[opendtv] Re: Targeted TV Advertising Catches Interest
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 12:41:57 -0400
At 4:50 PM -0400 10/15/04, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
>I think you missed my real question, Craig.
>
>I understand how easy it could be, in principle,
>for a FTA TV buyer to enter this info. My real
>question was why any sane person would do so.
Uhhh... to receive more relevant ads when they are "forced" to watch
an advertiser supported FTA broadcast?
Why would you NOT provide this info so that the ads have more
relevance, ESPECIALLY in large markets which actually cover MANY
smaller markets? If you subscribe to a newspaper, you receive lot's
of targeted ads and inserts that are sold on a zoned delivery basis.
Cable is doing the same. And this is not limited only to advertising.
You might receive public affairs shows that are relevant to the area
where you live, or high school sports from your area, or a localized
newscast that is targeted to your area.
Why do some of us subscribe to vertical industry trade publications,
willingly providing all kinds of demographic info in return for a
free magazine like Broadcast Engineering? Why do people read the ads
in these publications at a much higher rate than for general interest
publications.
The answer is simple:
Because we DO WANT information about the products we buy and use.
What we DON'T want is to be blasted with stuff that is irrelevant. If
a local broadcasters can improve the relevance of their ads, this may
actually attract viewers...
>
>Cable and DBS companies have you by the you know
>whats. Being a subscription service, they
>control how you demod their signal. So they can
>easily make a way of identifying the household's
>location or demographics mandatory.
Perhaps. This could also cause people to move to a less demanding service.
But the point is that they are not doing this today, yet they ARE
delivering targeted ads, simply by virtue of the fact that their
distribution infrastructure supports the sale of zoned and targeted
ads. The viewer gave up nothing.
>Point being, we should all, by now, have become
>acutely sensitized to the realities of giving out
>personal info. It's one good way of getting
>spammed to death. If I buy a toaster or a
>microwave oven, I sure as heck don't expect to
>have to tell them my hobbies, my home address,
>and my social security number, just to get the
>appliance activated. That's the point I was
>trying to make.
Wrong again. Putting demographic info into a receiver is NOT giving
out personal information, UNLESS this information is transmitted back
to someone. What I described is simply the personal programming of
filters that teach the receiver to select from available resources.
As you know all too well, there IS no current back channel to send
any user info back to a FTA broadcaster. There is no return channel
on an ATSC receiver. So this is no different that any other PRIVATE
filtering technique.
That being said, the ability to reach individual consumers
effectively and efficiently is the holy grail for advertisers. This
is one of the major reasons that the web has grown into such a
powerful marketing resource.
Turns out that consumers will actually come to a site to learn about
products that they are interested in...go figure!
Regards
Craig
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