SAN JOSE, Calif.—Adobe has launched the new Adobe Express for Enterprise, which Adobe said is designed to help businesses improve marketing content creation and extend easy, on-brand content production to communications, sales and other business users. 

Adobe Express for Enterprise includes powerful branding tools, support for automated content creation and AI-based content creation with Firefly Image Model 3. It also provides streamlined interoperability with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Acrobat combined with granular brand controls enable organizations to easily create content. 

Adobe reported that leading enterprises and agencies like IBM, Dentsu and others have already adopted Adobe Express for Enterprise. 

“Adobe Express for Enterprise is the only solution that brings together enterprise-grade brand management, intuitive tools, advanced AI designed to be safe for business and seamless workflows with world-class creative apps – empowering individuals across the enterprise to produce more impactful, on-brand content faster than ever before.”

More specifically, Adobe said that the new advances include Brand Controls, Bulk Create, Generate and Firefly Custom Models, enabling marketers to reuse and adapt content for upcoming campaigns and localize campaign assets for different regions. Sales teams can effortlessly create and customize engaging materials for clients and prospects, and internal and external communications teams can design content for stakeholders – quickly and easily.

Adobe Express for Enterprise is seamlessly integrated with Adobe Acrobat, Creative Cloud and AEM Assets, as well as Adobe GenStudio, the company’s forthcoming end-to-end content lifecycle app. Adobe GenStudio enables marketers to reuse existing brand-approved content, generate variations for digital channels, activate content in Adobe and third-party applications and measure content performance. Deeply integrated into Adobe GenStudio, Adobe Express for Enterprise supports the ability to remix approved assets and directly edit content without requiring specialized creative skills.

“With the exponential growth in demand for personalized experiences, companies must find new ways to supercharge the production of content that connects with customers and elevates their brands,” said Govind Balakrishnan, senior vice president, Adobe Express Product Group and Creative Cloud Services at Adobe. “Adobe Express for Enterprise is the only solution that brings together enterprise-grade brand management, intuitive tools, advanced AI designed to be safe for business and seamless workflows with world-class creative apps – empowering individuals across the enterprise to produce more impactful, on-brand content faster than ever before.”

Adobe reported that IBM marketing teams are already personalizing content using Adobe Express for Enterprise. According to Jonathan Adashek, senior vice president, marketing and communications at IBM, “Marketers are looking for trusted AI that seamlessly integrates into their work. Adobe Express for Enterprise is empowering marketers at IBM to create on-brand content aligned to business objectives that delivers compelling, personalized experiences to targeted audiences."

IBM Consulting is also partnering with Adobe to help clients leverage Firefly-powered workflows in Express to create commercially safe content with unprecedented ease and speed and modernize their content supply chains. Clients can expect to see a 30% increase in project capacity and 70% reduction in time to market by distributing creative production tasks across a more diverse team of professionals while delivering more personalized, brand-compliant, digital assets at scale. Adobe Express for Enterprise will also empower IBM’s Consultants to make on-brand content by quickly applying fonts, colors, logos and images to marketing materials.

Other large brands and agencies using Adobe Express to create on-brand content faster and more efficiently include:

• Dentsu, one of the largest global marketing and advertising agency networks in the world, saw a 70% faster time to market by empowering marketers to self-serve.
• Red Hat, the world's leading provider of enterprise open-source solutions, is using Adobe Express in its marketing organization. Leveraging Adobe Express templates, marketers can create their own assets on demand and rapidly scale up for digital campaigns, product marketing and events. Empowering marketers with Adobe Express enables Red Hat to accomplish in minutes what used to take days. The integration between Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Express streamlines Red Hat's design workflow, giving creative teams more bandwidth to design new ways of engaging customers.
• Owen Jones, a brand experience agency, saw a 40%-time savings on content versioning when clients were able to make self-serve changes with Adobe Express.

