Adobe bringing digital targeting, measurement capabilities to Linear TV

Last year Adobe launched Adobe Advertising Cloud TV to bring data-driven planning and targeting to video advertising across screens, including traditional TV (linear TV). Last week at an annual customer conference, the company announced a new round of partnerships and integrations, including offline measurement.

Range of data partners. Adobe is integrating Nielsen national TV ratings, CPG purchase data from Nielsen Catalina and Experian demographic and behavioral data for planning and targeting across addressable and linear TV screens. It has also automated the planning, buying and execution of campaigns.

The system is growing but has limited access to linear TV inventory. Earlier this year, Adobe and NBC Universal announced that the two companies would enable self-service access to national linear TV inventory with advanced targeting capabilities and automated workflows.

Measuring TV impact on offline store visits. Among the announcements last week, was a partnership between Adobe and Placed to measure the impact of linear TV advertising on offline store visitation. Placed’s product “Placed Attribution for TV” launched earlier this year and has the capacity to track the impact of linear, addressable and over-the-top videos ads on store visits.

In partnership with agency Dentsu Aegis Network, Adobe and Placed tested the platform and offline tracking with “a major retail brand.” They measured the impact of linear TV on offline visits. According to Placed, the campaign drove an 8.4 percent lift in store visitation and into a 2.3x return on ad spend.

Why you should care. Traditional TV is still a favored medium for branding and for its capacity to drive emotional impact. But it has not had the benefit of precise audience data, targeting and measurement capabilities. Adobe is trying to change all that and bring linear TV into the world of programmatic media.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.