In late September, the analytics and advertising division of AT&T that operates the Community digital advertising online platform released its annual “Relevance Report” findings.”
This year’s report focuses on the state of convergence and advanced TV, and there’s certainly something to glean for over-the-air broadcast television station operators from the findings.
AT&T ad tech company Xandr examined the data and automation that are bringing video into the future of advertising. Xandr spoke with 357 advertising decision-makers across five global regions — the U.S., the U.K., Australia, France and Germany — to get a holistic picture of the state of convergence.
The full report, available here, found that much of the world is experiencing a “golden age” of premium video content for viewers, it is also the height of complexity for advertisers.
Among the key findings from Xandr:
- Data-driven linear (DDL) is gaining momentum in the U.S. with 3 in 4 advertisers believing it gives marketers the very best of TV and digital advertising and over half planning to increase DDL spending in the next year.
- OTT and CTV remain a top strategic priority among advertisers with 4 out of 5 regions surveyed ranking it as a top priority among video types.
- There is work to be done to move people and technology to a converged future as a third of advertisers surveyed lack familiarity with the programmatic OTT buying process.
The first point is perhaps the most intriguing one. How is that helping broadcast television?
“In short, Data Driven Linear is a more precise approach to buying linear TV, without compromising scale,” a Xandr spokesperson tells Weekly Tech Roundup.
Literature shared by Xandr elaborates that “data-driven linear leverages advanced data and automation to further define and target audiences across national linear TV.”
Why? Traditional TV advertising, in its view, is broad. “From a marketing perspective, women 25-54 can be very different,” Xandr shares.
With Data Driven Linear opportunities, a marketer can gain access to targeted audiences, “optimized plans across high-indexing networks and dayparts on the largest national TV networks to deliver on KPIs,” drive efficiencies with streamlined RFPs and negotiation, and “advanced measurement.”
