THE STRAIGHTFORWARD GUIDE TO

TARGETING TODAY’S TV VIEWER

To start off, let’s get clear on something: People still

watch TV. A lot of TV. It remains the contemporary hearth where families gather to be entertained and informed. And despite the digital revolution, that’s not going to change.

Want some figures to back that up? Ninety-six percent of Americans live in a household with a TV. The total U.S. viewing audience tops 300 million. And the average American watches for more than four and a half hours every day.

What has changed is how people are viewing. Cord cutting and cord shaving have taken a toll on the pay TV market. At the same time, over-the-top (OTT) services delivered through connected TV devices have soared. Back in 2010, pay TV penetration was at 88 percent, per Leichtman Research Group; by 2017 it fell to 79 percent. Meanwhile,

. . .AND EVERYWHERE ELSE PEOPLE ARE WATCHING T V

BRINGING DIGITAL TARGETING INTO THE LIVING ROOM

according to eMarketer estimates, there were 193 million OTT video service users in 2017, 76 percent of whom used a subscription OTT service.

Live OTT subscriptions continue to rise as well, and are estimated to be around 4.7 million today, per a recent TechCrunch analysis.

Add to this the fact that TV viewing no longer actually requires a TV. People are watching on laptops, tablets and smartphones, or via game consoles or connected devices.

All this is great news for advertisers who understand that TV still has unrivaled engagement and a massive audience. What it has lacked—the pinpoint data-driven targeting and robust measurement of digital media—is now available via addressable TV.

Unlike traditional TV buys based on demographics, addressable TV

BUY AUDIENCES, NOT PROGRAMSAge and gender demographics and gross ratings points may soon become a thing of the past as data-driven TV campaigns become focused on audiences instead of shows. With targets more clearly defined, advertisers will be wasting less of their spend. And the people tuning in and viewing their messages will be more valuable.

So how are these audiences assembled?

It comes down to a mix of precision viewer and third-party data, which is used to zero in on the households that meet the advertisers' target attributes. These third-party data sets—from reputable providers such as Experian, LiveRamp, Nielsen Catalina, Polk and many others—help advertisers accomplish their targeting and measurement objectives.

Privacy is, of course, respected. The entire process is anonymized and released in a controlled fashion.

leverages audience-level data to deliver ads to targeted households via set-top boxes (STBs). So instead of depending on things like gross ratings points to buy an audience, advertisers use set-top box data and third-party resources to identify consumers who are most likely to be interested in their products and then deliver those ads only to those specific households.

Addressability gets additional power when it is combined with targeting via OTT services such as DISH’s Sling TV. So ad buyers can now run cross-platform campaigns to reach cord cutters, cord shavers and cord nevers—or really any OTT watcher—in addition to traditional TV viewers using a set-top box. And while the majority of ads streamed on OTT are delivered to the big screen in the living room, they can also get to the person watching on any device, in a premium environment regardless of program or network. The bottom line: It’s reaching today’s TV viewer.

And here’s the thing about ads

delivered via OTT. They deliver the benefits of digital without many of the issues that have lately plagued digital buys. For instance, 100 percent of pixels are in view, ad completion rates approach perfection (an average of 97 percent), and they’re served in a fraud-free environment (no ad blockers) with content from premium networks and programs.

It’s no secret that ad dollars have shifted to digital because of its superior targeting. But bringing digital targeting to TV has sent the pendulum swinging back to television by making TV ads work harder.

Think of it this way: TV has worked for decades because of its expansive reach and the rich engagement that viewers have with the content. That is why it is often considered an awareness machine. And now, campaigns can be targeted and measured, just like digital buys. Advertisers get to tap into TV’s fan excitement even as viewership and audiences become more fragmented.

Multichannel? Cross-platform? It’s still TV. And people are still watching.

MEASURING THE IMPACT OF CROSS-PLATFORM CAMPAIGNSIt’s now possible to understand the impact of a campaign as it goes across linear and OTT platforms. Earlier this year, comScore partnered with Sling TV as the first to offer services that measure these kinds of addressable TV impressions across STBs and OTT.

