Right on Target: Audience-Based Buying
By Shauna Wimer
Director of Advertising Sales
Read time: 5 minutes
Ad views are great, but what if your ads aren’t reaching the right viewers? We’re talking all about the basics of audience-based buying and how it can help give your business a marketing strategy boost.
Quick Summary
- TV means more than just cable.
- An omnichannel approach is the best approach.
- Audience-based buying puts your ad where your customers are, regardless of device.
- Audience targeting can make your advertising more relevant, efficient and effective.
- Data analytics can be used throughout the process to further define your target audience.
When someone says they’re watching TV, what’s your first thought? For many of us, we automatically think of tuning into a program on a traditional TV – in fact, 72% of all time spent on video is TV.1 While that type of viewing is still incredibly popular, the dynamic of how we consume content is changing, and the way we advertise is changing with it.
Cord-cutting has morphed into cord-stacking, where people have added onto their cable packages with over-the-top (OTT) programming, connected TV (CTV) and mobile viewing. In fact, consumers have increased the number of video sources they use by 60% in the last two years.2 This type of viewing has audiences actively searching and selecting shows – meaning your message is seen by an engaged viewer.
As the number of devices consumers use increase, so do the ways you can reach them. At Midco, we firmly believe in an omnichannel approach and encourage our clients to branch out to explore digital advertising options like pre-roll, digital display and social media ads. This puts your content in popular avenues where your potential customers already are.
Some of these tactics allow us to use retargeting ads. This means we can serve ads to people who’ve already visited your website – reminding them of your business and enticing them to take another look.
All these channels and platforms can make it confusing for a business to put together a cohesive and data-driven marketing strategy on their own. That’s where our Midco Advertising Sales team comes in with our audience-based buying campaigns.
Traditional, linear TV buying practices would advise you to hit the largest demographic with a TV commercial for the most impact. You could look at gender and age or program ratings to find the right time of day (dayparts) for your messages to air.
Audience-based buying allows us to dig in deeper to find the audience most likely to be interested in your message – no matter how they are watching their favorite shows or engaging with their favorite sites. Whether it’s on linear cable TV, OTT, websites, apps or a mobile/digital FEP (full episode player), you have a chance to connect.
At the center of every media campaign is the audience you are trying to target. We work with you to dive into audience insights. What do they like? Where do they live? What kind of lifestyle do they lead? This type of detailed information is the fuel that makes your campaign run – and run successfully. Understanding your target, helps us reach the audiences that are most receptive to and most likely to take action on your ad.
To do this, we look at four main components: industry, demographics, geography and interests.
- Industry. Let’s say you own a clothing store. We can examine the campaign data from other stores in that industry, giving us a great base of what works and what didn’t for that audience.
- Demographics. Who is that ideal customer? We use the latest data to curate an audience that fits the right age, gender, marital status and income you’re looking for.
- Geography. While shoppers looking for the same products might share a similar demographic, the way they consume and engage with content may be drastically different depending on where they live. A person who lives in rural South Dakota is going to have different media habits than someone who lives in downtown Minneapolis.
- Interests. We look beyond the obvious to find the interests most applicable to your audience. Our team knows each local market. This lets us develop a thorough picture of your target customers and create a unique advertising plan for your business with data-driven insights.
Audience-based buying also gives us more power to track your results. Traditional TV campaigns only measure how many views occurred during the timeframe that your commercial aired.
With an audience-based buying omnichannel approach, certain placements allow us to:
- Learn how many people saw 100% of the ad.
- Perform A/B testing on creative ads.
- See clicks and ad impressions for each viewing device.
- View ad impressions and completion rate per network and platform.
- Create an interactive map showing impressions by zip code.
And this information is not something we keep to ourselves. At Midco, we share everything we learn from your campaign with you. There is no gatekeeping, as each business has access to its own reporting dashboard.
It’s another perk of having a local team in your corner. If you don’t understand something in the report, your account executive is ready to walk you through it. Plus, with most reporting available within one to two days after placement, we can adjust where your ads are for the best possible ROI.
Midco Advertising Sales Team
- 36 sales experts & 32 support team members
- 4 states
- 7 designated market areas
- 25 insertable networks
- 20 ad zones
- 277,000 video households
- 6 digital ad products
- 12 targeting categories
- 100s of sports and special events
- Midco Sports™ sponsorships and content
There are so many exciting things in the pipeline from a targeted advertising perspective. We’re investing in the technology to allow for more and more specificity when it comes to ad placements. Plus, with the launch of MidcoTV®, we’re giving you another avenue to reach an audience hungry for content and receptive to your business.
Audience-based buying is the future of advertising, and as a future-focused technology company, Midco is ready for it.
About Shauna Wimer
As the Director of Advertising Sales, Shauna Wimer is responsible for the full advertising sales team, concentrating on sports, digital, and cable TV sales across Midco’s footprint. As part of the Midco Senior Leadership team, she plays an integral role in building talent, encouraging women’s business leadership, and fostering strong relationships. Prior to her role at Midco, she gained 20 years of marketing and communications experience working for a variety of broadcast companies represented throughout North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.
About Shauna Wimer
As the Director of Advertising Sales, Shauna Wimer is responsible for the full advertising sales team, concentrating on sports, digital, and cable TV sales across Midco’s footprint. As part of the Midco Senior Leadership team, she plays an integral role in building talent, encouraging women’s business leadership, and fostering strong relationships. Prior to her role at Midco, she gained 20 years of marketing and communications experience working for a variety of broadcast companies represented throughout North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.
1 Nielsen Total Audience report Q1 2020. Combines live TV & time shifted TV consumption. 2 Hub Entertainment Research, Oct 2020. This material includes references to other products, services and/or equipment not manufactured by Midco. The respective companies retain trademark and registered trademark ownership for those referenced items.