TVSquared’s Guide to TV Analytics

Maturity

TVSquared’s Guide to TV Analytics Maturity

Traditionally, advertisers used TV for one reason: reach. But despite its unrivaled ability to reach the masses, TV didn’t offer accurate, fast ways of measuring and optimizing performance, or knowing who, among the throngs of viewers, actually responded and converted due to ads. While marketers knew TV worked, they didn’t know why, how or just how much. Even more importantly, they didn’t have the insights needed to make it work even better.

Fast forward to the 2010s and the rise of digital. Advertisers, accustomed to the real-time nature of digital, demanded the same type of dynamic opportunities from traditional marketing channels too. Not only that, but the majority of TV viewers now watched with second-screen devices nearby. This, in turn, evolved TV’s role from being just a driver of reach, to being a driver of reach and performance.

Enter TVSquared and TV performance analytics.

TVSquared's TV Analytics Maturity Model

TVSquared

TV analytics is much more than just attribution. While the path will be different for every advertiser, the following model highlights the typical steps

to TV analytics maturity.

4

Managed

Prediction

Audience Segmentation

Household/ Deterministic Data

Sync with Digital

Total Impact of TV

1Initial

Hindsight

Post-Campaign

Ratings-Based

Delayed Time to Insight

Legacy Systems

2

Developed

Insight

Real-Time Insights

Real-Time Spot/ Response Data

Know Top-Performing Elements

Insights Applied to Future Campaigns

3

Defined

Applied Insight

In-Flight Optimization

Creative Testing

Identify Best Buys for Performance

ROI

5

Optimized

Foresight

Artificial Intelligence

Machine-Led Planning

Automated Buying

TV Beyond Linear

Initial

Opportunistic

Opportunistic/ Analytically Ready

Analytically Ready/ TV Leader

TV Leader

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In 2012, TVSquared developed the data-driven technology needed for advertisers to measure and optimize TV campaigns in real time – making TV a performance-marketing channel. Advertisers now had the insights to optimize TV-driven response, maximize spend and improve campaign effectiveness.

Today, TV performance analytics has evolved into much more than just attribution. Brands and agencies are not only measuring TV campaigns, but also continuously optimizing them for performance (for linear and advanced TV), harnessing big data to improve planning/buying and making TV and digital initiatives work together.

If you took TVSquared’s Maturity Model questionnaire, you know that the path to maturity is complex and individual to each advertiser. Every brand has its unique position within the quadrant and a different path toward TV analytics maturity. With that in mind, the following ebook provides more context around quadrant positions and explains the typical steps to maturity.

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Rely almost exclusively on ratings data and/or reach and frequency metrics (CPMs, GRPs, etc.) to gauge TV campaign performance.

Level 1: INITIAL

If you found yourself at Level 1, don’t despair – there’s nowhere else to go but up!

You’re primarily looking at campaign performance in hindsight, which was how brands and agencies gauged TV campaign effectiveness for decades.

Companies that fall within this level typically buy and design TV based on ratings. But ratings are a flawed currency that don’t tell the crucial details about a spot’s performance – whether it was seen, recalled, drove response or influenced purchasing decisions. It can also take up to six weeks to even receive them.

Among other Level 1 advertisers, we typically see brands in this category:

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Perform retroactive analysis on campaigns in the months after they air.

Use different models, tools and datasets with no unifying standards (in the cases when technology is used).

While ratings, reach and frequency metrics can be useful when it comes to brand awareness, they don’t tell you what elements of a TV buy actually worked (days, times, programs, creatives, networks, etc.). Additionally, with after-the-fact analysis, Level 1 advertisers do not use TV as a performance-marketing channel.

Think differently about TV: It sounds simple enough, but some advertisers still consider TV only for reach and frequency. But TV has evolved into a major driver of digital response. It’s time to think differently about how TV can impact your bottom line.

Start with a TV performance retrospective: Leverage historical performance data to uncover what worked and what didn’t for previous campaigns. This will arm you with the valuable insights needed to optimize your next TV initiative.

Be ready to measure and optimize: Get the right analytical tools in place to provide real-time views into how TV buys are performing, and get the insights to dynamically manage your campaigns.

TIPS TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL

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If your brand landed in Level 2, you’ve taken the first steps toward TV analytics maturity. You’re also likely positioned in the “Opportunistic” quadrant, as you’ve moved beyond traditional TV measurement processes.

