Posts tagged TV

How do you drive an online audience to a TV show offline?

How do you increase an audiences’ desire to watch particular TV shows? A a marketing technology company that segments and translates publisher data to simplify audience recognition for buyers and sellers claims it has the answer.

By analysing data obtained from its many quality publishers, particularly information on their readers’ social actions – comments and blog posts about shows, for example – Lotame was able to place relevant ads in just the right spots, which led to readers tuning in when the time came.

Across 27 TV campaigns, the company claims it has raised ‘Intent to View’ an average of 27.68% per campaign. Impressive eh?

It measured the viewership lift from the deployment of a control/exposed brand survey methodology across 32,000 consumers.

“Our data has enabled us to raise viewer intent across a number of genres: family shows, sci-fi, even sports playoff programming,” said Lotame CEO Andy Monfried.

“We’ve had particular success with shows aimed at the sub-34 crowd, which reflects how growing up with the web over the past 16 years creates a greater willingness to make their voices heard about their favorite programming online.”

A number of television and cable networks have used Lotame’s technology to enhance viewership. The technology uses no personally identifiable information, so it’s safe for brands to use.

“We have found Lotame’s technology to be an effective tool to reach the right audiences for our clients,” added Jessica McGiff-Drapiza, Group Director of Digital Strategy at PHD Media.

Could 3D breathe new life into cinema advertising?

Last week, digital transmission specialist Broadcast Australia became the first to broadcast 3D TV signals terrestrially over the air, as the rest of the world goes mad for all things 3D.

avatar-movie-poster13D is attributed to making James Cameron’s Avatar the most successful box-office movie of all time.

And you’ll no doubt remember earlier this month when Hugh Hefner made headlines with his special 3D centerfold special June issue of Playboy.

And last week, Olympus launched a new advertising campaign for its new PEN E-PL1 camera that encourages viewers to go to a dedicated microsite (www.getolympus.com/PEN3d) and play around with 3D with a paper cut-out and a webcam.

3D is everywhere, and publishers and advertisers can’t seem to get enough of it despite reports that owning your own 3D set may actually be dangerous for your health.

So why all the fuss?

3D is about the next level, and the experience…as far as I can gather.

I remember going to Movie World on Australia’s Gold Coast when I was very young and saw a Marvin the Martian 3D movie there. It was pretty cool, fun, interactive…but it was also a novelty.

Imagine watching 3D all the time, it won’t always look so good. Perhaps this is a fad.

There’s a new movie out at the moment, Street Dance 3D. A movie about dancing in 3D. I can’t help but feel this is a space that is going to much like social media, a long-term experiment with sometimes, little pay off.

What do you think? Can advertisers benefit from our 3D fascination? It’s certainly going to be hard, and expensive, until the spectrum becomes mainstream. Still, there’s room to make a big impression.

3D advertising is one area expected to grow within in-theater advertising this year. Recently, Samsung ran a 3D ad in theaters prior to airings of the DreamWorks animated movie How to Train Your Dragon, for its new line of 3D TVs.

As more films are released in 3D, more theaters are investing in 3D-capable screens in the hopes of convincing consumers to leave their DVD players and video-on-demand behind and come to the movies.

3D, in fact, could mark the rebirth of cinema advertising. Since the beginning of the financially crisis, cinema advertising has suffered falls and failed to since report any growth since the recovery. 3D could be just what the medium needs to kick start growth again.

TV in the digital age, what marketers are in for

TV, the way we watch it and how we interact with it, has changed dramatically as technology evolves. But are marketers ready to follow suit?

Given today’s radical new report in public service broadcast, I thought it was worth a look into what TV is going to be like in the ‘digital age’.

I know what you’re thinking, we’ve been in the digital age for some time now, but this decade, the teens of the millennium, TV is going to become vastly different.

For one, the digital switchover looms (2012) and as we saw in the noughties, it will not only change the way we watch TV, or where, but how advertisers reach us. Consumers have the power and ability to skip the ads, and they do, with such services as Sky +.

But, while this does seem a negative point, it has been a catalyst for some of the most creative and engaging TV ads in the past two years. I hate to keep mentioning it but Cadbury’s Gorilla advert is a perfect example.

It also embraced the power of cross-channel marketing – using a combination of social media, viral marketing and TV ads. The use of multiple channels isn’t anything new though, it has been greatly experimented with, but going forward, I think we can expect to see a lot more of this from now on.

Also, internet TV is here, well and truly. And at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, Yahoo unveiled a widget that will allow consumers to access the internet through their TV sets. We’ve been watching TV on our computer screens for a few years now, but this goes one step further, bringing the web to us from the comfort of our couch.

I think a lot more broadcasters will be trying to get more of their programming online once this Yahoo widget truly takes off. Catch-up TV, in particular the BBC’s iPlayer, have experiences massive growth in the past few years by offering this simply convenience.  However, some broadcasters are still fiddling with the model.

Channel 4’s catch-up service for example was originally a paid-for-service. Each TV show you downloaded was around £2. The service eventually went free after limited take up, but now the broadcaster has signed a content deal with YouTube to feature its shows.

Catch-up TV (or, on-demand TV) poses a problem for advertisers and broadcasters as the number of commercials and sponsors are limited – most shows only feature one ad. But with product placement in Britain expected to get the go ahead before summer, we could be about to see many more broadcasters jump aboard. 

Also unveiled at CES was 3D TV. Programming is about to get a lot more interesting, we’re being coaxed back to our TV screens and advertisers will follow suit with highly creative and interactive ads that jump in front of your eyes and burn in your memory – remember, 3D is an experience. 

Technology has allowed TV to now be consumed in more ways than we ever thought – the internet, 3D, mobile and digital. The opportunities for advertisers are endless and TV advertising certainly isn’t dead yet despite what some broadcaster’s revenues said last year. In fact, I would say we are at the new dawn of TV advertising, and it’s about to get a whole lot more creative.

Lastly, where does all this leave public service broadcasting? The Policy Exchange report is calling for radically reforms, especially of the BBC. With the way that television is evolving, ultimately the PSB channels will have to fight to keep up. Let the content wars begin…and perhaps product placement really is the solution for easy revenues for broadcasters.