Targeting Tools Help Personalize TV Advertising

schwit1 writes: Surgical marketing messages are taken for granted on the Internet. Yet, they are just now finding their way onto television, where the audience is big though harder to target. As brands shift more of their spending to the Web where ads are more precise, the TV industry is pushing back. Using data from cable set-top boxes that track TV viewing, credit cards and other sources, media companies including Comcast's NBCUniversal, Time Warner's Turner, and Viacom are trying to compete with Web giants like Google and Facebook and help marketers target their messages to the right audience. Where can I get adblock for my FiOS?

Comments

AdBlock

[Macdude]

Where can I get adblock for my FiOS?

BitTorrent.

Re:AdBlock

[smittyoneeach]

Channel 0(ff)

Re:AdBlock

[MightyMartian]

But that makes you a vile thief who should be tortured and executed. It is markets' God-given right to force us to consume maximum levels of advertising, and if you try to evade it, it makes a traitor to capitalism, and Baby Jesus wants to shove sharp metal objects up your ass.

Re:AdBlock

[kheldan]

I like you, you're funny. :-)

Also, I'll have you know that I go to sleep at night with a big smile on my face knowing that somewhere in the world, there are television advertisers gnashing their teeth in their sleep because they know that someone like me with a TiVo DVR with 30-second skip turned on is just going blip-blip-blip past all their skeezy little commercials, and right back to the program I want to watch. Also I have an antenna on the roof for OTA broadcast reception, so I pay nothing, nada, zip, zippo, zero to watch TV to start with. XD XD XD
After all, it's my God-given right as a citizen of the United States of America, with it's rich history of civil disobedience to wave my middle finger in the air at these corporate bastards and their shitty commercials; Don't Tread On Me, motherfuckers!!! XD XD XD

{/humor}

Re:AdBlock

[TWX]

Yep.

For those that don't feel that they can turn off the TV, just record everything and watch it on time-delay, skipping ahead when the commercials come on.

We've been nursing-along a CRT TV for some time now, in part because I have a widescreen HD tube. Unfortunately even the HD tube lacks an ATSC tuner, so we've used one of the coupon-boxes from several years ago to tune to receive. The ATSC tuner has finally died its final death after having had its capacitors replaced twice- we really haven't missed having TV. Still have a computer hooked up to the TV and can watch things that we choose to watch, but no more planning life around the TV schedule.

Re:AdBlock

[ShanghaiBill]

It is markets' God-given right to force us to consume maximum levels of advertising,

Nobody is being "forced". If you don't like it, turn off the TV. Also, this isn't about maximizing the amount of advertising, but about maximizing the effectiveness, by showing you ads for things they predict you will be interested in. If the predictions are accurate, then this is a GOOD THING, and I look forward to plenty of ads featuring scantily clad women demonstrating machine tools (Note to Comcast: I need a new lathe).

Re:AdBlock

[tlhIngan]

Also, I'll have you know that I go to sleep at night with a big smile on my face knowing that somewhere in the world, there are television advertisers gnashing their teeth in their sleep because they know that someone like me with a TiVo DVR with 30-second skip turned on is just going blip-blip-blip past all their skeezy little commercials, and right back to the program I want to watch. Also I have an antenna on the roof for OTA broadcast reception, so I pay nothing, nada, zip, zippo, zero to watch TV to start with. XD XD XD
After all, it's my God-given right as a citizen of the United States of America, with it's rich history of civil disobedience to wave my middle finger in the air at these corporate bastards and their shitty commercials; Don't Tread On Me, motherfuckers!!! XD XD XD

Actually, the networks really don't care if you skip ads. Why? Because that just lowers ratings on shows.

Sure they talk a big game about how downloading kills ads and all that - but that's really just noise.

You know Neilsen ratings? There are several of them - the ones the public gets (the "free" ones) are ones called LIve (Same Day), Live + 3 days (L+3), and Live + 7. Same Day are the ones watched within 24 hours of airing, and are the numbers usually reported. But in honest truth, everyone knows a lot of people don't watch it same day - hence live + 3 and Live + 7 numbers, which are the numbers reported to advertisers when setting ad rates. They're public and auditable. Now, most networks use L+3 numbers, but CBS realized that a lot of their shows are seen up to a week later, so they charge L+7 rates.

