Addressable TV Ad Trial: Viewers Tune Away 32% Less

by Joe Mandese , February 17, 2010

tv watchers

An important trial of a promising addressable TV advertising technology found that viewers in households who receive ads targeted specifically at them were less likely to change channels. The findings, which were released this morning by sales rep Comcast Spotlight and Starcom MediaVest Group, were conducted during an undisclosed period in Baltimore during 2009, and utilized technology developed by Invidi, a company backed by WPP's GroupM unit.

While details of the campaigns were not disclosed, the companies said they reached 60,000 households, and that SMG was involved in all of them. Two SMG clients -- Walgreens and Walmart -- were cited specifically as being part of the test, which found that households that received their addressable TV spots tuned away 32% less of the time than households that received non-addressable advertising.

The companies claimed that the findings indicate a "65% greater efficiency from sending ads only to relevant groupings that the advertiser wanted to reach, based on the per-spot costs of addressable and non-addressable ads."

The Baltimore trial was the second test of household addressability conducted by Comcast Spotlight and SMG. A technical trial involving approximately 8,000 households was conducted in Huntsville, AL between 2006 and 2008, utilizing OpenTV's SpotOn addressable TV advertising system.

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2 comments about "Addressable TV Ad Trial: Viewers Tune Away 32% Less".

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Robert Rosenthal from Rosenthal Heavy Industries, February 18, 2010 at 8:26 a.m.
"Addressable TV" is only a small part of the story. What digital TV technology allows is an entirely different kind of communication with target consumers -- an interactive one.
That, however, requires a different discipline and expertise from conventional advertising.
Robert Rosenthal
http://www.brightlineitv.com/
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Howie Goldfarb from Blue Star Strategic Marketing, February 18, 2010 at 10:27 a.m.

Obviously we prefer advertising that more fits our own personal demographic, but without sacrificing the ability to discover new things.

But in response to Robert these companies already have fully interactive web sites geared towards consumers. Yet most of us are not going there now. I make this point with social media. The content has to be attractive enough for people with so little time as it is to allocate for it. If one is watching a show we like would be interrupt (or miss parts of) the show to interact with a brand? What would be the incentive? And does this lead to sales??? If it doesn't lead to increased sales it is money flushed down the toilet.

Remember branding doesn't sell Products. Making and selling great Products creates the branding. Good will towards a brand without sales means nothing to the CFO, workers of that company, or the stock holders.