,” concluded Olsen, who backs up his beliefs by guaranteeing the buy results.

Next Steps

While the full holistic integration of digital and linear is possible, it is not simple. Heftman summed it up, “We think that the only way to compete and not overpromise and under-deliver, is to have a product that, from a cost perspective, reduces the barriers to entry for new advertisers and move from digital and into a linear television world with reduced complexity.”

The response from advertisers has been encouraging. “We were the first in market with outcome guarantees which created initial demand,” Heftman added. Now bring on the upfront! 

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Data-Driven, Audience-Based Buying and Beyond: ARF ConsumerxScience 2018

Every year, the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) holds its conference for media executives, ConsumerxScience.

This year, the conference focused on cutting-edge trends in advertising research, such as commercial length and audience segmentation, as well as the ethical boundaries of using data for audience-based buying.

With the Cambridge Analytica scandal fresh on everyone’s minds, ARF President and CEO Scott McDonald noted that while science has always been a top priority at the ARF, “a single-minded focus on matters of fact can still leave us blind to the ethical implications of our work.” Values, rather than data-driven facts, “arise from some shared understanding of what we regard as right, as ethical, as decent or fair.” The business of data-driven audience-based buying must find ways of balancing science with ethics.

Here are the main takeaways around audience-based buying for TV and upcoming trends across the industry spectrum.

TV Research Initiatives
“There is a greater interest in trying out new things and doing things differently for television,” noted Horst Stipp, executive vice president of global business strategy at ARF.

Read the full article at the Videa Blog.

Politics is the Biggest Challenge to Audience Based Buying. An Interview with GABBCON’s Gabe Greenberg.

Gabe Greenberg, CEO and co-founder of GABBCON (Global Audience Based Buying Conference and Consultancy), has an extensive media background working on both the client side (ADT Dealer and Microsoft) and the sales/marketing sides of the advertising marketplace (The Trade Desk, Delivery Agent, Autobytel, Bigfoot Interactive, Vibrant Media). 

But a standard corporate job was not in the cards for Greenberg. “I have had an entrepreneurial spirit since I was quite young, I get it from my father/family,” he confessed. “I have always wanted to help shape the market and be part of something bigger which led to Tina and I starting GABBCON. We saw a gap in the market that we seized and we have not looked back,” he added.  

Charlene Weisler: What are the challenges to audience based buying and selling? And how to overcome?

Gabe Greenberg: The biggest challenges today are political. Technology is no longer an issue. The politics within different sales organizations and the potential for some of them to try to setup additional walled gardens due to unwarranted fears about the threat to price is our biggest obstacle today. Our warning to these companies is to be careful for what you wish for. Don’t make the same mistakes digital did. We have an opportunity to really change the market with new channels like TV, Audio and DOOH – we need to be sure we do the right thing. I think we will (especially with Open AP and other endeavors that have popped up on the periphery.

Standardization is also quite important and GABBCON along with other groups are trying to lead the charge here.  

Weisler: Where do you see audience based buying and selling headed in the next three years? How much of the market will it command? 

Greenberg: As ATSC and BlockChain take hold, video and TV will be a more dominant force in audience buying. NBC betting $1Bn this year on audience is just a tip of the iceberg. I expect that as much as 25% of the TV/Video market will be planned, bought and optimized on audience using some level of sophisticated buying in the next three years. That is quite a significant number (it is larger than the entire programmatic pie today). New channels like audio and DOOH are also taking off and will accelerate the growth of audience based buying (truly cross device)

Weisler: Is Linear TV dead? 

Greenberg: HA No – nor will it be for some time (if ever). TV is the strongest it has ever been and with ATSC 3.0 I expect that TV will begin to take dollars back away from digital.

Weisler: How will the IoT impact audience based buying and selling if at all? 

Greenberg: I do not expect that it will have a negative impact – it will create new device ID’s and targeting opportunities that can be quite exciting.

Weisler: Tell me about the Abbi awards. When did it first launch? Why was it created? What do you hope to achieve from it? Who participated? 

Greenberg: The ABBI awards (Audience Based Buying Innovation Awards) launched last year for the first time – the second annual ABBI’s are open for entries now. We created them because we did not see enough celebration of innovation in the market, in spite of all the word count about the topic and therefore we set the ABBI’s in motion to celebrate all the great innovation in media and marketing as well as media and marketing leadership that is happening. 

The awards range from tech platform innovation (DSP, DMP, SSP of the year) to agency and media/marketing leadership innovation to campaign and creative innovation. We have some of the categories other awards might (Cross Device Campaign of the year, Best use of data, etc.) but we are all about celebrating innovation and audience based buying. For GABBCON it’s all about audience in everything we do. The award itself is even quite innovative in it’s design. Last year’s winners marveled in it’s size and innovative design.

Weisler: What is your recap of this year’s upfront? Who are the winners and the losers?

Greenberg: This year’s upfront has been a mixed year – but for the most part I think the winners are the content owners and producers.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com