MONTREAL and HAMILTON – This is something the entire Canadian TV and advertising industry will watch very closely.
Cogeco Cable said Monday it has entered into agreements with Invidi Technologies and Channel Zero to trial the Invidi Advatar addressable targeted advertising system with TV broadcaster CHCH.
Advatar lets television advertisers deliver tailored messaging to individual households during a commercial break. This technology uses public domain demographic information to accurately pinpoint consumer needs and interests, enhancing the relevance of advertising commercials to unique viewers, as Cartt.ca has reported previously.
Addressable advertising simply put, means more efficiency for everyone. Media buyers can market to specific demographics or neighbourhoods, broadcasters can sell ads in a more targeted fashion – and hopefully earn incremental additional revenue – and viewers will see ads that are relevant to them.
Using CHCH as an example, Cogeco’s VP of product management and project planning, Tom McCutcheon, told Cartt.ca in an interview that the broadcaster can now approach new advertisers like a local pizza place in Niagara Falls, sell it spots for just its region – and perhaps then sell the same spots to a different pizza joint in Hamilton that would only be seen in that market. This is efficient for both the broadcaster and advertiser, is enabled by the Invidi technology and Capital Networks and delivered to via the cable system to the customers who would rather know about their local pizza place, rather than one miles away.
Or, let’s say Ford wants to do one big buy but demands that the right cars be shown to the right households. This system can do that. "Ford can place multiple ads in the same inventory to make sure they hit their target markets and that they’re not wasting money promoting a mini-van to non-families," added McCutcheon.
Early studies have shown that homes with addressable ads tune away during commercial breaks less often than those without.
Cogeco will be conducting its trial of this innovative technology in Canada in 2011 (Invidi has launched and tested with some American carriers, already). The trial will be carried out in association with CHCH throughout Cogeco’s cable systems in the Golden Horseshoe area of South-Central Ontario.
Capital Networks Limited will be managing the ad insertion operation related to the Advatar platform.
"This is pretty exciting because part of the motivation here is coming up with unique ways to address the challenges that you well know in the Canadian broadcast system: audience fragmentation, people spending less time watching TV – whether it’s online or gaming or whatever the case may be – and (Advatar) makes the advertising inventory worth a lot more," said McCutcheon.
"This creates a way to introduce incremental revenue into the system without increasing fees or ultimately raising costs to customers. Advertisers would, presumably gladly, pay incremental advertising dollars, or the broadcaster could attract new advertisers… who will be brought into the system because they can now afford it."
The business plan is a revenue split and does not contravene any regulations as ad sales remains in the hands of the broadcaster.
Getting to launch has been a long time coming (five-plus years) and a lot of work for Invidi and Capital Networks. "What slowed it down, particularly in the last couple of years, were all the discussions around fee for carriage. And while those were ongoing, that pushed this to the back burner," said Capital Networks president Bil Trainor.
However, "there really is a high degree of interest, from the media buyer and planner community, local advertisers, hyper-local advertisers, national brands that want to try and segment their products (as well as from other broadcasters and carriers)," he added. After all, "if the spot is more relevant to you, there’s a better chance of you consuming it."
"CHCH is thrilled to be the first Canadian broadcaster to work with Cogeco in unlocking the marketing potential of addressable advertising technology. We are confident that advertisers will appreciate the opportunity to tailor their message to specific audiences, and we believe that viewers will appreciate the more relevant content," said Cal Millar, president of CHCH owner Channel Zero.
"The Advatar system represents the next generation of TV advertising. It provides a targeted approach to reaching the consumer, while maintaining their privacy and enhancing their viewing experience," added David Downey, president and CEO of Invidi. "Invidi was born in Canada and it is entirely appropriate that Cogeco, a Canadian company, is leading our entry into the cable television market."
– Greg O’Brien
www.cogeco.ca
www.invidi.com
www.capitalnetworks.com
www.tvchannelzero.com
