The landscape of advertising has changed beyond 360 degrees and especially the online marketing ecosystem. Cross-screen advertising is one such opportunity for advertisers and marketers to strengthen their services. Today, consumers are spoilt for choices, when it comes to content options. The number of screens and devices to view content is just increasing for consumers -TV, connected TV, mobile, OTT, laptops, and more. 

Cross-Screen Advertising: Dismantling The Concept

Switching between multiple devices is the new way of content consumption. Here are some compelling statistics  that an average person spends per day on different devices:

• over 195 minutes on a smartphone; 
• 135 minutes on a computer and,
•  85 minutes on a tablet

So, why target a particular audience only on one platform?

Through, cross-screen advertising, advertisers have the advantage to reach the larger targeted consumers via multiple screens to drive sales, increase brand awareness, generate leads, and more. A question that is frequently discussed is addressable TV advertising is growing and is also targeted, data-driven, and provide invaluable insights to advertisers. How does it differentiate from Cross-Screen addressable advertising?

To put it simply, cross-screen addressable advertising is perfectly complementary to TV. It is scalable and offers has ample opportunities for advertisers to deliver relevant content on the go.

Say, for instance,  an advertiser shows an ad on TV and then on the mobile with a CTA to visit the store nearby for an electronics brand. The result was actual visits to the store and purchasing the product. This type of advertising serving an engaged audience makes complete sense.

A targeted, well-developed cross-screen advertising can significantly increase sales. Analysis by 4INFO suggests that more than 90% of advanced cross-screen TV advertising witnessed online sales lift. Further analysis states, for retail, combined TV and digital campaigns resulted in a sales lift as high as 129% and a 146% increase in brand penetration.

Even though cross-screen addressable advertising is catching up and allows you to follow the audience from TV to the desktop to mobile. Marketers are already experimenting with cross-screen marketing campaigns but the challenge lies in tracking and measurement. 

Cross-Screen Advertising: Measurement & Impact

Cross-screen advertising measurement has no specific definition. It simply means analysis of the consumer behavior and tracking of video metrics across devices-Mobile/Laptop/Tablet/TV/ Advanced TV and some cookie-based methods. 

Cross-screen advertising measurement is crucial for marketers as they seek to comprehend how consumers have changed their viewing habits amongst multiple devices. The cross-screen measurement starts from device-level as multiple identifications are required. It will guide the marketers to know the link between the devices and unlock the potential with the proper use of algorithms.

Cross-Screen Advertising Measurement is based on: 

1. Content Gazing
2. Multitasking Information
3. Discovery
4. Connection 
5. Sharing

The cross-screen targeting depends on the above factors as consumer utilizes each device differently while consuming the content online. Louqman Parampath, vice president of product management – advertising, at streaming-device maker Roku said to Beet, 

“If you go to more performance-savvy advertisers and performance-savvy customers, the questions are about understanding cross-screen exposures to business outcomes or KPIs that the marketer may need.”

AdTech companies like Roku, Xandr, Trade Desk, Samsung Ads, and more are coming up with different cross-screen advertising measurement solutions to understand online campaign performance across different platforms. Whereas, Neilson already offers a comprehensive solution Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) to measure digital audience demographics across mobile, computer, and connected TV in a way that is comparable to television measurement.  

What makes a good Cross-Screen Measurement Partner?

With every marketing dollar being scrutinized, it is essential to note that the cross-screen TV measurement partner is transparent. The key to precise measurement lies in a partner who leverages a combined TV dataset with cross-screen identity. For instance, a combination of STB data with ACR will provide a more comprehensive picture. Further, linking to CTV publisher ad exposure data gives accuracy and privacy. 

(eMarketer estimates advertisers will increase their upfront CTV video ad spending by almost 50% year over year to $4.51 billion.)

Related Article: All You Need To Know About Connected TV Advertising!

A good measurement partner can capture all platforms and provide a holistic view of video investment – Linear, CTV, VOD, addressable and more. Here are a few questions that need to be addressed for a good partner:

 Cross-Screen Measurement: The Advertiser’s Narrative

Cross-Screen Measurement gives way to advertisers and media owners to collaborate over data and flexibility. Here are some factors to help the advertisers to always be on cross-screen advertising measurement.

• Right Target: With cross-screen advertising and the right selection of targeting options, advertisers can reach millions of consumers. An advertiser can also target the same customer on different channels.
• Holistic approach: Advertisers should have a holistic view of the cross-screen investment. They should create an idea to work combined on TV plus computers, mobile, streaming, or advanced TV to set success through cross-screen advertising.