Adobe’s own marketing and communications teams are also using Adobe Express for Enterprise across a variety of use cases. According to Stacy Martinet, vice president, marketing strategy and communications at Adobe, the social media team is leveraging Adobe Express templates from the creative studio to make and activate more content quicker, which also enables the team to test and optimize content at a much faster pace. As a result, the team has increased time to market by 12X, improved engagement by 35% and reduced costs by 17% while saving hundreds of hours annually.

Using Adobe Express for Enterprise, Adobe’s sales team also has reduced delivery time for client assets from two to three weeks to just 30 minutes, helping them close deals and realize revenue faster.

The solution also features updated capabilities for Firefly, which uses generative AI models that are designed to be safe for business so enterprises can deploy the app broadly with confidence. Firefly-powered advances like Text to Image, Text to Template, Text Effects, Generative Fill and other features like auto-translate, are deeply integrated into Adobe Express workflows, enabling marketers to deliver campaigns faster, instantly generating, translating and customizing production-ready assets and creating endless variations in just a few clicks at greater scale and lower costs.

Adobe also reported that Firefly Image Model 3 is now available directly in Adobe Express – the latest Adobe image model delivering stunning advancements that unlock unprecedented quality, control and variety of output through new features. For example, users can upload reference images and use Firefly to generate new images based on the style, mood, lighting, layout or composition of the reference images with a simple prompt.

Adobe offers enterprise customers IP indemnification for imagery generated with Firefly, giving brands additional assurance. To provide transparency around the use of generative AI in the creative process, Content Credentials are automatically attached to digital content created or edited with Firefly in Adobe Express, providing a digital nutrition label that builds trust with audiences.

Coming soon, Firefly Custom Models will be available in Adobe Express so enterprise customers can create bespoke Firefly models to generate images with stronger brand identity across tools, teams and marketing touchpoints.

Bulk Create and Generate will allow marketers to create design variations – including generate images – in seconds. Marketers will also be able to leverage generate copy to create and test messaging performance and adapt to channels and design types at the speed of AI.

Adobe also reported that it is working with Microsoft to develop Adobe Express Extension for Microsoft Copilot to unlock new levels of creativity and productivity for employees. When it launches, the extension will empower everyone to easily create on-brand content within Microsoft 365 apps with a simple prompt –from engaging videos, animations, social, banners, flyers and more – directly in the Copilot chat and without disrupting their workflows.

Adobe will share more about these latest innovations at an Adobe Express for Enterprise virtual event on June 11.

For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

New product specialists join from broadcasters to enrich customer understanding

Cambridge, 7 October 2019: Underlining the importance of its solutions business, Pixel Power has added two new product specialists to the team. Tanya Schurawel and Toria Farrell both come direct from broadcasters, and will use their unique insights to help customers develop optimised solutions for automated production, graphics and playout.

Tanya Schurawel joins from Univision in the US, where she was most recently technical supervisor, animator and designer. With her strong technical and creative background, Tanya – who will be based in Florida– will engage with customers during the pre-sales period, ensuring their complex requirements are identified and satisfactorily met with Pixel Power’s virtualizable, modular systems.

Toria Farrell was previously a transmission controller at Red Bee Media/Ericsson. Toria began her career at the BBC as an EPG scheduler, and her career has seen her act as network director and playout director. Toria was a key member of the transmission launch team for the BT Sport launch in 2013, and became a senior playout director in 2015. She has worked within many client transmission areas from uktv and ITV to Channel 4, BT Sport and BBC World News. Based in the Pixel Power headquarters in Cambridge, she will work with customers to define software and virtualized playout solutions which enhance their businesses.

“As playout moves from large hardware installations to the almost infinite capabilities of software-defined, virtualizable solutions, broadcasters need to look at their operations and workflows afresh,” said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power. “Vendors have an important role here, in translating a broadcaster’s business needs into innovative, practical and affordable technologies and workflows.

“Tanya and Toria, because of their extensive and current experience in broadcast and online transmission, are great assets in these discussions,” Gilbert added. “I’m delighted they have joined the Pixel Power team, helping us – and our customers – go from strength to strength.”

