Five ways technology makes
digital advertising accountable
Nick Reid
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble
is I don’t know which half.” John Wanamaker’s prophetic
quip was, until recently, basically as true now as it was then.
3. The distinction between TV and digital
video is blurring.
Thankfully, that’s no longer the case. Advertisers (especially
within the digital realm) have long been challenged to verify
how effective their ads are – and by and large, they ha ve
failed. Fortunately for everyone, technology finally caught up
– and the implications are impressive.
Almost half of all smartphone and tablet owners use their
devices while watching TV, and nearly a quarter of them stream
video simultaneously. In addition, audience-measuring tools
like Nielsen’s OCR allows advertisers to use traditional TV
metrics like GRPs to measure online reach. As TVs continue
to get smarter and digital media adapters (Roku, Apple TV,
Google Chromecast, Xbox 360, etc.) proliferate, brands will
continue to shift their advertising budgets to wherever viewers
are watching.
Online video advertising, in particular, has seen the lion’s
share of benefits from these advancements. Developments in
fiber optics and HD production allow for nearly instantaneous
streaming of high-quality video content. Platforms like
YouTube facilitate more content creation. The shift towards
multiple devices means that there are more ways to for
viewers to consume that content. Software unifies all this with
analytics to create a one-stop, enterprise-grade solution.
Here are five specific industry trends entirely
enabled by technological developments:
1. Advertisers can know with certainty
their ads were watched.
Video viewability reporting eliminates the mystery over
whether an ad was actually seen. The two main reasons ads
are not seen are either due to consumer decision (they skip
the ad, open another tab, or mute the video) or fraudulent
practices (the video autoplays in an iframe) – in either case,
advertisers can isolate where their ads are not getting viewed
and do something about it.
4. Targeting is more precise than ever.
Digital advertisers can use first-and-third party data to buy
specific audiences at scale and make an apples-to-apples
comparison to a TV campaign, knowing with certainty that
they reached their target demographic. Geo-location services
work concurrently with brands to serve micro-targeted ads
with special offers; advertisers can retarget viewers based
on specific social media keywords and hashtags to provide
immediate contextual relevance.
5. There is reporting on virtually
everything – and it’s actionable.
2. Premium is going programmatic.
Advanced analytics allow for real-time optimisations to
improve a specific key performance indicator. Surveys provide
learnings beyond the standard clickthrough/completion
rate by measuring brand lift, message recall, and purchase
intent, while ROI studies facilitated by research companies
can actually tie online ad spend to offline sales.
As the projected growth and cost-saving benefits of automation
become impossible to ignore, premium publishers are
modifying their traditional direct-deal orientation to stay
competitive. The advent of private marketplaces allows them
to feel comfortable about the brands they work with and can
potentially lead to increased revenue.
We now have the ability to control specifically who we reach,
decide when we reach them, intelligently choose the specific
medium to deliver the message, assess viewer engagement,
and measure how all of it translates to the bottom line. Had
he been alive today, Wanamaker might not have wasted any
less – but at least he would know where his money went.