No advertiser hopes to overlook customers. No brand wants to misidentify their audience.
So why, when it comes to linear TV, are these marketing nightmares tolerated? Despite technological advancements, many brands accept the idea that TV fails to be data-driven when reaching customers.
But that’s not the case. The tools necessary to better recognize and reach your audience with TV are available, just underutilized.
Market research isn't enough.
TV campaigns built on marketplace research have long been the status-quo. However, while traditional market research are an important piece of any ad strategy, they’re far from the complete puzzle. That information explains your industry’s target audience. But it often doesn't represent all your customers or how to reach them. Everyone knows each business is unique. So why use only the most general data for your campaign?
This is exactly why an emphasis on first-party data changes everything. Media publishers, brands, and agencies have collected a wealth of first-party data over the years. But it’s only recently making news.
In the last year alone, multiple networks announced offerings with first-party data access for advertisers. More brands committed to investing in CRM systems. And this summer, third-party data giant Nielsen launched a project to improve first-party data-based campaigns. But many of these products wrongly gloss over applications to traditional TV. That’s right: first-party data isn’t only for digital or even advanced TV advertising.
First-party data and linear TV
This information is more important than ever for linear television. First-party data sheds light on real-time consumer behavior. It helps you target customers, measure response, and optimize your campaign. It’s tells you where you’re winning or losing—often with surprising results.
When one client described their target audience as mature, health-conscious women, campaign response initially matched expectations. But then site traffic increased after an airing during an NHL game. It was clear another type of consumer also found the brand interesting, given that hockey’s TV audience tends to lean toward a very different demographic.
This was something third-party data could not predict: middle-aged male snackers were an important part of the brand’s customer base. With this unexpected but exciting insight, the brand could optimize their campaign to account for a new customer segment.
Uncover new opportunities in your data
Because it’s not enough to collect and store first-party information. Everyone’s done that for years. When synthesized and interpreted, here’s where first-party data should inform your TV strategy:
1. Understanding customer segments based on demographics, behavior and mindset.
2. Optimizing media targets to enhance performance.
3. Evaluating response based on where each audience segment is reachable.
These insights can affect the media your brand buys. Your creative direction. Even your big-picture strategy. With this sort of knowledge at your fingertips, TV becomes an even more powerful part of your marketing strategy. And improving campaign effectiveness? Well, isn’t that every marketer’s dream?
Learn about developing data-informed streaming TV campaigns.
Read about how using data to understand and prioritize your audience impacts streaming TV.