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About Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz Company
Pixel Power develops software-defined, virtualizable, solutions for broadcast playout, automation, master control, graphics & branding used in linear television channels, OTT and VOD. Our award-winning branding and promotions systems, graphics-enabled master control switchers and sophisticated switchable graphics production systems allow producers to deliver dynamic live and pre-recorded content for any SD, HD, 4k, mobile, online or interactive application.

Pixel Power has 30 years’ experience of engineering prowess and dedication to customer support that has made it the industry’s first choice in graphics, branding and playout. With more than 2500 installations worldwide, customers including market-leading broadcasters such as BBC, Ericsson, ITV, SWR, WDR, TV2 Norway, Danmarks Radio, TV5 Monde, CBC, Disney, Discovery, ESPN, ViaSat and Sky.

Recently acquired by Rohde & Schwarz GmbH, Pixel Power corporate headquarters are in Cambridge UK with regional offices in Grass Valley California and Dubai UAE.

Pixel Power can be contacted online at www.pixelpower.com.


Pixel Power Contact:
Name: Ciaran Doran
Title: Exec VP
Email: cdoran@pixelpower.com
Tel: +44 7775 581301

PR Contact:
Name: Jennie Marwick-Evans
Company: Manor Marketing
Email: jennie@manormarketing.tv
Tel: +44 7748 636171

Cambridge, UK 28 May 2019 : Pixel Power, the global automation, branding and graphics innovator, is working with with Qvest Media, the leading global media systems architect, to bring its playout and automation systems to Qvest.Cloud, a multicloud management platform for media.

“Qvest.Cloud from Qvest Media is an ideal environment for our virtualized approach to automation”, said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power. “For many reasons, broadcasters are keen to adopt hybrid workflows that blend cloud and on-premise hosting of fully integrated systems. That is precisely what Qvest.Cloud brings to the table: it means our clients can create their own bespoke workflows and use whichever cloud providers deliver the right service for them.”

Pixel Power, with its 30-year dedication to the media industry, has used its experience to develop a uniquely powerful and flexible approach to automation. It is built around two key elements: StreamMaster for video and graphics processing, and Gallium for workflow and playout automation. Their functional block architectures mean implementations can be fine-tuned to achieve optimal performance for each specific use case. StreamMaster and Gallium together build solutions which are inherently virtualizable and cloud-agnostic.

As well as fully-featured channel playout, the Pixel Power architecture also allows for powerful functionality such as the automated creation of VOD assets for catch-up channels, and the automated creation of trailers and promos. The company has long offered its automation technology on pay-as-you-go and pay-per-feature licensing models, which fit perfectly with Qvest.Cloud.

Qvest.Cloud radically simplifies the implementation and management of fully virtualized architectures using best-of-breed products. By networking third-party applications into a single, integrated workflow in a multicloud environment, it makes it simple to operate rich solutions from a single dashboard, breaking down the barriers between on-premise installation and private and public clouds.

“Pixel Power playout and automation solutions are designed to take full benefit of the cloud, and therefore fit perfectly in the Qvest.Cloud ecosystem”, said Thomas Müller, CTO at Qvest Media. “Our aim is to offer customers from the broadcast and media industry a platform that is scalable and cost-efficient, with proper ready-to-use packages and custom-tailored enterprise solutions.”

James Gilbert of Pixel Power concluded: “We have always believed that the transition to IP was simply an enabler on the road to tailored, operationally significant and extremely cost-effective solutions for our customers around the world. We are excited to be working with Qvest Media to offer broadcasters and media companies the chance to transition to modern, software-centric technology supporting their own requirements and their own pace of change.”

###

About Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz Company

Pixel Power develops software-defined, virtualizable, solutions for broadcast playout, automation, master control, graphics & branding used in linear television channels, OTT and VOD. Our award-winning branding and promotions systems, graphics-enabled master control switchers and sophisticated switchable graphics production systems allow producers to deliver dynamic live and pre-recorded content for any SD, HD, 4k, mobile, online or interactive application.

