Targeted TV ads coming to your TV set!

Targeted tv ads are coming to your television set to help advertisers rejuvenate flagging sales by
targeting viewers’ likes and viewing behavior. Remember the reports a few months back where Samsung TV admitted that their television sets were recording our conversations? Well, now, our television sets could start to watch us watching them using targeted tv ads, to learn more about our tv viewing habits.


Television advertising revenue has nose-dived compared to that of internet advertising for the first time ever according to IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report 2013 who found that internet advertising earned $42.billion, whereas television advertising revenues yielded $40.1 billion. To inject life back into the television advertisement industry a number of media companies are fighting back by using television tracking software to deliver targeted tv ads based on our likes, dislikes and interests. Companies such as Google – who generate huge amounts of money by charging companies for all-important keywords found in emails and search terms, is one company who recently tested their Fiber TV ads in Kansas to get a more precise idea on the number of people who actually watch television advertisements, and which adverts they are interested in – to turnover bigger profits in television advertising.

Google already collects colossal amounts of data on us, from our likes and dislikes to our behavioral information by tracking our online activities by way our our browsing history using cookies, so Google is able to know the websites we visit to make online purchases. Google is now pushing to make television advertising work like an internet advert which of course, will enable them to collect even more data on us!

When there’s a gap in the market – where advertising and media companies are losing money – the gap must be filled!  More input!

“TV has lost the quality of being a one-way thing where you watch it but it doesn’t watch you” –  Lee Tien Electronic Frontier Foundation
Unfortunately, many of us are pretty much desensitized to the fact that our online activities are tracked, using cookies, by companies and third party websites– of course, you can use a VPN so your online activity isn’t tracked as they will be tracking a VPN server’s IP address. We’re bombarded with targeted tv ads from our browsing history, we’re tracked by facial recognition technology deployed in airports and football stadiums, and so it’s no real surprise that media companies are bringing targeted tv ads to our living rooms.

Google is not alone. Earlier this year, NBCUniversal launched its Audience Targeting Platform (ATP) to access viewers’ data from set-top boxes owned by America’s largest cable operator, Comcast. And Turner Broadcasting uses its “Audience Now” product to capture and collect viewer data. Media companies hope that getting to know their audience on a more personal level by collecting viewers’ data from television set-top boxes, they will be able to know a lot more about them, and therefore make more money!

NBCUniversal’s television tracking software is able to show viewers targeted tv ads based on their viewing preferences. For example, a family who loves fast food could see more targeted tv ads for burgers and fried chicken. But targeting a number of households who may like a burger too much is not good news – a recent study found that those who watched a television advert for unhealthy foods consume more calories! However, this study proves that television advertisements produce the results they need!

So, our web browser already knows us by accessing our browsing history, and now our television will know about us by way of television tracking software! There’s no escape – unless you live in a cave!

Privacy concerns with television tracking software
One of the biggest concerns is privacy. What exactly are these media companies doing with our personal information using television tracking software? According to Comcast, they’re simply using the television tracking software to allow media companies, such as NBC, to find out our viewing preferences and likes. Yeah, sure they are!

Lee Tien from the Electronic Frontier Foundation has several concerns, speaking to International Business Times he said  “I would ask them, ‘How are you technically implementing that?’ Exactly what data is generated in the process, and then how do you process that data in a way that it does not or cannot reveal the things that you say that you’re not trying to reveal?”

Television tracking software doesn’t necessary mean that when you switch on your television set, you will see targeted tv ads staring back at you, it will be a lot different to browsing the internet where you see an irritating advert pop up at every webpage you visit. Television tracking software will be used to find out more about a household’s viewing preferences.

What could the future hold using television tracking software? Well, it doesn’t look like television tracking software will deliver tailor-made individual adverts, but it could work in a way that if you watch a lot of sport shows, then you could see more adverts for beer. There is also a possibility for viewers to control the adverts they receive. For example, if you’ve just bought new bedroom furniture you probably won’t want to see adverts for home furnishings for a while – so you could opt out, which would save advertisers a vast amount of money by not showing an advert that a viewer is no longer interested in.  And of course, we really want to help television advertisers to save every cent they can!

Getting to know you – getting to know ALL ABOUT you…..!

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