Ad-technology company Ampersand said it has added new tools to its And platform, making it easier for local advertisers to create targeted, data-driven campaigns via cable and streaming programming.
The new capabilities include Local Broadcast and Cable Insights, which gives clients the ability to monitor and optimize buys across all their television investments.
It has also added Audience Builder, which helps set audience targets. For example, an auto dealer planning a baseball-related promotion could target Ford brand loyalists and baseball fans or heavy sports watchers.
The third tool is RFP and Ordering Workflow, which gives clients an easy dashboard for planning, executing and updating campaigns.
Also: Ampersand Offers Buyers a Total TV Measurement Solution
Gerrit Niemeijer, chief technology officer at Ampersand, told Broadcasting+Cable that the company’s data capabilities help large and small advertisers utilize the persuasiveness and engagement of TV and the targeting of digital.
“For the longest time in television, there wasn’t that much data available,” Niemeijer said. “Now, there’s so much data available, and we want to make it easier for our clients to activate against that.“
Owned by cable companies Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications, Ampersand draws viewer data from set-top boxes in 42 million homes and can mount campaigns that reach 80 million homes, including more than 70% of all addressable households.
Ampersand takes a “Total TV” approach. “I’m a big believer in the power of television. It’s all about the content,“ Niemijer said. ”Linear, CTV, OTT, it’s all television to me. And the impact of a good TV commercial, I believe, is much higher than the impact of a good display ad.”
Working with cable operators also gives Ampersand an advantage over broadcast competitors in targeting campaigns. Geographically, Ampersand is able to run campaigns across multiple DMAs. It can also target advertising zones within a DMA. At the same time, while TV stations can only target viewers watching a single network, Ampersand’s cable operators insert commercials on dozens of channels, increasing their reach.
Niemeijer also trusts the viewing data that Ampersand gets from cable subscribers, who have a direct subscribing relationship with the operators. “We have a very authenticated relationship,” he said, and the more-reliable data leads to higher match rates for campaigns.
Niemeijer said Ampersand was originally set up to counter the growing fragmentation in the cable TV market. While cord-cutting is eating into cable subscriber numbers, because it can also target streamers, Ampersand can help advertisers reaggregate viewers.
“The whole point was to create one-stop shopping,“ he said. “We’ll take care of the complications.” ■
