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Targeting Tools Help Personalize TV Advertising

Posted by Soulskill on from the do-not-want dept.

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?

6 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. AdBlock by Macdude · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Where can I get adblock for my FiOS?

    BitTorrent.

    --
    "Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
    1. Re:AdBlock by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      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.

  2. Re:If the really want to add value for advertisers by Snotnose · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  3. No thanks! by sinij · · Score: 2

    >>>"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.

  4. This could never go wrong by aevan · · Score: 2

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

  5. Surgical? by jandersen · · Score: 2

    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.