Actual Audiences Instead of Estimated Audiences, What a Relief - Steve Yanovsky - MediaBizBloggers

We in the advertising business have been living with the estimated audiences provided by broadcast television and cable television for decades. It was the only source of information and we accepted it as the "best measurement available". We further accepted this inaccuracy for the blunt instrument it was. No system or tool was available that could bring advertisers and their agencies any closer to the actual numbers that were needed to evaluate their media buys. We all sought the "holy grail" but it was nowhere to be found.

As digital video evolved, and continues to evolve, agency media executives are continuously looking for more and better data on their media buys. Who are they reaching with their digital video campaigns? What are their demographic characteristics? Is there a way to learn more of the details of the audience?

Recognizing the growing need for this enhanced audience information, and being the leader in this space, we at BBE have introduced Real Demo™, a proprietary, enhanced targeting tool which provides our agency and advertiser clients with the opportunity to enrich the demographic makeup of the campaigns that they run on the BBE network. In conjunction with Quantcast, the audience insights company, BBE is now able to deliver more demographically defined buys to their clients.

Early testing results show that the new service delivers a significantly higher percentage of any targeted demographic group over traditional on-line ads which simply rely on contextual placement. This tool results in a buy with minimal waste. And, in a major step forward for the industry, this is all delivered to agencies in real time. This planning capability is fully integrated into Vindico®, BBE's industry leading ad serving, tracking and reporting platform.

The Real Demo product is a dramatic departure from the broadcast television estimated audience delivery which the advertising marketplace has been forced to live with for so long. The significant waste which occurs with TV has now been replaced with a tool which much more tightly defines its audience.

Once campaigns have been completed, BBE is capable of providing its clients with reports which articulate key demographic information such as: gender, age, HH income, education, etc., all key considerations when evaluating their buys. As more and more advertisers add digital video to their media mix, this data is key in their decision making.

The goal of this new product is for BBE to provide its clients with more and better data about the campaigns run on its network of 2400 sites. Supplying clients, and the industry, with better measurement tools moves the entire medium ahead.

Steve Yanovsky is VP Marketing of BBE and can be reached at syanovsky@bbe.com

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