Think Globally, Ad Locally

Addressable advertising for TV.

It "enables operators to generate incremental advertising revenue by providing advertisers with the ability to send tailored promotions to targeted groups of viewers." (Navic Networks) Here's a nice discussion of a field study from about a year ago. If you don't want to read anything else, think GoogleAds for TV with full commercials for the top five items instead of sidebar adverts.

That's just the tip of the iceberg for those viewers who aren't afraid to share a little personal data. What if we extend this approach? Let's tie national ads targeted to you with local ads related to your buying behavior.

Imagine that you see an ad for toilet paper. But not just any ad. It's an ad that's been specifically developed for your zip code and age group. And the ad is intriguing enough that you don't even change the channel. (One of the first objectives of addressable advertising is to make an ad interesting enough to you so that you don't change the channel. Because it is all about you, isn't it?)

Halfway through the commercial--once you're past the point where viewers typically switch the channel, something else happens. Suddenly an ad for a local grocery store appears on the bottom (or far right) of the screen.

Why? Your local grocery store has that brand of toilet paper on sale. Your frequent shopper card, which you swiped on your cable box at some time in the past, suggests that you haven't bought toilet paper from them in a while. Just push the '$' button on your remote to add toilet paper to your shopping list at the advertised price. Next time you go shopping, you'll swipe your shoppers club at the grocery store and the machine will print your complete shopping list with your price for each item.