3 Keys for Using Set Top Box Data for TV Ad Effectiveness

Recently, there has been a rash of discussions around the use of Set Top Box (STB) Data to better understand the effectiveness and efficiency of television advertising. Although there have been a series of false starts in this area (e.g., Canoe Ventures), there is compelling insight available from STB data to empower marketers and agencies alike to optimize advertising campaigns.

Over the course of the last several weeks, I have asked a group of advertising research leaders the value of STB data in this context. Two key benefits emerged from their answers:

1. Data Granularity – Household Data Availability would provide for significant behavioral insight into advertising performance.
2. Data Frequency – Daily Data Frequency can provide for more television advertising optimization opportunities.

Together, granularity and improved data frequency over current methods could provide more opportunities for insight of advertising performance and optimization of television advertising.

The Challenges of Using STB Data
But, with the described benefits came several cautionary tales, in particular:

1. Overlaying Demographic Data – As one researcher put it, “Trying to find out the age, gender and other characteristics of these viewers is presently somewhat problematic.”
2. How Advertisers will Use this Data – As one marketer put it, “STB data is interesting… but without understanding what the data is telling me about my advertising - it’s useless.”

This creates enormous hurdles for anyone working to identify ways to use STB data to improve television insight and optimization.

Our Thinking
At the AMM Group, we have been giving this much thought especially as advertisers, agencies and media companies are asking us how we’d recommend utilizing STB data as a way to optimize television advertising. From our perspective, STB data is critical to understanding and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of TV advertising, but there are three approaches that need to be enacted in order to do this successfully:

1. Use Technology For Scale – Must Automate Data Collection, processing and management to provide a solution that can service hundreds of marketers, agency media executives, and media company sales teams. Also, technology is the answer to manage the plethora of data associated with the granularity and frequency of STB data.
2. Use “Universal Data Model” to Ensure Data Interoperability – Must have a data normalization strategy that can append behavioral data from STBs to Demographic Data at the Household level, as well as STB data from multiple cable, telco and satellite providers.
3. Provide Insight in Ad Performance Context – Must present data in the context of advertising effectiveness or efficiency to ensure marketers use this insight on a regular basis.

If these three approaches are followed, the end solution will provide media companies a scalable offering; and marketers and agencies meaningful insights to regularly optimize their advertising programs.