Optimizing Reach with DISH Media's Reach Booster. Jim D'Antoni on Media Innovation.

Although addressable has been around for years, its importance and value as an advertising method has increased with the advent of advanced technology. "Over time addressable has matured," noted Jim D'Antoni (pictured below), Director of National Media Ad Sales, DISH Media. "It has proven its ability to provide more sophisticated frontend targeting and true attribution on the backend, making it a key component of an advertiser's video mix." The main goal of addressable is to eliminate the waste, focusing only on the homes that are predisposed to hear your message. Across the industry, more Upfront buys are having addressable deals built into them.The Myers Report estimates 2019 advertiser investments in addressable and VOD TV advertising at $1.8 billion and forecasts 17% average annual growth to $4.6 billion in 2025. The Myers Report also projects addressable and VOD as one of the few media categories that will increase in 2020 and 2021 as brands scale back dramatically on marketing budgets.

Even in the best of media times, it has been challenging for advertisers to maximize reach and minimize over-frequency for heavy viewing households with just a linear buy. "The linear television buy that got you 90% household reach five years ago only gets you about 60% reach now," mentioned D'Antoni. "Then within that 60%, reach for a demographic is often at 30% to 40%. And if a brand wants to expand their reach, they will have to keep spending more to see minimal growth."

He cited one case where a home improvement advertiser spent $90 million to have their campaign reach 70% of households and had to spend another $90 million to get to 75% households. "Financially and strategically it doesn't make sense for brands to continue down this road. The use of addressable technology is the best solution."

To help linear buyers bridge the addressable/linear divide, DISH Media recently launched a solution called Reach Booster. Using first-party deterministic data and a 12.4 million national footprint that captures all aspects of the American experience, from county size to DMA to region, Reach Booster gives advertisers the ability to maximize their reach and manage frequency. "With fragmentation of television growing, reach beyond 50% of any age or gender demographic is a pervasive issue. It is one of the limiting factors of linear television," D'Antoni explained.

A Solution to Building Reach

Reach Booster is DISH Media's proprietary ad product that was beta tested in 2019. It uses first-party data to build reach off a linear plan and addressable technology in a broad-based manner. "We use our first-party deterministic data and do a look-back window of at least three weeks of a recent national linear buy, and then determine how that campaign performed in reach and frequency for a specific gender and age target," D'Antoni elaborated. DISH Media can then efficiently target those unexposed homes within the chosen demographic for further messaging. "For a three or four week buy, we can see their campaign's reach go from 40% up to 70% or even 80%, and only within households relevant to our client," he stated. One example cited by D'Antoni is an insurance company who wanted to expand their reach amongst men aged 25 to 54. Reach Booster delivered, bringing the advertiser from a plateaued 45% reach to an overall 87% reach within the DISH footprint. "Beta after beta, we've seen these results. After 12 beta campaigns across various categories we are confident that this can be a very effective tool to boost reach," he added.

Managing for Frequency in Addition to Reach

But how does one solve for over-saturated frequency when trying to increase reach? D'Antoni noted that Reach Booster is not just a reach tool. "We've had some success managing frequency as a secondary non-guaranteed KPI." He cited an auto advertiser who wanted to lower the frequency for those who were seeing the ads 25+ times in a 30-day period. Campaign results show that Reach Booster was able to shift frequency into the lower frequency buckets while also helping the advertiser extend their reach. According to D'Antoni, it is all about maximizing efficiency for what the client wants. "Their main goal was reach, and we had that covered, but when they mentioned their frequency, we endeavored and delivered."

However, these results are not unique to this one campaign. DISH Media has seen a number of successful beta campaigns across demographics and categories. "From auto to insurance to CPG, we've seen consistent success with stabilizing frequency and building reach," D'Antoni added.

The Current and Future Marketplace

This pandemic has caused a rupture in the advertising marketplace. Brands and advertisers are struggling to pivot their advertising strategies, some pulling back entirely to conserve cost at a time when sales are down. According to D'Antoni, the goal for marketers should be "smarter, not silent." "The time for addressable is now. Many companies can't afford to waste money on tactics that may or may not work," D'Antoni stated. "They need to bet on strategies and tools that will bring them directly to the consumers that will be interested in their products, and that's where addressable and Reach Booster succeed. We've proven that over multiple categories and multiple demos."

There is more in store for Reach Booster. Future enhancements could include multiple look backs, better optimization and enhanced frequency management all with the intention of becoming more efficient and cost-effective for marketers to reach their target audiences. "Time will tell, but DISH Media has its finger on the pulse to assist our partners through this. Effective reach is more imperative than ever in this new environment, and we know Reach Booster will play an important role in achieving it for our clients."

Readers can learn more about DISH Media at media.dish.com.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.