Resources | Viewability Has Come to TV | TVision

Good News for the Data-Driven CMO

Written by Luke McGuinness, President | Jul 1, 2019 4:32:58 PM

What happens after your TV ads air?

Let’s be honest — you have no idea. 

Today’s data-driven CMOs use granular, actionable insights to inform virtually every part of their marketing strategies, from eCommerce and email to video and display. But on television, these same highly efficient marketers are lucky if they even know which households their ads played in. The space between when an ad runs and when the user converts — a deep well of engagement insights on digital — is a wasteland. Every day, 29% of TV ads air in empty rooms, after their intended viewers have left to grab a snack or take a break. 

When you can’t tell if someone saw your ad, you can’t determine whether the ad was effective, or how you might improve your strategy moving forward.

Fortunately, new TV engagement metrics are illuminating the black box of TV engagement. At TVision, our computer vision technology tracks exactly what happens in the room while consumers watch TV, on a second-by-second basis for every program and commercial on television. 

The upshot? You can finally bring your precise, data-driven strategies to the all-important TV arena.

 

How CMOs can use TV engagement data to optimize spending and increase ROI.

To date, most TV marketers have an idea of what works, but not necessarily why or how. They have A/B tested campaigns to see how they impacted sales in different markets, and compared sales lift to prior years, but have not had any insight into which specific ad placements delivered the best results. While digital creates troves of performance metrics filling data lakes, until recently, TV has largely been lacking here.

However, with TVision’s engagement data, CMOs can hone in on the high- and low-performing parts of their TV strategies and reallocate their resources accordingly — just like they do in digital. And as data-driven marketers are driven to cross-video standards - across TV, OTT, digital video - it’s more important than ever to measure and plan all that video advertising content in a consistent manner

For instance, you might find that your target audience is more likely to be in the room for ads that run during weekend sporting events than they are for primetime dramas. Or you might get a sense of which placements in an ad pod are most likely to be viewed, or where you have instances of co-viewing that can double or triple the number of people who see your ads. You can even improve your creative by analyzing which parts of your commercial are drawing the most engagement. And certainly, you’d want to avoid running ads that are most likely to air after viewers have left the room to grab a snack or use the bathroom.

Advances in technology are finally enabling CMOs to know what was once unknown. It’s time to stop being okay not knowing what you don’t know. CMOs need accurate, actionable data that can be applied to drive real results. TV engagement data isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity.

Given that marketers are expected to invest over $79 billion in U.S. TV advertising this year, CMOs need to make sure they’re spending this money wisely. After all, not all reach is created equally. 

With second-by-second engagement data, marketers can better allocate their budget across TV and digital, as the information allows them to draw direct comparisons across the two platforms. And by optimizing for high-performing TV inventory, data-driven CMOs will maximize their return on investment and make their entire media plans that much more efficient. Indeed, with so much on the line, you really can’t afford not to.