Pixel Power has 30 years’ experience of engineering prowess and dedication to customer support that has made it the industry’s first choice in graphics, branding and playout. With more than 2500 installations worldwide, customers including market-leading broadcasters such as BBC, Ericsson, ITV, SWR, WDR, TV2 Norway, Danmarks Radio, TV5 Monde, CBC, Disney, Discovery, ESPN, ViaSat and Sky.

Recently acquired by Rohde & Schwarz GmbH, Pixel Power corporate headquarters are in Cambridge UK with regional offices in Grass Valley California and Dubai UAE.

Pixel Power can be contacted online at www.pixelpower.com.


Pixel Power contact:
Name: Ciaran Doran
Title: Exec VP
Email: cdoran@pixelpower.com
Tel: +44 7775 581301

PR Contact:
Name: Jennie Marwick-Evans
Company: Manor Marketing
Email: jennie@manormarketing.tv
Tel: +44 7748 636171

Cypress, CA, April 23, 2019 – Social media and sports go hand in hand. So much so that when it came time for the professional video production team at Western Michigan University (WMU) to add a second replay system, they wanted something easy to learn as well as a system that would provide social media branding and video playout – all in one system.

WMU already had one Envivo Replay, a sports and live event replay solution from Variant Systems, which is used to capture slow motion footage of the school’s Division I football team for in-stadium replays and for streaming coverage to ESPN and ESPN+. As part of the school’s video production unit, Bronco Productions, students are responsible for the school’s sports programming feeds to ESPN and ESPN+. Based on its simple to learn user interface and the system’s built-in branding and social media playout integration, the school purchased its second Envivo Replay system. The goal in mind with the second Envivo Replay is the creation of more live content for WMU’s social media platforms and for scoreboard playout at the stadium.

“We want to get great looks in the arena and then get that content out to social media instantly,” said Thomas Delves, Director, Bronco Productions. “We envision this new unit being used very much for social media content creation and promotion and to get more video out in-game. Being able to brand and playout all in one system is a huge plus for us. It also gives us an opportunity to train our students before they start providing replay feeds to our ESPN shows. Another benefit is that we’re able to teach students on technology similar to what broadcasters use.”

Delves credits the support he’s received from Variant Systems as another factor in the decision to go with a second Envivo Replay system: “Having that support is one of the main reasons we want to continue to work with Envivo. Olaf Bahr [Vice President of Marketing, Variant Systems] has been an amazing resource. They’re always looking at making it better with updates and tweaks. Just all-around incredible service.”

Variant Systems’ Envivo Replay is sold all over the world, and exclusively by FOR-A in North, Central and South America. Envivo Replay is a complete replay solution with an intuitive user interface that offers support for high-speed slow-motion cameras, as well as playlists for highlights playback, built-in branding capabilities, and direct publishing to social media platforms. It allows for multiple camera inputs and multiple controlled outputs.

Envivo Replay is part of a complete live event workflow with FOR-A’s HANABI series of video switchers, ClassX 3D graphics, and video writer telestrators.

About FOR-A

FOR-A, a worldwide, industry-leading manufacturer, offers a wide range of broadcast and production products with a focus on cutting-edge technologies, including: HD, 4K and IP products. FOR-A continues to offer future-ready, cost effective, advanced technology solutions. Products include: video switchers, routing switchers, multi-viewers, full 4K high-speed cameras, IP encoders/decoders, multi-channel signal processors, 8K/4K/HD test signal generators, color correctors, frame synchronizers, file-based products, character generators, video servers and much more.

For a full range of HD and 4K production and processing solutions, as well as IP-based products, visit our web site at www.for-a.com.

# # #

FOR-A CORPORATION OF AMERICA, 11155 Knott Ave., Suite G&H, Cypress, CA 90630 Phone: 714-894-3311, Fax 714-894-5399 Web site: www.for-a.com 

Content management is a key part of the broadcasting workflow and nowhere is this more apparent than in the operation of playout. Ensuring the right content is played out at the correct time and with accurate details is essential. Reliable, virtualized broadcast playout solutions are critical—and they’re here.