Now, here's the tricky bit - none of this matters to the network. Because they pay for what's called "Commercial" numbers. Which is the ratings for the show's commercials! There are commercial numbers for the same day, +3 and +7 days as well. These are highly secretive and kept close. The program is merely a conduit for eyeballs to see ads. If the audience doesn't seem to be watching ads, then no matter how high the ratings get for the program, the show is cut.

So really, the networks don't mind if you torrent the show, DVR and skip the ads, etc, because that just means they open up your program's timeslot for a different show whose audience doesn't do those things as much.

In other words - the networks really don't give a damn. If you wonder why there's fewer shows that appeal to the geeks of the world - well, any show that appeals to those who know how to "beat the man" already starts off with a handicap because an audience that knows how to skip ads or does skip ads? Well, that's not going to get good C ratings. Even if the SD/L+3/L+7 numbers are excellent, if the C numbers are terrible, the show is axed.

As for OTA - well, networks don't care. In fact, the networks, when they get into disputes with cable or satellite operators often suggest picking up an antenna.

Re:AdBlock

[kheldan]

Okay.. but how can they even tell what I'm watching or not watching? I don't participate in any polls.

Also, they're slitting their own throats, then, because even if I didn't have a DVR that could skip through commercials, if I had to watch shows live when they're broadcast, I'd still mute commercials and do something else during them anyway. Or I'd have a VCR still and I'd be fast-forwarding through them. Cancelling all the shows I like because I don't watch the commercials would just turn me off to TV completely and I'd stop bothering. Frankly if I couldn't have TiVo I think I would stop watching TV, it just wouldn't be convenient anymore. Likewise if they strongarmed TiVo to make it impossible to even fast-forward through commercials, I think I'd just unplug everything and go read more books instead of being bothered with commercials in my face.

Of course I don't necessarily believe what you're telling me about all this until I do my own research to verify it.

Finally, you seem to have not noticed the {/humor} tag at the bottom of my comment, or you just don't understand I was being funny (or don't have a sense of humor?): I don't actually think I'm 'getting over on' anybody here, or even really care what networks or anyone else thinks about my viewing habits; I was being intentionally absurd. I just don't like, care to be subjected to, or have time to waste watching commercials on broadcast television, which is why I have TiVo.

Re:AdBlock

[nospam007]

" Still have a computer hooked up to the TV and can watch things that we choose to watch, but no more planning life around the TV schedule."

Exactly my way of doing it as well. I selected the shows I wan to watch in http://showrss.info/ and utorrent downloads them automatically.

All without any ads.

Re:AdBlock

[bickerdyke]

Okay.. but how can they even tell what I'm watching or not watching? I don't participate in any polls.

That's the miracle of statistics. Using that as a crystal ball they never can be completely sure what you watch, but with enough people sharing your age/sex/education/background answering polls, they can be confident enough.

Re:AdBlock

[kheldan]

I've yet to sit down and research this whole 'commercial ads rating' stuff, but it still sounds like nonsense to me. You pay for ads during programs that people want to watch, not cancel shows because people watch the show and not the ads; that's what makes sense to me. If the other way is really how they're doing it then I wonder how they manage to stay out of bankruptcy.

Re:AdBlock

[bickerdyke]

That's pretty old school. You're paying to have your ads watched. period. measuring if the program is watched was the only way to estimate if your ads are watched until rates would be measured down to seconds resolution. Bur of these two numbers are not unrelated.

It becomes official...

[willworkforbeer]

When they finally start calling us "targets" instead of "customers."

"Thank you for calling "target services" how may I help you ... to see ever more creepy, hyper-personalized ads?

Re:It becomes official...

[TWX]

When they finally start calling us "targets" instead of "customers."

Isn't the more common parlance "marks?" You're the mark! Err, Customer!