Sling TV brings comScore-verified STB impressions and OTT impressions together. This gives DISH and Sling TV advertisers a fluid view of their addressable campaign’s performance across the OTT service’s connected TV, mobile and desktop impressions, as well as linear TV impressions on DISH.

This points to the ongoing importance of managing TV audience-based campaigns irrespective of platform. With addressable technology now operating across linear and OTT platforms, advertisers can now be assured that they will be able to get trusted measurement to validate cross-platform campaigns as well.

People have been talking about a future where video consumption forms the link between television, PCs, mobile devices and the wired home. That future is now, and the living room has become the household’s digital command center.

THE DIGITAL LIVING ROOM

Advertisers can leverage set-top box data to target ads at specific households using addressable TV.

Mobile remains a strong second screen, driving social conversations around what’s being watched and serving as a platform for quick-hit video. This micro-moment viewing is also a window into context and intent.

The TV is still at the center of family viewing, whether that’s taking place directly or through a TV-connected device. Nielsen puts that figure at around 92 percent.

The rise of devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home is adding voice control to living room viewing … and providing data insights as well.

Cord shaving and cord cutting are driving streaming growth, especially for so-called live OTT viewing, and digital viewers can be targeted addressably.

Streaming services made the computer a viable viewing device, but OTT devices have migrated a good deal of those viewers back to the big screen.

A major auto brand needed to increase sales of its luxury sedan while driving households to its website and dealership. One campaign. Three success metrics. To power the addressable program, data from Experian, Polk and Placed identified households that met the target audience criteria: adults 25-64 with a household income of $100K+ who were in-market luxury sedan intenders.

Per Polk’s Car Sales measurement, the auto brand achieved about $3 million in incremental revenue and a 26 percent sales lift. Experian’s Pixel Measurement identified a 14.5 percent lift for website visitation. And Placed attribution reporting found a 59 percent lift in foot traffic.

This campaign not only drove positive results, but was also the first time this automaker was able to extract this level of data measurement from a TV campaign.

CASE STUDY

AUTO

THE CAMPAIGN

RESULTS TAKEAWAY

DRIVING AUTO SALES

CASE STUDY

RETAIL

Following a successful addressable campaign, a popular retailer returned to run a cross-platform addressable program that could reach its shoppers both via traditional viewership as well as over any 10-foot devices. The key: It needed to target its existing customers as a way to increase overall sales.

THE CAMPAIGN

COMING BACK FOR MORE

Using data from Experian, the program was able to identify and target first-party customers as well as online purchasers and measure specific results. During the attribution window, the retailer was able to attribute a 19 percent sales lift for the targeted audience vs. control. And the advertiser is coming back for another cross-platform campaign.

This was measurement across STB and OTT. In addition, first-party data can be used to successfully target existing customers to drive repeat business with measurable results.

RESULTS

TAKEAWAY

Everybody likes something sweet. And a leading CPG brand determined that it could get consumers to try and buy its treats with some clever targeting: It used Nielsen Catalina shopping data to identify and target households that had bought its competitors’ products.

CASE STUDY

THE CAMPAIGN

SWEET SUCCESS

Knowing who has been in the market for a certain kind of sweet treat had an immediate impact. The brand saw measurable incremental sales during the campaign and determined that the addressable campaign influenced an 11 percent lift vs. the control.

Competitor conquests via third-party data can be a powerful tool for a cross-platform addressable campaign.

RESULTS TAKEAWAY

CPG

DISH Media Sales is a pioneer in addressable and OTT advertising. Advertisers can reach

consumers on DISH and its OTT service Sling TV via a variety of data-driven platforms.

DISH Media Sales can execute addressable campaigns that connect brands with consumers on DISH and Sling TV. This allows them to reach the right consumer with the right message no matter when, where or how they

watch TV.

ADDRESSABLE TV

SLING TVThe live OTT streaming service gives access to

premium live and on-demand programming across top networks with advanced targeting, viewer

measurement and reporting capabilities to enrich campaign results.

Learn more at dishmediasales.com

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