One company that has been developing the software for such virtualization is Cambridge, U.K.-based Pixel Power. Originally known for its powerful graphics and branding solutions, the company had the foresight some years ago to appreciate how its technology could be used beyond the production of on-screen content.

“The transition from the graphics side is about how we perceived an industry trend in terms of a need,” explains Ciaran Doran, executive vice president, sales and marketing for Pixel Power. “Take promo production as an example. There is often a need to produce a large number of variants. Maybe up to 50 versions of the same promo. The old way would have seen post-production produce all the finished versions and then place them in a queue for playout. Using our technology, that operation is automated, which allows the production of multiple versions of trailers and promos with accuracy and high productivity.”

The technology allows a broadcaster’s team of graphics designers to concentrate on creative work, designing new campaigns and brand material rather than repetitive, manual end-board re-works.

This switch to the new way of working involves building a graphics template—that had been agreed to by all departments—that contains all relevant elements. Those elements—visual content, voice over, time, day—can be pulled automatically from the relevant files and drawn into the template and the resultant file inserted into the playlist.

“By using an agreed template, the material will appear in the right format, the right font, the right color, the right position on the screen and so on,” says Doran. “What’s more, by retrieving the information from data in the EPG or schedule, then you have actually pulled what is coming up next with its date, time and any relevant information. So, if what is ‘coming up next’ changes, then you are displaying the correct information at that right time. In effect, you have evolved from a post-production function to a just-in-time function.”

POWERFUL HARDWARE

So, how has this technology evolved?

“When we first started doing graphics and branding software there wasn’t the computer power available off the shelf. So, we built our own powerful hardware to drive the software applications. Now, with the huge expansion in the IT world, we’ve got COTS (commercial off the shelf) hardware that is powerful enough for us to simply buy-in and drive our software.”

“But,” Doran adds, “there is more to consider. If there’s COTS hardware available, then software has to be developed that can run on anyone’s server, and the server can be in the broadcaster’s facility, in a remote office or it can be run in the public cloud.”

Doran explains that by building the software from the ground up, functionality could be included that allows broadcasters freedom to use specific features or blocks of features as required with flexibility that was never possible before.

“For example, it’s the same software regardless of whether you have the machine sitting in the rack next to you or in the public cloud. It’s the same license. And we do not discriminate in any way between where you use that software and that license.”

If a broadcaster wants to start off with its own hardware, Pixel Power will charge the same for the license even if later there is a move to COTS hardware or deployment in the public cloud, they will even help with the transition.

Doran continues: “Replacing bespoke hardware with COTS and using a pure software platform offers very real benefits to before. New features can be more easily deployed over the lifetime of an installation as they are needed. As one example, we deployed the latest NDI codec within a short period at the end of 2017 for a customer who said we’d really like this facility. That’s one benefit of our common platform—we don’t have to worry about what hardware is being used—and, more importantly, neither does the customer.”

FLEXIBLE FACILITY

Another significant benefit of the Pixel Power technology is the provision to acquire or use specific features of the software as and when required.

“Many users of traditional hardware only use about 60 percent of the features for 40 percent of the time,” states Doran. “So why install a solution that’s a permanent feature when it’s either never used only just used occasionally? With a flexible software solution like ours, a broadcaster can get access to a feature that is not needed all of the time, it can add on that facility for a determined length of time—whether that is by the quarter or by the hour. Our software is very granular and very flexible—indeed our pricing models include pay-as-you-go, pay-per-feature, OPEX or CAPEX.”

One broadcaster that has seen the benefit of the Pixel Power developments is Virgin Media Television (formerly TV3) in Ireland.

“In an increasingly competitive market, the broadcaster wanted to increase the vigor and prominence of its branding and promotions across all its portfolio including SD, HD and multi-platform outputs,” says Doran. “Recognizing that this could best be accomplished through automated conforming and fulfilment of graphics, the company investigated our solution.”

