Cadent: Why Local Broadcast TV Is a Powerful Part of the Cross-Screen Solution

That's one of the key reasons why local TV content serves as an important and scalable component of a cross-screen campaign, according to Bob Connolly, Senior Vice President of Broadcast Sales at Cadent, an independent platform for advanced TV advertising and monetization. "Reach is the biggest benefit for choosing broadcast TV advertising," he said. "Additionally, geotargeting supports advertisers that want to reach specific DMAs rather than relying on a blanket national buy. We have the capability to deliver a fully national buy or geotarget to specific markets depending on the advertiser's goals."

Local news programs often outperform the network programs in markets across the country, he added. "When you aggregate higher performing network news at the local level, you are able to meet the scale and performance of national more efficiently and effectively."

The local broadcast bump becomes even more advantageous during the fourth quarter.

"As the year closes out and the holiday season is upon us -- which tends to be the biggest quarter for media spend -- consumer behavior influences an uptick in the demand and ROI of broadcast," Connolly explained. "There is an increase in holiday travel, parties and local events where audiences rely on local news to gather information not normally available at a national level."

Additional strategic opportunities are derived from syndicated shows playing on local stations. The three most-watched entertainment shows are syndicated programming, according to Nielsen data.

National broadcasters are unable to focus on dayparts specific to syndicated properties. "What syndication can do for the ad mix is sell a daypart specific package, whether it is prime access, early fringe, anywhere the advertiser needs placement, and it will only include the shows that run in that daypart," Connolly said. "It's a much more efficient and targeted way to reach the desired audience."

He cited data from Nielsen showing that the top syndication programs outperform half of broadcast prime, with about a 64% CPM savings and over double the ratings for adults aged 18-49.

"Broadcast remains the best way to achieve mass reach in a quick and timely manner," Connolly continued. "This has long been the case and will remain so for the foreseeable future, even as consumers increase consumption of content through streaming services. With mass reach and scale, there's really no substitute to the power of broadcast."

Of course, broadcast is one element, albeit an extremely important one, for well-planned, strategic, cross-screen campaigns that run across a gamut of video options -- something that Cadent specializes in providing agencies and advertisers.

Cadent uses a unique cross-screen approach with cable, broadcast and connected TV opportunities that help simplify the process in strategic ways. "Effective reach means not only targeting a lot of people but targeting the right people," Connolly said. "So, in addition to reach, Cadent matches first- and third-party attributes to household broadcast views through its broadcast indexed TV capabilities."

Cadent does this through its Aperture Viewer Graph. The Aperture Data Marketplace has 70,000 audience segments and helps advertisers reach audiences based on behavioral, geographic and demographic characteristics. This data-driven approach allows for hyperlocal targeting even across broadcast.

That data can then be leveraged in Cadent's broadcast-indexed TV solution to create a linear schedule that considers behavioral attributes, programming and dayparts in addition to pricing goals and inventory availability.

"An indexed broadcast campaign provides unparalleled national reach with the added benefit of holistic reporting across channels and closed-loop measurement of business outcomes like sales lift, web visitation, foot traffic, or brand health," Connolly noted.

This audience-driven approach to broadcast is one reason why Cadent's broadcast delivery rates are 90% or higher, which is rare in today's marketplace given ratings challenges, according to the company.

"We're able to optimize because we're not dealing with walled gardens," Connolly concluded. "Cadent aggregates across all affiliates and independents. Being network agnostic, we are able to remain unbiased and look for the media that will best serve customers and the programs that will drive the most reach and efficiency."

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