AT&T AdWorks, the telco’s New York-based advanced advertising division, is pushing ahead with a new audience targeting system that uses anonymous AT&T data from a mix of online, mobile and TV users that’s overlaid with data supplied from third party providers.
The resulting platform, called AT&T AdWorks Blueprint, aims to deliver the most relevant messages to consumers while reducing the amount of “irrelevant ads” that pop up when they're using browsers on PCs and mobile devices or watching TV.
AT&T AdWorks, which developed Blueprint in conjunction with AT&T Labs, said customers can opt-out of receiving targeted advertising, noting that it's a move that’s consistent with the Digital Advertising Alliance’s program for online behavioral targeting.
To cover each type of screen, Blueprint consists of three platforms: online, mobile and TV.
The online platform creates audience segments from more than 4 billion anonymous data signals generated by search activity, browsing patterns, Wi-Fi hotspot data and viewing habits. From that data, AdWorks has developed an audience scoring system to predict the user’s interest in a range of categories, such as “sports fans” or “pet lovers” and then delivers the relevant ad via the firm’s Online Audience Network (OAN).
The mobile component taps into more than 250 demographic, psychographic, and contextual audience attributes gleaned from anonymous AT&T subscriber data to accurately target audiences.
The TV Blueprint uses anonymous viewership from data from 12.7 million AT&T U-verse digital receivers. It then uses a proprietary algorithm developed by AT&T Labs to help advertisers get a better fix on their audiences versus traditional ad measurement standards.
AT&T AdWorks said those TV media plans can run on its Television Audience Network (TAN), which consists of U-verse TV homes and those from other pay TV operators. Earlier this month, AT&T AdWorks forged a strategic agreement offering TV advertising buyers access to Cox Media’s ad inventory. That deal covers Cox Media’s 6 million connected households.