The result was the introduction of Pixel Power StreamMaster BRAND. The system, which comprises the latest software solution running on COTS hardware, manages content across multiple channels and formats and delivers the power of the graphics engines. Using a single workflow and schedule, the system enables the automatic selection and insertion of the right graphics version at the right time and the right channel, as well as managing the squeeze-backs, and allowing different branding content in the SD and HD streams.

“Virgin Media purchased StreamMaster BRAND to enable it to deliver graphics and branding right at the point of playout. So instead of preparing a fully finished graphic, or sequence, the creative department creates a template on which all the elements are then built moments before going to air. This ensures that any changes in the schedule results in new graphics prepared accordingly.”

Another customer is Sky Creative Agency within Sky Television. It implemented Pixel Power’s Factory automated production technology using the well-known Clarity graphics platform and Gallium Workflow Orchestration.

Sky’s commissioning tool provides all the data required for Factory to track and produce promo versions from the assets provided by the broadcaster’s creative and design teams. Using its own compositing, DVE and graphics capabilities, Factory generates all the versions completely automatically. Because it is driven by the information entered into Sky’s commissioning tool, which in turn is linked to their scheduling system, errors in transmission times, channels, sponsors and so on, are eliminated.

“Sky started out with its simpler promotions, but were soon able to include the highly complex Sky Sports promos and other services,” reveals Doran.

Once Factory receives a set of instructions it generates all the versions, faster than real time, and delivers them as technically compliant files to the broadcast MAM system.

“Using Gallium FACTORY, Sky can create hundreds of different versions of the same promo,” explains Doran. “Once the ‘creative’ completes the compelling promo in 10, 20, 30, 45 second versions, Gallium FACTORY uses a database to fetch all the correct and relevant information to create the multiple versions of Now, Next, Later promos.”

SECURITY

Although all Pixel Power software solutions can be used on hardware at the broadcaster’s facility, it can also be deployed at a remote data centre or be used in the pubic cloud. And that raises the question of security.

“Broadcasters have taken this seriously and are continually bringing in that expertise. Look at the number of jobs that are being advertised for both IT engineers and cybersecurity individuals. Cybersecurity is a very real issue in many fields and broadcasting is no different. In many parts of the world, broadcasting is political power and we have seen in recent times how hacking into those systems can do an awful lot of damage,” points out Doran.

Although Pixel Power doesn’t currently offer cybersecurity, the company which recently acquired the business—Rohde & Schwarz—has built up a huge cybersecurity division to support customers in all its markets.

The two companies will remain separate entities, with the Cambridge operation now known as “Pixel Power Ltd. – A Rohde & Schwarz Company.”

“Rohde & Schwarz wants to protect the Pixel Power brand and benefit from it,” notes Doran. “What we are achieving is way ahead of others and we have strong sales growth these last few years. But despite being technically advanced and having a long and trusted reputation, it is sometimes difficult for a major broadcaster in one part of the world to say, ‘yes you are ahead of the game, but you are a small company based on the other side of the globe.’ Rohde & Schwarz helps us to give us that stature to move into new markets.”

WAY FORWARD

Doran concludes: “The transition from SDI to IP in the last few years is simply changing from one form of transport stream to another—but the key is that it enables us to virtualize the software applications. All our solutions, whether a simple graphics tool or a full master-control/automation/playout suite with sophisticated branding can be virtualized. Virtualizable software applications enable new opportunities, such as hardware on your doorstep or in the private or public cloud. And using the cloud creates a paradigm shift because it changes the way in which broadcasting can take place.

“If you can operate applications from the cloud, then you don’t need a bespoke facility. You can use less expensive office facilities and as long as you have a fast-enough pipe to wherever your data is, wherever your content is, wherever your playout system is, then you can manage all of that in a cloud-based system. This will be the major transition in broadcast playout over the next 10 years. Broadcasters are already discovering the enabling potential of virtualizable solutions and preparing to move to less expensive locations. With technology like ours, you can manage content from just about anywhere.” 