The polite term is subscriber. Doesn't indicate as much about the direction of the transaction.

Re:It becomes official...

[FatdogHaiku]

The term is "consumer." But what baffles me is how does one "consume" a stream of bits?

One byte at a time?

here's the "money" quote:

[turkeydance]

“Because of digital’s ability to state just how much of a video someone is actually watching, it is more accountable” than TV.

If the really want to add value for advertisers...

[C R Johnson]

You don't even need to target me. Just let me choose between multiple commercial streams.

For example, when I am watching a football game with my son, give me a way to not be subjected to Viagra, Video Games, and Violent, Scary, or sexually suggestive movie trailers.

I'm not gonna buy a video game or go to a movie anyhow. And I don't need Viagra (yet). Give me the choice of a G-Rated stream where I feel like I have to cover his eyes and mute the sound.

Re:If the really want to add value for advertisers

[Snotnose]

And I don't need Viagra (yet).

Apprehension: The first time you can't do it a second time.
Panic: The second time you can't do it the first time.

No thanks!

[sinij]

>>>"Surgical marketing messages are taken for granted on the Internet."

Yes they are, and that why we block all of them.

If you want to advertise to me - FUCK YOU, I don't want any of that.

Pay to veiw programs

[MrKaos]

IIRC these boxes were sold to us on the grounds that if we are paying for the services then we don't have commercials on them. Essentially we are paying to watch advertisements. Personally, I rarely watch TV anymore, I just can't stand watching commercials.

Re:Pay to veiw programs

[MrKaos]

Oh and now it looks like they're throwing in extra privacy-invasion technology.

So I have to ask again: what exactly am I paying for?

This is what you are paying for.

Re:Pay to veiw programs

[mrchaotica]

IIRC these boxes were sold to us on the grounds that if we are paying for the services then we don't have commercials on them.

Cable TV service was sold on those grounds. Set top boxes, however, were foisted upon us even through they provide exactly zero benefit to anybody but the Cable Cartel. It used to be that almost every TV sold was "cable ready," which means you just plugged the coax into the back of it and it Just Worked. Or you plugged the coax into your VCR or DVR or computer TV tuner card or whatever, and you could do whatever you wanted (including blocking ads). Then the digital transition happened, and -- despite the existence of the clearQAM digital tuner standard -- the Cable Cartel used the confusion as an excuse to pretend we all suddenly needed set-top boxes for cable "because digital" when it was really "because encryption" and "because tracking" and "because extra-cost services."

The time to oppose this SHIT was before the Cable Cartel bribed the FCC to effectively overturn Carterphone decision (at least as it ought to apply to cable networks, as well as phone networks)

In other words, the cable companies should never have been allowed to require "set top boxes" in the first place, but now they can, so now we're fucked (except for those of us smart enough to ditch cable entirely).

This could never go wrong

[aevan]

Cue the uneasy couple watching tv together, wondering why every third commercial is for Ashley Madison.

Re:I dont think that this is going to work

[YrWrstNtmr]

You merkins get all bent out of shape just showing a nipple on tv . God knows what will happen if you actually see some tits.
That only counts on about 5 channels. CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, PBS. The other 180 brazillion channels...fair game. Tits away.

Re:privacy?

[T-ice]

The funny thing about targeted advertising is that I search for things I know nothing about, rather than things I'm interested in. So I get advertisements based on this or that which is related to something someone mentioned and I had no clue about until I googled it. The things I do have an interest in, I find information about from specific sources. Although, when it THINKS it knows what you're interested in, provides those ads as a replacement to one of the "one weird trick" ads. Oh, and as soon as we move to targeted ads on TV, expect to see one weird trick every episode, at a minimum.

An interesting question arises.

[queazocotal]

What happens if personal advertising gets so good that some people are known to be not worth advertising to?

Surgical?

[jandersen]

Surgical marketing messages are taken for granted on the Internet

This is quite startling news - I have never seen the word "surgical" used to mean "clumsy, useless". Novel, I grant.

HBO

[Joe_Dragon]

HBO