• Scalability: An advertiser should be clear with a plan to scale the business. They should be able to link cross-screen measurement with sales data and answer the question of whether the total video investment is driving the bottom line.

• Tracking and measurement: Advertisers should be able to track the KPI’s. They should have the know the targeted audience and the time of their activeness to promote the services/products. This will help the brand to build a loyal customer base.

• Cross-screen marketing: Advertisers are well-informed that it is time to reboot traditional practices. It is time to innovate to reach a larger audience. The cross-screen marketing campaign is reaching more customers on all devices. Today, consumers have a fragmented attention span. So, cross-screen advertising allows reaching wherever their fragmented span lands them. For instance, if the consumer is using a tablet in the evening while watching TV, target your campaign in both places. Carry an integrated campaign across different screens.

Let us understand the magic of Cross-Screen Advertising with the below examples:

1.M &M – Come Together

A classic example of a cross-screen marketing campaign that combined traditional and digital channels for improved reach and engagement. The brand aired a TV ad during the Super bowl and also promoted the campaign on social media platforms. The commercial is titled ‘Come Together ‘ shows relatable scenarios of social faux pas and the people in them choosing to make it better with a bag of M&M’s.

https://youtu.be/lKUcHcizEMc

 

The brand had also shared a teaser of the ad on social media and allowed people to hop on a Zoom call with one of its characters Yellow to watch the ad before the event. It also continued to promote the campaign after the event by sharing scenes of the ad and reactions to it.

Using a traditional TV ad allowed the brand to reach a wider audience as it aired during the biggest TV ad event of the year. The cross-channel campaign allowed the brand to leverage both TV ads and digital ads viewed on mobile, tablet, or desktop.

2. Starbucks- Frappuccino Happy Hour

Starbucks has always made the best use of marketing technology. Their cross-screen advertising ‘Frappuccino Happy Hour’ was promoted on both website and TV during a ten-day campaign. The app was also in action, all leading a message for the user to text ‘Wohoo’ with their mobile devices to know more.

The multiple uses of screen- website, app, and TV ensured a large number of people can access the campaign. The campaign leveraged Gen Z’s “fear of missing out” by offering exclusive information only to those who texted them. 

3. Luxury Automaker :

A campaign for the luxury automaker focused on specific high-end models. The campaign targeted households anonymously which was the target market for the luxury brand. Addressable ads were offered to the consumers on their mobile and TV. The results were brilliant. As per Adage, the brand witnessed an 87% lift in sales for that model among households that received the same ads on both platforms.

Cross-Screen Measurement: The Media Owner’s Narrative 

Media owners (sellers) play a role of a trusted cross-screen measurement partner who manages the video investment of an advertiser holistically. They should have a clear idea of their inventory portfolio to help better package cross-screen impressions. Here are some factors to help the media owners to always be on cross-screen advertising measurement:

• Optimization: Media owners should recommend optimization monthly or quarterly by analyzing campaign performance across all channels and platforms to minimize the CPM pressure. For instance, adtech companies like LiveRamp drive a seamless workflow for activation and measurement. They provide comprehensive data, the audience for activation, visibility into TVs per household to measure from, and consistent matches for measurement. The visibility and data will help media owners and advertisers to make holistic optimization cross-screen strategies.
• Strong partnerships: Data is the epicenter of cross-screen advertising measurement for buyers and sellers. Data collaboration will help to build partnerships between advertisers and media owners and set future audience strategies to get them a competitive edge. With cross-measurement, media owners can inform the advertisers about the performance metrics and support them to allocate budget optimally across the portfolio to gain maximum results.
• Know your inventory: Monetize the impressions in the right way of knowing your inventory within the entire portfolio. 
• Interoperability between data-sets and systems: A cross-screen measurement plan encourages interoperability between data and systems. Interoperability means choosing a solution that can collaborate with other tools. Leverage identity-informed data sets for better forecasting and managing business at a strategic level. Followed by that, better ad sales profit and losses, regularly measure across all screens and streams to comprehend the impressions across the portfolio.

Wrapping Up

The sky is the limit for cross-screen advertising. With cross-screen advertising, you can deliver the right ad to the targeted audience on the right device while measuring the return on the ad spend on each screen and across the screen. The cross-screen future that the advertising industry estimated has arrived and the roads are being paved for it. There is an immense opportunity for advertisers to reach a wider audience on multiple devices for content promotion. With programmatic evolution, new technologies are being worked out to enhance tracking users across devices – desktop, CTV, TV, tablet, mobile, and more.

The cross-screen advertising measurement will become more advanced and sophisticated that will ensure more transparency and data sharing. This will help advertisers to gauge the performance of their cross-screen advertising campaigns.