Not only are you bringing a level of timeliness to TV measure-ment, but you’re also applying those insights to improve future campaigns. To compare yourself to peers, brands that fall within Level 2 typically:

Generate and leverage real-time TV performance insights: By analyzing real-time spot and response data, ad-vertisers tie TV ads to immediate actions (online sales, subscriptions, site visits, etc.) or middle-of-the-funnel activities that lead to sales either right away or weeks down the line.

Level 2: DEVELOPED

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Know the top-performing elements of TV buys: While Level 1 advertisers know TV works, Level 2 advertisers know the exact elements of TV buys that perform best. They can identify the days, times, programs, networks, genres and creatives that drive the strongest response for their brand.

Apply learnings to future campaigns: Advertisers apply the insights they uncover to improve the performance of future campaigns. They refine buys to include the elements that work best (and eliminate the ones that don’t) to ensure stronger performance the next time around.

Supercharge your measure-ment: You’re a pro at tying TV to immediate response, but for many brands (especially those with higher-consideration products), the end result doesn’t happen right away. Action- or intent-based metrics that measure middle-of-the-funnel activities are excellent indicators of TV performance.

Consider creative testing: It’s time to ditch the “fire-and-forget” mentality when it comes to TV creatives, because they are dynamic optimization opportunities. With the same technology you use for measuring TV media, you can also measure TV messaging to ensure optimal performance.

TIPS TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Leverage predictive analytics for buying: Employing predictive technology within your attribution platform can significantly improve the effectiveness of TV buys. Through historical data analysis, you can identify the buys that will drive maximum response - essentially taking the “guesswork” out of buying.

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If your brand falls into Level 3, congratulations, you’re higher on the TV analytics maturity model than most advertisers! You’ve also likely found yourself positioned in the “Opportunistic” or “Analytically Ready” quadrants, as you frequently leverage TV performance analytics for optimization.

You are dynamically managing and optimizing TV and tying campaign performance directly to bottom-line business outcomes. To compare yourself to other Level 3 advertisers, we typically see brands in this category:

Measure and optimize TV like digital: Level 3 advertisers dynamically manage TV in ways that are very similar to digital channels. Not only do they apply insights to future campaigns, but they take it a step further by making in-flight changes to on-air campaigns when buys allow.

Level 3: DEFINED

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Regularly test creatives: Advertisers treat their creatives as dynamic optimization opportunities. They adopt continuous testing for TV spots, no longer totally relying on “gut feelings” or feedback from focus groups or online panels. They make regular rotations and test small, subtle changes to spots, even in post-production (colors, music, voiceovers, inserts, scripts, etc.), to ensure optimal performance and identify creative wear or decay.

Leverage predictive analytics for TV buying: Level 3 brands take the “guesswork” out of TV buying by employing predictive analytics. Based on their own historical data, they generate buy recommendations that will result in the best response. By understanding the anticipated impact of a buy, they better ensure the efficiency of TV budgets.

Tie TV to business outcomes: With real-time insights, it’s easy to tie TV to response, but Level 3 advertisers also quantify the ROI of campaigns. Using brand-specific, performance-based KPIs, these advertisers tie TV spend directly to business results on a campaign-by- campaign basis.

Understand TV’s total impact: The longer-term impact of a TV campaign can be up to five times higher than the initial effect. While measuring and optimizing TV’s short-term impact is crucial, understanding the effects of a cam-paign in the weeks and months after it airs is also important.

TIPS TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Use TV for targeting (beyond age and gender): The last two years have seen significant advancements in audience analytics for TV. It’s time to leverage the rich behavioral and demographic data available to identify the audience segments responding to your TV ads, and then use that information to optimize spend for those specific targets.

Make TV and digital work together: Marketing initiatives should never be siloed. Online and offline channels are deeply inter-twined, impacting and interacting with each other throughout the customer journey. There’s no better example of this than with TV and search. By syncing spots with paid search, advertisers take advantage of the high-interest moments after ads air to capture TV-driven traffic in the digital funnel.

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As a Level 4 advertiser, you use TV for more refined target-ing, make it work with digital and understand its total impact. You’re also likely in either the “Analytically Ready” or “TV Leader” quadrants.

You are using TV in pioneering ways and understand how it can be leveraged to reach audience segments and influence and com-plement digital initiatives. To compare yourself to peers, brands that fall within Level 4 typically:

Use analytics to target audience segments: Advertisers go beyond the “what, when and how” of TV attribution, leveraging behavioral and demographic data to understand the “who” behind TV performance. With audience analytics that go well beyond age and gender (expanding into income, education, occupation, marital status, life stage, etc.), Level 4 brands identify the segments that respond and convert from TV, and then optimize spend for those targets.

