Target is first to partner with NBCU for self-serve programmatic TV ads

Dive Brief:

NBC Universal has teamed up with 4C Insights, a data science and media technology company, to provide self-serve programmatic buying for TV, per news material made available to Marketing Dive. It is 4C's first-ever private marketplace integration within linear television.
Target is the first brand to use its first-party data to buy automated, targeted ads on NBCU networks and shows using 4C's platform to connect the retailer's own digital customer insights with linear TV ad buys.
For example, Target will be able to leverage digital profiles of its active “back to school shoppers” segment from its e-commerce site and email lists to buy ads on NBCU linear TV. The deal between NBCU and 4C Insights bridges the gap between digital data and automated targeting for linear TV ads. Through 4C’s affinity across multiple screens, Target will also be able to leverage its social media audience.

Dive Insight:

The NBCU, 4C Insights deal falls into a growing trend of TV ad buying becoming more digitally driven. EMarketer forecasted targeted TV ad buys, also called addressable ads within the industry, will grow 65.8% this year reaching $1.26 billion, even though those ads account for only 1.7% of overall TV spending. Along with targeted TV, programmatic TV spending is also rising per eMarketer at 75.7% this year totaling $1.13 billion, with growth expected to increase 85.2% in 2018.

The deal is also interesting because it creates a private programmatic marketplace, reflecting a broader trend of brands looking to work directly with publishers and media owners in order to have more control over their media buys. While the initial appeal of programmatic for digital ads was the ability to easily reach a broad array of sites, this approach opened brands to buying ads on sites where they had no interest or need to.

Highlighting how the line between linear TV and digital video advertising is blurring, Google announced it was opening traditional TV ad inventory to programmatic buying via its DoubleClick Bid Manager this past April. Part of that announcement included Google stating it would be able to measure the impact of TV ads to Google searches and allow advertisers to manage video campaigns across both TV and digital.