How to Eliminate Ad Repetition Once and for All

This article was originally published on AdWeek.

Repetition of desired messaging is key to building a successful ad campaign. Yet, in this advanced television gold rush, advertisers and viewers alike are finding it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. While viewers are exposed to a wide variety of advanced television programming, the same cannot be said for their ad experiences. Bottom line: Viewers are growing fatigued from experiencing the same ad over and over again, and sometimes even twice in a row.

A recent Samba survey found that “airing ads multiple times to reach desired audiences may be costing brands billions of dollars, and largely ineffective.” Compounding the issue, the survey also found “roughly two-thirds of all ad impressions delivered in the same period across linear reached just 1 in 5 viewers.”

This is a major issue plaguing our industry. We need to listen to consumers and evolve the media planning process immediately, otherwise you can say goodbye to your once loyal consumer following (or if you’re at the early stages of reaching new audiences, there’s still hope to salvage). Here’s how.

The importance of data
Being strategic about data can ensure you’re reaching the right audience based on your brand identity and desired business outcomes. Advertisers and agencies have gotten a lot better at using data to inform their buys and going beyond the generic age demographics previously used. Where they fall short, however, is thinking that data and technology are the same.

An industry colleague recently shared a story about his TV viewing while at home. After being served the same ad five times in a single viewing experience, he realized that buyers are still not advertising the way they know consumers watch TV. This is precisely the issue!

Let’s say there was a sophisticated coffee retailer that used data from three different media networks and all their owned properties to specifically find and target coffee lovers. At first glance, this is an innovative approach. However, the coffee retailer doesn’t understand how to unify those buys. This often results in reaching the same people within each silo too many times, and thus, you get the same ad over and over.

Data alone doesn’t get you to where you need to be unless you have the tech to unify all the different streams that you’re buying across. Otherwise, you cannot manage and optimize incremental reach and frequency, which leads to a bad consumer experience and repetitive ad targeting.

The technology that powers data
Here is a valid media buying question to consider: If a brand is buying linear MTV content in addition to also buying digital MTV content on Pluto, is that incremental reach against their target? And can the ad frequency be managed so the targets don’t have to watch the same ad multiple times? For most advertisers, the answer would be no, because they lack the technology to unify silos that could manage reach and frequency.

The same can be said for the initial coffee advertising example referenced above. Technology can help those retailers identify the different types of coffee drinkers and where exactly they lie across the different silos to then manage cross-screen frequencies more effectively so they’re not reaching the same incremental coffee drinkers.

A revolution of the advanced television ad industry is crucial for the industry’s overall success and longevity. Many agencies and advertisers are fostering a negative experience of brand awareness for their target audience and ultimately losing customers simply because they won’t take advantage of readily available technology that supports their data.

If media buyers want their brand message to effectively land with their target audience, they need to use smart technology to locate potential clients across the media landscape. Understanding duplication overlap and optimal buying unification is the greatest potential for brands within the ad-tech industry.

 

About Amobee

Founded in 2005, Amobee is an advertising platform that understands how people consume content. Our goal is to optimize outcomes for advertisers and media companies, while providing a better consumer experience. Through our platform, we help customers further their audience development, optimize their cross channel performance across all TV, connected TV, and digital media, and drive new customer growth through detailed analytics and reporting. Amobee is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tremor International, a collection of brands built to unite creativity, data and technology across the open internet.

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