By Don Norton, General Manager, Data Solutions, AdImpact
Viewership of both linear and streaming television is at a peak right now: the fall television season is in full swing, football season is underway, and we’re entering the prime season for streaming TV consumption. To capitalize on these high viewership numbers, local advertisers are tapping into cross-platform campaigns to reach viewers who are tuning in.
While cross-platform TV advertisements offer the potential of substantially improving the reach of a campaign, their relative infancy in advertising means they’re still going through growing pains and haven’t hit their full potential. Advertisers aren’t getting a full picture of where their ads are running.
Their ads might appear against content that might not be suitable for their brand or are against a program that is not relevant to their target audience. Instead, they’re just getting a general idea of when it ran in a specific app. Similarly, streaming platforms are plagued with frequency issues, where consumers are repeatedly inundated with the same set of ads. This can lead to less engagement with an ad and cause audiences to tune out on repeated views. Put these issues together and advertisers aren’t getting optimal ROI and are wasting precious ad dollars.
To address these issues and fully unlock the benefits of cross-platform campaigns, advertisers need to understand the incremental reach of these campaigns. Incremental reach analysis is the process of measuring how many additional, unique viewers your advertising campaign reaches by adding new media channels or platforms, helping you maximize your audience and avoid showing ads repeatedly to the same people. As streaming takes more of the pie, with consumers now spending four hours a day with digital video, advertisers want to ensure that they are maximizing their incremental reach across buys. For example, an auto advertiser running a streaming-only CTV campaign needs to know how many viewers they reach beyond traditional household exposure across all TV media types. By understanding the incremental reach they gain by investing in CTV, advertisers can refine audience targeting and optimize their investment to maximize ROI.
So, how can advertisers create effective campaigns and reach new audiences across platforms?
How It’s Measured
Automated Content Recognition (ACR) is one of the most effective forms of measuring incremental reach. ACR tracks the content being shown on the television screen, often referred to as measuring "on the glass," which means viewing data is only captured when the TV is turned on and actively being watched, providing a highly accurate reflection of audience engagement. ACR technology leverages vast datasets of advertising running across the TV ecosystem, referred to as ad catalogs, to provide rich insights regarding audience viewership. For instance, AdImpact’s ad catalog, which contains more than 90,000 advertisers and brands, provides advertisers with extensive data at the ad occurrence level across local and national broadcast, cable, and CTV, giving them a comprehensive view of the entire television industry.
ACR technology is set apart through its speed, scale, and precision. Developed to address the need for real-time media monitoring and combined with the extensive data pools mentioned above, this technology enables richer, deeper, and more accurate modeling of consumer viewing habits. With ACR data, the next component of incremental reach analysis uses household modeling. This approach leverages household smart TV panels to assess total audience viewership across geographic regions and projects the overall campaign reach, all while maintaining privacy standards. By understanding how incremental reach is measured and the factors that are utilized to create the estimated viewership, advertisers can then effectively create campaigns that can reach the most unique viewers and drive ROI.
Context Matters
Advertisers can use the data uncovered as part of measuring for incremental reach to create better cross-platform ad campaigns. Without ACR technology and incremental reach analysis, ad buys across linear and streaming platforms lack context on ad placement. Details about the programming in which an ad was aired can help advertisers tailor ad content, optimize ad placements, and enhance the viewer experience — which drives improved ROI. Incremental reach insights show which apps, stations, and programs drive the most incremental audiences and provide frequency data, giving advertisers control over how TV channels reach their audiences.
Accurate at National and Local Levels
Incremental or unique reach reporting leveraging ACR technology provides increased geographic insights that other digital buying channels can not. However, its effectiveness is deeply rooted in the comprehensiveness of the ad catalog it utilizes. Since ACR solutions can only detect advertisements that are part of their reference database, the depth of this catalog is crucial. For reference, AdImpact’s proprietary ad catalog includes over 1.6 million creatives and unlocks not just insights into large network ad campaigns but also into vast amounts of regional and very local advertising within local broadcast, cable, and CTV across all 210 DMAs. Understanding the unique local patterns of audience viewing is what makes incremental reach analysis invaluable to advertisers.
Data Processing, Speed, and Flexibility
Effective incremental reach analysis hinges on advanced data processing—transforming raw data into actionable insights—paired with speed for real-time responses and flexibility to adapt to evolving strategies. Mastering these aspects is no simple feat, underscoring the need for a reliable expert partner to unlock true value.
As the peak TV season and holidays approach, there will be ample opportunities for advertisers to reach new segments of viewers. In understanding how incremental reach is measured and what data helps uncover the unique audiences that are watching via streaming, local advertisers can build better cross-platform ad campaigns and ensure they’re making the most of these opportunities.
Interested in viewership trends and advertising during the World Series? Check out our new blog here.
