Addressable TV advertising is likely to grow, but grows for who? It is not likely to be through individual advertisers. For the next five years, Deloitte expects major advertisers to value addressable advertising for its ability to extend reach, and so spread their message to the majority of each market, rather than for its capability to differentiate messages by the household or individual viewer.
Addressable TV also enables higher revenues for the traditional TV sector. Traditional TV is still an indispensable thanks to its unique features:
• the size of the screen it is viewed on
• the extent of its reach
• brand safety
“In 2022, no other medium is likely to be able to match TV’s ability to deliver high-production-value 30-second stories to 80% or more of the population within 7 days.”
If addressable TV ads benefit advertisers, broadcasters, and on-demand platforms, why haven’t they yet taken the TV advertising world by storm? One possible answer is addressable TV advertising needs a full-fledged supporting ecosystem, another one could be the nature of advertising.
Advertising is not, never has been, and likely never will be predicated solely on precision. Consider that a couple with a newborn may well prefer to be shown an ad for a sports car and not a sensible sedan, precisely because it is aspirational, rather than functional. TV could be the way of planting that seed of an idea precisely because it is not driven by context.
Indeed, it may well be that most people prefer their ads without customization. According to one Deloitte survey, only one-tenth of respondents strongly preferred ads to be tailored, while two-thirds did not want customized messages or were indifferent.
