The company rolled out its new addressable advertising engine last month. It delivers “actionable ads” that are targeted to viewers based on demographic data, so-called “psychographic” data (that refers to the likes, interests and habits of a viewer), geography and other viewer attributes.
Spincast is hoping to help its content partners cash in on leveraging psychographic data and other bits of audience information to drive revenue. And thanks to the Internet and the rise of advanced advertising technologies, information about a viewers’ likes and interests can now be used to drive marketing campaigns and to target advertising.
“Research and data has demonstrated time and again that most consumers don’t mind advertising just as long as the ads are targeted to their needs,” said Spincast TV CEO Mario Castellanos. “How many times have we walked away from the TV when an unrelated ad appears? With targeted advertising, the viewer stays engaged.”
Spincast says it’s able to target viewers’ interests, based on first party data that it has about viewer behaviors, for example, and deliver relevant advertising. The engine acts essentially as a server-side platform (SSP), with real-time ad insertion. Castellanos told Faultline Online Reporter the company also plans to work with advertising agencies to match brands and campaigns with the relevant content on Spincast’s network. Through these partnerships, Spincast will develop targeted, relevant point of purchase features.
For example, a campaign with Coleman’s outdoor products can be linked to a program about camping, and viewers from around the world will have the ability to look at, and purchase, products as they’re watching TV. Spincast TV will split advertising revenues with its content partners 50-50.
But the company is taking that a step further: it also offers a point of purchase feature that’ll put relevant products directly in front of viewers. “When someone is watching our app on a mobile device or on a TV set, our data dashboard will be able to pinpoint individuals which advertisers can target,” Castellanos said. “As you are watching a show, a Coleman cooler comes up. And as you’re watching it, at the bottom of your screen, a little window pops up that enables purchases.”
Castellanos was unwilling to delve into some specifics of the company’s business plan, but the value that Spincast is bringing to the table for marketers and advertising agencies is what Castellanos estimates to be a global audience of billions that’ll be engaged and attentive for receiving media messages. And as viewers spend more time on the platform, and Spincast is able to gather more data about its advertising and point of purchase features alongside its programming, the more revenue the platform will be able to drive.
“This is an incredible user experience,” Castellanos said. “If there’s too much advertising, people won’t want to watch the show and we don’t want that; if there’s too little advertising, you’re leaving money on the table, and we don’t want that either. So, we’re going to be very data-centric and simultaneously user friendly to the viewer.”
