The new DirecTV-Dish Network addressable advertising platform isn’t a bargain but could provide a better return on investment than traditional Nielsen-based buys, the satellite providers tell C&E.
The companies launched their household addressable products separately over the past two years, but recently announced a partnership that allows campaigns to use the satellite TV providers’ addressability capabilities for political ads.
“The beauty about the addressable product is that the [issue campaigns] or candidates will be able to buy specific households with profiles and attributes. It could be households with women or men or likelihood to vote or political leanings — very specific kinds of attributes within whatever target they specify,” says Keith Kazerman, senior vice president of ad sales at DirecTV.
Consultants are worried that the service will be cost prohibitive, regardless of how appealing it is. But Warren Schlichting, Dish’s senior vice president of media sales, insists that it’s more cost-effective than “spray-and-pray advertising.”
“It’s lower than you’d pay if you were reaching everyone,” he says.
Reduced waste also comes from viewers not tuning out the ad, whether by skipping it with services like Dish’s “Hopper,” which jumps over ads in recorded primetime programs, or by changing the channel.
“Even if there are skipped ads, we aren’t charging for those,” says Schlichting. “We only charge for ads that are viewed.”
Moreover, says Kazerman, the improved targeting from the providers’ and campaigns’ data means that viewers are getting political ads that are relevant to them. “When there’s a more relevant ad, there is a higher tendency for the viewers to actually watch that commercial,” he says.