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State of the Screens

No flipping: How smart TVs are getting quite smart about you

By September 11, 2018No Comments

Tipping point: Connected-TVs will make up 70% of total TV sets sold this year.

Advanced TV ad spending (% of total):
1) 2015 — $720M (1%)
2) 2016 — $1.5B (2%)
3) 2017 — $3.4B (5%)
4) 2018 — $6.7B (9%)

Key passage from a recent article via John R. Osborn:
“Specific audiences like dog owners in Tulsa or households with young children are now becoming addressable at the “glass” level. And because an ad impression viewed on digital platforms can be verified, buyers are buying realized impressions rather than an “opportunity for exposure.”

This measurability renders Wanamaker’s “half the money spent on advertising is wasted” obsolete. Through targeted ads, less of a buyer’s budget will be “wasted,” or spent on untargeted impressions. Higher costs per unit will be acceptable to advertisers since the value of inventory will be more clearly understood, and sellers will gain higher CPMs — a win-win outcome.”

Flashback #1: Data Drives TV Measurement’s Next Generation

Adoption for addressable TV:
1) Fully using — 15%
2)
Experimenting or not using — 85%

Adoption for advanced TV:
1)
Fully using — 17%
2)
Experimenting or not using — 83%

Huge opportunity: 83–85% of advertisers have not yet integrated either addressable TV or advanced TV into their ad plans.

Flashback #2: Analyst Doubles Down on Advanced TV Advertising

Quote from Omar Sheikh — Analyst @ Credit Suisse.
“Investors continue to regard U.S TV advertising as a structurally declining business, driven by erosion in viewing and competition from the growing reach of digital platforms,” Sheikh said. “In our view, if the TV industry can combine its reach with greater relevance by using technology to improve targeting, the medium will be well-placed to grow its share of the marketing mix over time. This will particularly be driven by below-the-line items, including direct mail and telephone marketing, which account for more than $100 billion of spend today.”

Flashback #3: Maserati looks to targeted TV ads to find rich car buyers

Big question: Did you buy a Maserati last year? If so, then you purchased one of the 7K that were sold domestically in 2017.

Quick math:
1) U.S. TV households — 119.6M
2) Maserati sales — 7K
3)
Households / Maseratis sold — 17K

Only 1 out of every 17K U.S. households bought a Maserati in 2017 and yet addressable advertising allows them to effectively advertise on television/digital.

This is why both addressable and advanced TV advertising holds so much promise.

More #1: A True Omnichannel Ecosystem With TV At The Center

More #2: Delivering Precision and Scale on TV Requires More Than Demo Targeting and Dayparts

More #3: AT&T and Verizon Are Making Very Different Bets on What 5G Will Mean for Consumers and Content

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.