Audience buying company Xaxis has partnered with Triton Digital to launch Xaxis Radio, a new programmatic buying technology that will allow brands to buy online and mobile radio inventory in real-time. The announcement comes one week after Triton Digital announced an online and mobile audio RTB platform of their own. Triton claimed in their announcement last week that their exchange is the first platform able to programmatically target online and mobile audio inventory in real-time. What makes Xaxis Radio different than a2x, Triton's RTB platform, is that it allows for the programmatic buying of targeted audiences, according to Xaxis' release. Xaxis Radio will also make real-time attribution measurements of radio ads available to advertisers. Xaxis Radio claims that both of these technologies are industry firsts. "The exponential growth of streaming audio has created a significant new channel for advertisers to explore as part of their overall strategy," stated Neal Schore, CEO of Triton Digital. "The addition of audience-based programmatic buying and real-time metrics makes online audio an extremely attractive option for advertisers." Brian Lesser, CEO of Xaxis, stated: "Xaxis Radio offfers us yet another channel in which to engage audiences for our advertisers." The partnership with Triton will allow Xaxis clients to use Triton's inventory. Xaxis Radio will be run through Xaxis' Data Management Platform.
Facial recognition technology has been around for years. But only recently has it been incorporated into TV sets by smart TV manufacturers like LG, Samsung and Panasonic. The idea is to provide viewers with menus of their favorite shows, apps or social networks once the set is turned on and recognize who’s watching.Now marketers would like to see the technology applied to ratings so they can get a more precise tally of who is actually watching the set when their ads appear.Nielsen, which has explored facial recognition technology on and off for more than a decade, is again actively exploring how to apply the technique to its TV ratings panel. “It’s an intriguing opportunity for the whole industry,” said Brian Fuhrer, senior vice president, national and cross-platform television audience measurement. Given that many devices today have facial recognition capability, from phones to TVs to gaming consoles, “it’s so logical” for the ratings company to adapt the technology as well.Fuhrer stressed that there’s nothing imminent; the effort currently is “a lab discussion.” The company still has to determine conclusively that the existing ratings panel would not be negatively impacted. That said, if the industry agrees that the technology should be used for TV ratings, the company could implement the technology “fairly quickly,” he said.Privacy issues remain, acknowledged Fuhrer. But given the ubiquity of facial recognition-equipped devices, he adds: “There’s a tremendous amount of acceptance” compared to just a few years ago. And there’s also a “layer of anonymity” that can be applied to any facial analysis system deployed by Nielsen, Fuhrer said. Bill Duggan, group executive vice president, ANA, notes that facial recognition applications were showcased prominently at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a few weeks back.In a recent post on his ANA blog, Duggan commented that the technology “will provide an opportunity for marketers to better target ads based on exactly who’s in the room [and] give a more accurate account of viewers in front of the TV.”Fuhrer notes that the technology is precise enough now to tell not only who is looking directly at the screen, but also how they react emotionally to content. That’s quite a few steps ahead of earlier facial recognition systems that often misread large dogs as people.Duggan stopped short of saying that facial recognition should be the industry’s top priority in terms of ratings advancement. “It appears that the technology could be of some benefit, and it ought to be in the mix,” he said. At the same time, Duggan said, “we’d love to see some movement on brand-specific ratings,” which the organization has been pushing for since before C3 ratings were adopted.The ANA is convening a commercial ratings “summit meeting” today to see what steps might be taken to facilitate brand specific TV ratings. The meeting was originally to have been held last fall until Hurricane Sandy intervened.Scheduled speakers include ANA president Bob Liodice, Sam Armando, director of strategic intelligence, SMGX, a unit of Publicis Groupe’s Starcom MediaVest, and Emily Vanides, director of research at MediaVest. George Ivie, executive director of the Media Rating Council is also scheduled to speak. Presenting vendors include Rentrak, TRA, Simulmedia, Precision Demand, Invidi Technologies and Nielsen.
