The Future of TV Advertising Is Interactive

TV advertising

The time of interacting with the advertisements we’re watching becoming the norm and not only be regarded as a future progress draws near. Cablevision Systems Corp has just announced a first in interactive and advanced television advertising, the completion of the first run of multiple ads from different brands being simultaneously delivered and sharing a single 30 second unit. The five ads included in this addressable advertising campaign have been served to about 3 million households in the New York Metropolitan area and were all for brands represented by GroupM.

When it comes to addressable, interactive ads, Cablevision (whose PR agency is Sloane & Company) seems to be the top dog. At the moment, they are the industry leaders with the largest deployment of such ads. Yet up to now only about a dozen addressable campaigns have involved major brands.

The five ad campaign which took place last year in the fourth quarter was the first to take full benefit of the Cablevision system whole capacity. After running it, separate metrics were determined and deliver to each brand, to show them how their targeted commercials had performed. The commercials were spread between households based on their likely relevance and the 30 second ads were sub-divided across about 25 cable networks.

Both companies seemed to be extremely pleased with their results according to the statements released with the announcement.

“GroupM is proud to be at the forefront of addressable TV advertising and that our premier clients are among the first to run campaigns at scale,” said Irwin Gotlieb, GroupM’s CEO.  “This is an important win for the entire industry ecosystem because advertisers get better targeting, consumers get more relevant messages, and media companies create more valuable inventory.  And, the fact that major advertisers are now using these advanced targeting capabilities signifies a seminal shift towards broader adoption.”
“We appreciated the opportunity to work with GroupM for this groundbreaking campaign,” said David Kline, president and chief operating officer of Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, the advertising sales arm of Rainbow and Cablevision.  “Household addressable advertising provides Cablevision’s marketing partners with value, efficiency and effectiveness – delivering the right messages to the right consumers.”

Yet while claiming the benefits of interactive, addressable advertising to marketers, such as better targeting, a more direct approach to customer engagement (and more open consumers as there’s a better chance for them to actually be interested in what’s advertised) or increased measurability, Cablevision has released no comparison data clearly showing such ads perform better than old ones.

And as regional research shows classic TV ads are still quite strong sales drivers, I’ll take a skeptical stand regarding the future of TV advertising. I will wait to see the numbers proving such campaigns perform better than traditional ones!