Cablevision Systems is in talks to license its total audience application (TAPP) software to other operators, company chief operating officer Kristin Dolan said at a recent industry conference.
TAPP utilizes data from set-top boxes and helps advertising buyers plan advanced ad campaigns. Cablevision began using the TAPP technology in April, using data from the 7 million set-tops in its New York metro area footprint.
With TAPP and other analytics, Cablevision is able to target specific demographics – like soccer mom’s that make more than $50,000 per year – and recommend which networks an advertiser should buy ads on to reach that audience.
“We have a lot of networks that are too small to be measured, but actually have really committed interested audiences that are great targets for very specific advertising,” Dolan said at the recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Entertainment & Communications conference in Beverly Hills. She added that Cablevision is talking to other operators about licensing the technology.
“We're talking to a lot of people about it because it's not that huge of a lift for people to aggregate the data,’” Dolan said at the conference. “…They get the benefit of being able to charge a higher cost for the advertising and to recommend, like we do, schedules that might include nontraditional networks that they hadn't been monetizing before.”
Dolan said that Cablevision also has high hopes for its Freewheel WiFi phone product, launched in February.
“We will be talking a lot more about Freewheel in the coming months,” Dolan said. “We are continuing to explore the opportunities for it. And it was a learning experience at first, but now we are getting very enthusiastic about the future for that product.”
