It seems remarkable, but in 1975, 57% of American homes had just a single TV. Families gathered around to watch prime-time shows like The Bionic Woman, Happy Days, or The Jeffersons—everyone watched the same show, at the same time, and all eyes were affixed to one screen. Today, the average home has 2.5 televisions and 66% of Americans own at least two digital devices – smartphone, desktop or laptop computer, or tablet – and 36% own all three. And, researchers found, that Gen X’ers and Millennials are using at least one other device, usually a smartphone or laptop, while they’re watching TV. As viewing patterns continue to fragment among multiple screens and the digital space continues to evolve, standard ratings data is no longer an ideal metric of campaign success. Here, we look at opportunities for TV advertisers to improve efficiencies and better understand consumers.
The Ratings Revolution
New TV technologies will be able to measure the number of starts, completions, and quartiles to generate average view rates for a single advertisement, brand, or industry, whether viewed live, time-shifted, VOD or OTT. We’re watching how this technology may change the game in how we measure success, brand lift, and attribution both within this space and the influence it may have across various media. With an understanding of both the promise and challenges of broadcast’s new reality, Women’s Marketing offers clients cutting-edge solutions that go beyond traditional rating points and provide a more responsive look at view rates, impressions, and unduplicated reach of an advertiser’s TV commercial.
Measuring Cross-Screen View Rates
View rate is one of the most important metrics within digital video. The ability to bring that to TV, in addition to impressions and unduplicated reach, will allow for holistic campaign measurement across all video formats and potentially reconfigure how brands manage their advertising budgets across various channels. eMarketer forecasts that 31% of U.S. ad budgets will be spent in digital and 37% in TV in 2015. By managing campaigns holistically, brands gain a better understanding of how people's interests and behaviors vary across screens and devices. As this form of measurement continues to grow and advance, brands will also be able to obtain instant feedback and potentially far deeper insights into TV ad performance.
Programmatic TV Ad Buying
While programmatic and addressable TV (software that allows the network provider to serve custom ads to that household) are still in their infancy, they’ll soon transform the way TV is bought, sold, and targeted. By 2018, it’s expected that 20% of TV will be bought programmatically, and advancements in TV measurement will help fuel the growth, providing insight into the how successful creative is at holding attention across various screens and devices. With targeted buying and optimization strategies across various channels, advertisers will be able to engage with their audience at multiple touch-points and establish a connection with consumers in relevant environments. It’ll be exciting to see how this technology advances and enhances the viewing experience for both consumers and brands.
Gone are the days of appointment TV. Today, consumers are watching what they want, when they want it, on the device of their choice. The methods of reaching and tracking them have also changed—isn’t it time your metrics and buying capabilities did too? Contact Women’s Marketing to learn how we can help your brand to successfully target consumers when and where they’re most receptive to your message.
Sources: Digiday, Think With Gogle, eMarketer, Wall Street Journal, iSpotTV, AdWeek, Pew Research
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