To help advertisers reach specific audiences in ad-supported video, Samsung Ads built a predictive campaign planning tool for connected TV.
Audience Advisor is an analytics tool that uses Samsung’s own first-party data, combined with third-party data, to give brands and agencies a view into how much time specific audiences are spending viewing AVOD, as well as their content preferences.
The tool can be used for targeting and budget planning for Samsung buys.
“Advertisers … have been asking us questions about how they can be successful in AVOD because they don’t feel they’re getting adequate information from other sources,” Justin Evans, global head of analytics and insights at Samsung Ads, told AdExchanger.
The tool helps advertisers in sectors like ecommerce, CPG and auto. When brands upload their own first-party data or third-party purchase data, for example, they can identify how their target viewers watch TV and where. Samsung, which tracks viewing behavior through its ACR technology, can identify how many people in a target group are AVOD viewers, how many apps they’re using per day and at what times.
For example, Samsung has 13 million “heavy” ecommerce shoppers across its advertising ecosystem, nine million of whom are “mostly” streamers spending 85% of their time watching CTV content. Half of that time is spent in AVOD, Evans said, with viewers watching an average of 1.3 hours and launching six apps per day.
“We’re able to paint a portrait for the advertiser of what the audience’s ad experience is going to be in the AVOD ecosystem,” he said. “The reach and frequency profile we provide is about what kind of advertising success the client can achieve within the Samsung ecosystem.”
In order to create the audience planner, Samsung matches its proprietary data across 57 million smart TVs in the US with third-party data that the brands license, such as insights from automotive data company Polk, or the client’s own first-party data that is plugged into the Audience Advisor tool to build custom audiences.
The offering also includes data from retail-insights provider Commerce Signals to help brands target shoppers across retail, travel, ecommerce, QSR and financial services.
Since Audience Advisor launched in beta in the third quarter of 2021, there has been a surge in clients using the tool, Evans added. Samsung Ads declined to disclose a pricing model for the tool, only to say it’s available to its media clients.
The pandemic and rapid shift to streaming TV last year significantly disrupted consumer behaviors, and advertisers are seeking new ways to reach audiences.
The launch of new AVOD services, such as Peacock and Paramount Plus, is attracting more price-conscious consumers, but also fragmenting buying options even further. Advertisers are seeking more holistic measurement and targeting solutions that are also privacy-safe.
“We use Samsung proprietary identifiers, which doesn’t use cookies and meets IAB and industry standards for CTV that are deterministic,” he said. “There is a predictive element in the sense that it’s taking past behaviors and making a prediction about what will happen in the future.”
Besides Audience Advisor, Samsung Ads launched its Samsung Measurement solution in Q4 2020. In May of this year, Samsung was among television manufacturers such as Vizio who leaned into this year’s NewFronts by touting their own advertising offerings.
Samsung Ads offers ads on its own free service, Samsung TV Plus, and touted its abilities to control for frequency across TV and streaming through ACR data sets.
“The mission of Audience Advisor in that narrative is where advertisers feel they don’t have enough information about the AVOD ecosystem, and they don’t feel comfortable making those investments and taking advantage of these tools,” he said.
