Part 2: Q&A on Audience-based TV campaigns (We Share Some Details)

Welcome to Part Two of our "Ask Me Anything" (about Centriply's audience-first, location based TV ad campaign planning and buying).

In Part One (link here) we covered a whole lot of questions that we get, directly and indirectly, about who we are and both how advanced TV works and how we work.

Here we share a couple of real-world situations along with a few of questions received from planners and buyers like you, during recent demos. We have a legacy of being transparent and honest with our clients, and in that spirit, please keep reading.

Again, in case we missed your question in Part One or below, it goes without saying that everyone at Centriply is always happy to speak with you and yours directly, answering your specific questions, human to human (reach us here).

REALITY CHECK: A COUPLE OF RECENT REAL-WORLD SCENARIOS

Q: Can you advise me on options I can offer my client, when creating an advanced linear TV/CTV/OLV plan for them?

A: Sure! Remember we can combine markets, ZIPs, or regional areas (you don't need to stick to traditional Nielsen DMAs) Here’s an example of options, from a recent proposal:

Consider a combined multimarket request, City 1 and City 2.
Following are two options related to both budget and TRP*, as requested in the initial media RFP:

1. Option 1: A media proposal focused on a goal of spending the total budget.
   At this budget level, across 9 weeks, means we were able to get 11 TRPs/wk.
2. Option 2: A media proposal focused on the goal of reaching the potential target audience, which is 25 TRPs/wk. At this TRP Level and without going over budget, we are able to get 3 weeks.

*A Target Rating Point (TRP) is a media metric that measures the percentage of a specific target audience reached by an advertisement or media campaign. It's a way to gauge how effectively a campaign is reaching the desired demographic (unlike Gross Rating Points (GRPs), which measure reach across the total population)

In cases like this, we often identify a couple of considerations, in terms of decision-making for final plan. As always, we don’t decide what the “right” move is, you, the client, does (we’re always here to discuss/advise):

1. The Reach/Frequency levels (R/F) in Option 1 are quite different between the two markets.
   The ratings (and number of viewers) in City 1 are larger, meaning more people are projected to be watching during the campaign than in City 2.
   So it’s taking more spots in City 2 to reach the 11 TRPs (we checked—twice)!
2. Network Limit
   Only 4 networks were insertable in that area. Networks get the viewers, but is that where your audience is?
   Knowing this limitation and how to work around it is one way that the experts at Centriply can extract additional value for your budget.

 Q: You mentioned that Centriply also offers advice on where it ‘may not be worth it’.
Can you give me an example of what that means (so I can explain to my client why we’ve landed on the solution we did)?

 A: In the options offered to the client, specifically the Option 2 example above, our team noted this:

1. For a short flight, at the requested weekly TRP level (and pushing certain premium networks onto the schedules), we’re covering about 10% of the priority audience segment, and so quickly run out of budget.
2. If the goal is reaching a certain percentage of your audience, we suggest including more markets to spread the coverage of the segment reached. We may also suggest looking at additional audience segments, to address potential prospects that could be in consideration stage for your products/services.
3. We recommend that it would help to not force TRPs to the four networks, if they are inefficient in certain markets.

Explaining choices and options to help clients make media decisions is based on information relevant to the parameters of a specific RFP.

Our solutions are custom—not “one-size-fits-all”—and we do our best to optimize every campaign and business outcome while respecting budgets, timing, and practical limitations.

Q: In certain areas the Centriply planners may suggest Interconnects for two target markets. Is this because ZIP Codes were clustered in these markets, and audience indices were strong across the full market?

A: Great Question! Since data drives 100% of the impressions, we set the criteria for each system analysis and selection to an audience index of at least 125 (which means that there are 1.25 more of the audience in that area than average, making it a good media value) and audience segment counts of at least 5,000, so we can capture a meaningful amount of HHs. This occasionally pushes us towards placing the campaign on interconnects**.

For one campaign we analyzed options at the individual system level, it required nearly 400 systems to cover the same segment. For this situation, the most efficient media activation across high indexing areas with good coverage is by purchasing through the Interconnect, while continuing to count and supply reporting on the underlying subscribers in each system that make up the audience segment. Our in-house ad tech is how we can do these precise calculations, even as we leverage the Interconnects. The decision was that the extra impressions are offset by the efficient cost.

**Interconnect: A group of cable systems put together by media vendors and sold as a package, usually covering the entire TV DMA. However, we count the impression delivery to our custom audience for underlying individual systems in our detailed reporting.

Q: Can you further explain the thinking on why as local buyers the team would sometimes choose to use Interconnects?

A: Here's a New Scenario: A client is looking to run 60 second spots and needs super-fast turnaround, and has asked us to purchase the highest indexing areas within budget, based on audience concentration by ZIP Code in each DMA. We need to be flexible!

Nothing new there but…within 24 hours the client changed the initial parameters: changing media spend and cutting flight weeks by 23%. Even though they were still interested in the highest indexing systems, the full efficiencies of an Interconnect buy became obvious.

Our flexibility to accommodate last minute requests are strengthened by our in-house mapping software. The team could see that the heavily concentrated areas were covered by Interconnects. Thanks to our underlying ad tech footprint info we confirmed these areas were included. Sometimes it just works out that way.

Let’s break down our approach further, including our recommendations.

There are over 2,500 cable systems to choose from across the country and many do not take 60 second spots.
Further, some small media providers require minimum budget orders. So taking this information into consideration, it can be much more efficient to move forward with Interconnects. In this case, full market Interconnects were the way to go considering the heavy audience concentrations and the limitations involved (minimums, accepting :60s, and so on.)

Our impression delivery reports and reconciliation still reflect the details of the planning analysis in the buys.

Footnote: The client understood, agreed with our recommendations, and the project moved forward. Success!

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Thanks again for reading! If you've gotten this far, you’re probably curious to see how we do what we do, and are ready to talk to Centriply! Start by sending an email to RICH.KAUFMAN@centriply.com. He’s great when it comes to helping people understand that there is extraordinarily little risk—and lots of reward—using audience-driven Advanced TV campaigns. And if it’s not right for you he will let you know that too. Let’s find your audience!