Big news: Turner ad inventory is now being targeted with AT&T subscriber data (mobile and pay-TV) for more targeted advertising and improved post-campaign measurement. This was discussed as a major benefit of AT&T’s purchase of Warner Media last year.

Quote from Donna Speciale — President of Ad Sales @ Turner:
“I have been a little disappointed in the adoption in the audience area, and this, to me, is going to really help create and speed up the adoption because I think clients are now going to see a lot more results of what audience buying can do for their business, especially using the AT&T data, and really start driving business outcomes for them,”

Share of Turner ad inventory that is audience targeted:
1) Currently — 5%
2) Goal — 20–30%

AT&T has 170M customers in aggregate between mobile and pay-tv.

The pay-tv footprint is ≈ 40M individual set-top-boxes across 25M households.

The big question: Can AT&T get other companies that they compete with to combine inventory and audience data into a single system?

The challenge: Networks like NBCUniversal, Turner and Viacom have already rolled out their own platforms.

Current audience targeting platforms:
1) NBCUniversal (Open A.P.) → Fox, Viacom, Turner and NBCUniversal
2) Turner (AudienceNow) → Turner
3) Viacom (Vantage) → Fox and Viacom

Quote from David Campanelli– Co-Chief Investment Officer @ Horizon Media:
“You need everyone… Even if it’s three quarters of the marketplace and you still have a quarter of the marketplace that’s not connected, it’s still hard for the agencies. At the end of the day, they’re competitors, and I can’t envision a report from Open A.P. saying, ‘Viacom worked, Turner didn’t,’ and Turner being OK with that.”

More #1: Here’s how AT&T’s Xandr and Turner plan to work together in 2019

More #2: 5 things we learned about AT&T’s media and advertising business in 2018

More #3: Xandr’s Amy Leifer on Operating in an Advanced TV Ecosystem