Watching TV used to be straightforward: turn on set, sit down, choose channel. Today, millions of viewers may still tune in to their favourite shows, but they’re likely to be on their phone, tablet or laptop, or a combination, at the same time.
It’s called multi-screening and presents an opportunity for local advertisers to leverage their TV ad spend and brand recall by syncing creative and messaging on viewers’ mobile devices in real-time.
Consumers switch between their mobiles and TV screens, especially during ad breaks. Syncing content across traditional and digital platforms gives advertisers another way to engage target audiences by airing ads direct to their second, or even third, screens.
It works by using YDigital Media’s mobile programmatic technology, Mobyd. By intimately understanding who the target audience is, as well as when they are online, we can serve them an ad on their smartphone, tablet or laptop. The magic happens when the mobile user is watching TV while online, thus seeing two ads at once.
Mobile views
BMW was the first brand to adopt the technology in South Africa, promoting its new 5 series last month. Managed by Vizeum to raise awareness of the new model among BMW’s target audience, YDigital Media provided a through-the-line media buying experience not yet seen in this country. Notwithstanding TV, its reach was over 140 000 targeted mobile views.
Since flighting, there has been significant interest in the technology from a broad range of brands including Africa’s biggest retail group, several established car manufacturer brands in South Africa, Telkom, Eucerin and the big banking groups.
TV Sync is exciting media buyers and brands as it provides an additional layer of exposure. With access to 80% of local mobile traffic and unique users, it can target brands’ creative execution at most South African demographics down to very detailed profiles for an almost perfect bulls-eye.
Creative mirrors that of the TV ad either in the form of a mobile banner, rich media or video and the campaign runs for as long as the ads flight. It can also be used to drive lead generation from highly targeted consumers. In the instance of BMW, the mobile creative could promote a call to action to visit a dealership for a test drive. This provides brands with direct interaction with a qualified and engaged consumer, in addition to creating viable leads to engage at another time.
Driving innovation
TV Sync also provides competitor insights. We can receive a video and sound clip from a client’s competitor and draw up a schedule of where and when their ads play. This allows us to then offer brands the opportunity to display their ads in the same time slots.
On the success of the campaign, Kelvin Storie, managing director for Vizeum SA says, “In our quest to be digital first and drive innovation for our clients, I am very proud of this piece of work which takes the continuous topic of multi-screening and makes it a reality. The market is continuously evolving and we need to have a major step-change in how we plan audiovisual content.
As more consumers multi-task while watching TV, reaching them when they are surfing their favourite website or interacting with mobile apps during an ad break becomes possible – as does increased reach and conversions.
Nick Hodge is managing director of YDigital Media Africa, a mobile-first media-buying agency.
