A new technology that lets broadcasters target specific viewers with tailored ads could be a major factor in future political campaigns.
Addressable TV is an emerging tool that allows marketers to pursue consumers based on individual tastes, and it can be used by anything from insurance companies to political campaigns, The Associated Press reported.
"With a traditional TV buy you can end up paying for a lot of eyeballs you don't care about," Chauncey McLean, chief operating officer of the data firm Analytics Media Group, told the AP. "Addressable TV is a powerful tool for those that are equipped to use it. If you know who you want to talk to and what you want to say, you can be much more precise."
The broadcast technology lets advertisers hone their commercials to their audience. For Addressable TV's pinpoint ads, "Data geeks look at everything from voting histories to demographics, magazine subscriptions to credit scores, all in the hopes of identifying their target audience," according to the AP.
Viewers are targeted depending on their data history, and the commercials come on during normal broadcast television without their necessarily realizing it.
"This is the power of a 30-second television commercial with the precision of a piece of direct mail targeted to the individual household level," Paul Guyardo, chief revenue officer at DirecTV, told the AP. "Never before have advertisers had that level of precision when it came to a 30-second commercial."
In a similar vein, DirecTV and Dish Network recently announced a partnership that will benefit political campaigns. Through the collaboration, political clients will be able to target around 20 million households through their specific satellite receivers.
According to the AP report, the Democrat Party has been ahead on the data front, while the Republicans will have to learn more about targeting voters.
Even when political campaigns use Addressable TV, the reach will be limited since fewer than half of all households have the necessary cable box or satellite receiver. They also won't know if viewers watch the ad or not because federal law forbids the broadcast provider from disclosing details about viewers and their habits.
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