• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, September 3, 2019

Television is under pressure in the UK and elsewhere. It hasn't got to the levels of the double-digit decline in print that one regularly expects to see in forecasts.

However, there is talk of a handful of percentage points coming off the market in a bumpy year of Brexit and the big tournament for advertising -- the Rugby World Cup -- happening on Tokyo time.

This may a reason why Channel 4 has decided to partner with Sky AdSmart and opt for tv ads that can be far better targeted to an area or a demographic. Ultimately, I guess we're talking about the potential for personalised one-on-one advertising when someone is catching up on a box set or a missed episode. At the moment, the feedback I get is we're currently looking more at restricting areas and finding groups rather than individuals. 

It's the big leap that television advertising has to take. We see discussions around addressable tv, but most of what we watch -- certainly in linear viewing -- is traditional 30-second spots that are simply repeated until we get sick of them -- same old ads, all the time.

If tv is going to avoid the same accusation of print of being inflexible and expensive for what it offers, it just has to be get better at tailoring messages, pushing brand storytelling along a narrative path. 

The big channels get this. Virgin Media has already joined Sky AdSmart, and it looks like Channel 4 will follow suit. ITV is probably a little too big and proud to jump into bed with arch rival Sky and is talking up its work to develop its own addressable tv technology.

It's a golden opportunity. Sure, there will always be the iconic FMCG ad for a lager or detergent but what about with brands that have a more direct relationship with our wallets. If we're logged on and they know who we are, why doesn't a pizza restaurant tempt us with an offer based on our past consumption? If we haven't been for a while, why not include a "welcome back" code to entice the viewing family to return? 

Once you begin acting on data about households, a whole new era of tv advertising becomes possible -- or at least a whole new front in streaming advertising opens up. 

I think we'll look at the current industry as very odd. With so much data at their disposal, why wouldn't big brands use generic content with offers overlain to appeal to a household or maybe speak to one region with different messaging and store details, than another?

Print has been decimated by the rise of digital advertising, and this is television's big opportunity not to follow suit.

Nobody wants creepy ads that make it look like you're being watched, but better tailored products, messaging and offers just makes so much more sense than stuffing money into cannons and blasting it across the entire country. 

Channel 4's move make a lot of sense -- and when ITV develops its own solution, we'll look back on today as the era where so many did so little with so much data.