SAN JUAN — The world of TV advertising is evolving from generally targeting viewers of broad TV show categories, to one in which marketers armed with consumer data can make more specifically-targeted ad buys.<\/p>\n
But what if the presuppositions they made with that data could be improved on in yet another step-change?<\/p>\n
One leading TV company researcher thinks viewers may soon elect to give broadcasters and their advertisers far more specific information about their buying intents.<\/p>\n
In this fireside discussion with Prohaska Consulting CEO Matt Prohaska for Beet.TV,\u00a0Janus Strategy & Insights president Howard Shimmel – previously chief research officer at Turner – opens up on how Turner’s research has convinced him the change is coming.<\/p>\n
“We did some research at Turner that we call the Consumer Data Value Exchange<\/a>,” says Shimmel. “We were trying to get an understanding of what consumers are willing to give up in terms of data to get a better ad experience so they’re not getting ads for categories they don’t care about.<\/p>\n “The reality was consumers said they’re willing to give up a lot more than we think they’ll give up. They just need control and they need to be paid for it.”<\/p>\n That realization could have profound consequences for marketers and the publishers or broadcasters they go through.<\/p>\n For one, it could mean a change in emphasis – from second-guessing consumers’ position in the purchase funnel for various products and services, to actually\u00a0knowing.<\/em><\/p>\n “I think eventually we’re going to have to get to a world where there’s more consumer control and they’re giving us signals a little bit more directly than (simply) ‘I’m in the market for a car because I happen to go to a BMW site yesterday’,” adds Shimmel.<\/p>\n This kind of approach may see new power brokers emerge.\u00a0 Shimmel, who joined Janus<\/a> last year, says comScore and Nielsen evolved to measure media consumption because buyers didn’t have access to first-party data with full accuracy. But now connected TV sets can give off exact data signals about who is watching.<\/p>\n That, he says, should prompt the measurement agencies to change the nature of their service, and – for anyone hoping for a career in media measurement – it will place a premium on getting skills in data science.<\/p>\n