First party Advanced Audiences - Redefining Local TV Currency

Local TV audiences are complex and can’t be defined by one or two prevalent demographic characteristics. The evolving consumer is full of nuance and changes their preferences based on a host of influences.

If we recognize consumers as more diverse in their interests and less predictable as they were once thought to be, why would the industry continue to buy and sell local media using only basic age and gender demographic information?

What may have worked in the past is being replaced by more sophisticated and stable means to provide projections and transact media at the local-market level. For an industry that prides itself on understanding consumer insights, we can and should expect more granularity when it comes to buying and evaluating local TV. Local is moving toward a more even playing field with national television and Comscore is powering this effort through advanced technology and a data-driven approach. We’ve made significant advancements from both technology and industry adoption perspectives.

The catalyst of Advanced Audiences

We believe that audience segments should be a combination of real-world TV viewership information with advanced household-level consumer and demographic behavior data.

At Comscore, we have the ability to match a brand’s first-party audience to Comscore viewing data. And, we have enough scale to not only match, but provide regular, stable, projectable ratings that enable not only planning exercises, but transactions/guarantees as well.

So as each consumer leaves a unique footprint via a trail of data exhaust, third-party data sources such as IHS/Markit and L2 Political, or a brand's first-party data can be leveraged to understand audiences and their relative value. Advanced audiences serve as the backbone for the local TV advertising space to establish a tangible currency across all 210 Comscore-measured markets. This enables media buyers to more efficiently and accurately target and buy against a desired customer type. Get in touch with us here to learn more about our advanced audience capabilities.

A dentsu and Comscore partnership ushers in a new era

Last week, we announced a partnership with dentsu for local TV currency on first-party audiences, with a goal of supplanting age and gender demographic data with Comscore advanced audiences for more precise targeting. In doing so, dentsu has become the first media agency network in the industry to begin buying media locally against audiences beyond age/gender.

The move signals a significant shift for the local media industry as it seeks to utilize the same data-driven techniques that have been long employed by national buyers. Comscore and dentsu will conduct test buys on behalf of two clients in top ten local markets based on advanced audiences built in dentsu’s proprietary audience-building platform M1.

Jennifer Hungerbuhler, EVP, Local & Audio Investment at dentsu said it best during our announcement “As we look to what’s next in media, the scale and stability of Comscore’s local TV dataset, coupled with the power of dentsu’s M1 audience intelligence platform, enable new opportunities for us to precisely transact on the audiences that matter most to our clients and drive value in every market.”

This is a tangible moment that will bring a long overdue sophistication and stability to the local TV space. The larger impact of this announcement will have a ripple effect on our industry for years to come.

As the new consumer continues to evolve, Comscore will keep innovating to measure what matters–on local TV and beyond.

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