Level 4: MANAGED

Incorporate deterministic data: The most sophisticated evaluation approaches use both probabilistic and deter-ministic attribution to understand how TV impacts 100% of an advertiser’s business. Brands are incorporating more respondent-level and impression-based data for a deeper layer of information about target audiences and response patterns.

Sync TV initiatives with digital: Advertisers understand that siloed approaches to marketing are inefficient. Online and offline channels are deeply intertwined, and brands need to take advantage of those synergies throughout the customer journey. While Level 4 advertisers use a plethora of complementary media tactics, the most common is syncing TV spots with paid search initiatives – securing the top search ranking in the minutes after an ad airs. This not only maximizes the impact of a spot, but it also ensures that all possible TV-driven traffic is captured in the digital funnel.

Quantify TV’s total impact: Brands know that only understanding the initial impact of TV leaves a significant piece of the pie unmeasured. A campaign’s longer-term impact (the weeks and months after it airs) can be up to five times higher than the initial effect. Level 4 advertisers have a view of TV’s total value, helping them to measure the impact of media-strategy changes, identify creative fatigue, justify future investments and analyze per-formance across markets and marketing channels.

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Create more efficient work-flows: There have been significant advancements in the automation of TV planning and buying. Whether it’s through the use of machine-learning technologies or integrations with solution providers, Level 4 advertisers should start thinking about ways to automate workflows that are time-intensive and prone to human error.

Think of TV beyond linear: Start thinking about TV beyond just linear. TV is increasingly being de-fined as any form of video played on a TV screen – including advanced TV components like programmatic, OTT and VOD. This shift will eventually reshape your media strategy.

TIPS TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Experiment with AI: Yes; there is a lot of buzz around the use of more sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) applications in marketing and, frankly, a lot of it is years away from reality. What you can do is look into machine-learning engines as a first step into the world of AI. These engines are showing promise by providing recommendations for the best possible marketing outcomes.

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Congratulations! You’re the cream of the crop when it comes to TV analytics – trailblazing the ways TV can be used as a marketing channel. You’ve been deemed a “TV Leader,” according to the maturity quadrant, and continue to test and evolve along with the industry.

Level 5 is all about automation, leveraging AI and looking at TV beyond linear. Since this stage is so forward-thinking, several aspects might not be perfected yet, but that doesn’t discount a brand from maturity. To compare yourself to other Level 5 advertisers, we typically see brands in this category:

Lead the way with AI: The use of machine-learning recommendations engines is common among Level 5 advertisers. While the ultimate decisions and subsequent actions are usually still made by people, the systems make recommendations for the best possible marketing outcomes. Some advertisers are expanding their use of AI, allotting more of the decision-making to the technology – ingesting bigger datasets to analyze every possible marketing scenario or experimenting with real-time marketing mix modeling to find the ideal media mix.

Machine-led TV planning: Dynamic, “living” media plans are par for the course in digital, and Level 5 advertisers are

Level 5: OPTIMIZED

making them customary for TV too. Traditional, robust media plans are resource-intensive and take weeks to prepare, but advertisers are automating the process, leveraging technology to create multiple plan options in minutes. Not only that, but they are going a step further by scoring the plans against each other to determine which one will perform best in the real world. Some brands even leverage machine learning to keep track of how the plan is performing and to make in-flight recommendations on where to reallocate spend for stronger response.

Automate buying: While this space is in its infancy, Level 5 advertisers are on the cutting edge of machine- driven buying. It’s important to note that programmatic in the TV realm is very different than digital – it’s not as immediate, inventory is limited and coverage is not universal. For advertisers, Upfronts may still take up the bulk of their TV spend, but they are also actively leveraging audience- and/or household-level data to make more targeted TV buys quickly to expand reach or increase frequency to specific audience segments. Whether they are partnering with emerging network programs or third-party vendors, these advertisers are looking for ways to make faster, more dynamic media decisions, remove costs and align inventory to target audiences.

Think of TV beyond linear: Level 5 advertisers look at TV as more than just linear, but as any form of video, regardless of platform. They are working toward measuring their impact together and apart to better understand the contribution of each platform. While there is not a one-size-fits-all means of doing this, the space is evolving quickly and the most mature advertisers are experimenting with ways to make cross-platform measurement a reality.

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TVSquared is the worldwide leader in TV attribution. More than 700 brands, agencies and networks in 70+ countries use TVSquared to optimize TV-driven response,

maximize spend and improve campaign effectiveness by up to 80%.

To learn more about your position on the TV Analytics Maturity Model, and to discuss how to get your brand to the next level, contact TVSquared.