Rentrak touts its second-by-second TV measurement system. It refers to itself as the leader in capturing video-on-demand viewership. And it plugs an ability to attach audience demographics to consumption patterns, offering opportunities for analytics. With a new image, the measurement company is looking to reflect all of that. The logo carries a sketch showing two screens with a plus sign between them. “It signifies that the insights are all coming together from the multiscreen measurement that we do, and we’re able to offer more than just measurement,” said Angela Fenske, a marketing manager at Rentrak. Next to the “screen-plus-screen” is a tagline that debuted with the 2012 annual report: “Precisely Measuring Movies & TV Everywhere.” The company measures box-office traffic in theaters along with its growing TV business, which has particular traction in local markets. With the logo, CEO Bill Livek said the company wants to be “reflective of where we are and where we’re going.” Some of that vision was revealed by COO David Chemerow in a presentation to analysts Tuesday as he noted that Rentrak is looking to launch a “consumer sentiment product” in its movie operations. A beta test has had staffers in theaters during the first two weeks of a film’s release using iPads and asking attendees questions. Reactions could be used to help film marketers alter messages or media plans in close to real time. Chemerow also cited the reports about the Obama campaign using Rentrak data last year to target its television ads and using unexpected networks in the process. “We tried three times to get the Romney campaign to sign up with us,” he said. “They refused to.” The executive, who also serves as CFO, said Rentrak should hit a break-even-type level with its TV operations in the next fiscal year, beginning in April.
Facebook on Tuesday launched a self-serve conversion measurement and optimization tool for direct-response marketers. First announced in November, the service allows advertisers to place a piece of code on a Web site to track when desired actions, like shopping cart checkouts or registrations, are driven by someone seeing an ad on Facebook. When marketers choose the Optimized CPM bidding option, they can see which ads drive the most conversion and adjust their campaigns accordingly. Facebook suggested thst marketers involved in e-commerce, retail, travel, financial services and other direct-response categories would benefit most from the new feature. Among case studies of campaigns using conversion measurement with Optimized CPM during the beta period last year: *Retail site Fab.com was able to reduce its cost per new customer acquisition by 39% when it used this type of bidding to serve ads to consumers deemed most likely to convert. *The Democratic Governors Association used the option to deliver ads to users who were most likely to sign up for its mailing list. According to Mark Giangreco, digital director of the DGA, the association saw a substantial decrease in its cost per conversion -- 85% lower than any other campaign the DGA had run online. Conversion measurement and optimization can be used on all Facebook ads and sponsored stories, and in combination with any targeting capabilities. It’s also the only analytics tool that can report when a user views an ad on one device (e.g. mobile phone) but converts on another (desktop computer). Given that Facebook has expanded mobile advertising dramatically since last spring, the service is suited to tracking performance in cross-platform ad campaigns. Conversion measurement is available through its Power Editor tool for managing multiple campaigns and ads, the Ads Manager and its API partners.
Fragmentation continues to complicate search marketing campaigns as an onslaught of new mobile gadgets makes audience segmentation and bidding for specific operating systems (OS) and device types more important. adMarketplace changed that Tuesday with the release of a feature that allows search marketers to segment paid-search bids. The company now allows search marketers to target bids on ads based on mobile device types and OSs. Fragmentation requires more thought and sophisticated technology for targeting. The data in the ad request identifies the device type and OS. Marketers bid for ad placement, and pay for clicks. The platform, Advertiser 3D, supports desktop, tablet, and smartphone targeting. But more importantly, it provides more specific optimization options -- about a dozen device types and operating systems. The tool analyzes changing consumer behavior and performance data based on the device to adjust bids as needed. "Google and Bing let you target devices by campaign, but to price devices differently you literally have to set up a separate campaign for every device," said Adam Epstein, adMarketplace president and COO. "Pricing is key because our performance data -- and everyone else's as well -- shows clicks from mobile devices have a lower conversion rate, and thus lower value and price, compared with clicks from desktops." Epstein said this is similar to how adMarketplace manages traffic sources. Advertisers can adjust bids by top-level publishers, or drill down into ad placements by publisher. Companies like Mazda have begun to use Advertiser 3D for desktop and mobile campaigns. In July 2012, Garage Team Mazda partnered with adMarketplace to expand local search campaigns to improve engagement and lead generation. The company tracked performance using five key performance indicators (KPIs): requests for quotes, locate closest dealer, search inventory, build your Mazda, and compare vehicles. adMarketplace analysts not only optimized each KPI separately -- they also determined how each geographic region may behave and how it requires its own unique optimization strategy. After gathering enough actionable performance data for each local campaign, analysts focused campaign budgets and volume on the top-performing sources. It turns out that adMarketplace delivered 38.1% additional conversions at 2.6% less cost than Google’s search partner network, and a 29.2% conversion rate versus 27.6%, respectively, according to the company.