How we consume TV continues to fragment while the notion of TV has become more about the type and quality of content, rather than the stationary flat screen mounted in the living room. Think back to the last time you watched an entire television series, week after week, at its regularly scheduled time. It’s likely been awhile. The proliferation of new TV formats and mobile viewing have created an exciting new world of engagement opportunities for advertisers, as well as more sophisticated measurement solutions to calculate ROI. 

Brands need to reconsider the metrics they use now to ensure they are understanding the effectiveness of digital TV advertising and it’s driving consumer action. Take, for example, the traditional metric for measuring how effectively a TV ad is delivering a brand’s message, gross ratings point (GRP). While the GRP certainly has a place in TV measurement, it does not address all the demands of this new media ecosystem. For one thing, it’s only modeled to measure ad exposure, not consumers’ behavior in response to an ad. GRP also does not take advantage of new, more sophisticated measurement techniques to understand how effective an ad was at driving people to a website or – even more important for brands with a retail presence – a store.

UNCOVERING TV ROI WITH PHYSICAL-WORLD BEHAVIOR 

Understanding what consumers do when they are in the real world is taking ROI measurement well beyond TV’s traditional “eyeballs” metrics for advertising effectiveness. CMOs have begun to embrace foot traffic measurement based on physical-world behavior as a more reliable and actionable metric for calculating ROI, especially for omni-channel marketing campaigns. That trend is also being embraced across TV, increasingly making it an industry standard and enabling TV advertising to stay relevant and demonstrate its value in the digital era.

Advanced technology offered today can directly connect traditional “linear” TV ads (as well as on-demand, streaming and addressable TV ads) to consumers’ real-world behavior by matching audiences’ mobile device IDs to households in an anonymized, privacy-friendly manner. Measuring the change in store visits from target audiences through location data allows brands to finally “unlock” precise TV campaign ROI measurement.

Digital agencies and advertisers are held to metrics that are tied exactly to how many shopper actions they drive, which are proxies of actual visits. And solving the traditional media measurement problem is becoming increasingly important for the TV industry as it undergoes a dramatic shift. But it’s even more crucial as the advertising ecosystem moves towards an omni-channel approach that incorporates TV into a wide range of other digital and physical media. With foot traffic measurement tied to specific ads, marketers can move towards a new universal metric, like cost-per-visit, that not only measures advertising success but efficiency too. 

If brands can better understand the cost-per-visit tied to a TV ad and compare that to other types of media, its value becomes much clearer. So, even while the cost of a 30-second TV spot is often much higher than a banner ad, cost-per-visit metrics can reveal that the commercial is delivering more foot traffic per dollar spent than the banner ad. The bottom line is that TV doesn’t have to go the way of print if it can stay relevant in the current media landscape by shifting to a new, more reliable and relevant metric that is comparable across different channels.

HOW MARKETERS CAN LEVERAGE NEW TV METRICS

There are several questions that every marketer should ask themselves before leveraging foot traffic measurement technology for their next TV ad campaign. First, what are the primary insights you hope to reach from this type of measurement? For example, are you looking to compare different creatives’ ability to drive traffic to stores? Or do you want to see which region was most affected by your national TV spot? Maybe you are looking to test the efficiency of different networks, dayparts, or even types of media. Whatever it might be, defining your goals upfront is important when deciding what measurement technology to use. 

Second, it’s important to know that the data being used to create foot traffic insights will be reliable enough to meet your needs. Take exposure data sources, for instance: is the data based on linear, over-the-top (OTT) streaming, addressable TV or some combination of those? How is the measurement provider connecting real-world behavior and household viewing habits? (Watch out for convoluted guesswork and modeling or privacy violations.) Basically, you should be asking yourself, is the methodology sound and conducted on a statistically significant scale?

Finally, can the measurement provider deliver an apples-to-apples comparison of digital, mobile and other advertising mediums using the same metric? This is incredibly important in the new world of omni-channel advertising. As advertisers inevitably start to unify around more reliable metrics like cost-per-visit, marketers must fully understand what they mean (and the technology behind them) to realize their full value. 

Lindsey DiGiorgio is vice president of marketing at NinthDecimal.