Big Data’s Big Impact on the Future of Advertising

[Commentary] The big broadcast nets are beginning to book their first big upfront deals -- deals that are showing signs of today’s complex media world. Technology innovation continues to drive media fragmentation, muddying the once-simple world of TV, radio and print. Advertisers must now divide their budgets among all the proliferating devices and channels people watch. How can they hope to get the return they are used to in terms of what people buy? And how can the broadcast nets and other media companies offer such a return? Certainly, this revolution in technology is complicating our lives. But we believe this same technological revolution is going to make it possible for advertising to enjoy a renaissance of sorts. Why?

Technology innovation will make it possible to trim a great deal of waste out of advertising by making it more precise. As advertising becomes more precise, it will become more efficient, which will drive up its ROI. This higher ROI will then lead to more investment in advertising. Yes, spending more, which many are reluctant to do, will become the attractive option, the smart business move. What we are seeing is the emergence of a real-time meld of data, technology and analytics that relates the media exposure of all consumers on any device to the purchase activity of all consumers in any channel. The result will allow manufacturers to identify, with extraordinary precision, what mix of advertising will most contribute to their brands’ growth prospects. The crucial enabler of that precision will be data. The right data, in the right form, handled in the right manner. This is what will drive the coming advertising renaissance. Is it any wonder data is cool once again?

[Mitch Barns is CEO of Nielsen]