How AI Changes Everything About TV

Over the last few weeks, we have been laying out the various ways that AI is transforming political advocacy. You can read our summary here. Below we dig into one of the most cutting edge uses of AI in politics—how it changes the very nature of TV communications, both in public affairs and elections.  

🔱  ACR Data (Automatic Content Recognition)

ACR or "Automatic Content Recognition," data comes from software embedded in smart TVs. This software continuously operates in the background, monitoring the content displayed on screen. Advertisers can then buy this data for a variety of purposes.

Yes, you read that correctly. We can now see what people are watching on TV. The implications for this in political advertising are dramatic.

ACR Data Revolutionizes TV Targeting

There are several high-impact uses of ACR data in political advocacy:

🔱  Identifying Audiences Underexposed to Cable and Broadcast Ads

Given the current, fragmented world of TV consumption, cable and broadcast ads increasingly miss many targets. In fact, according to one recent study based on—take a guess—ACR data, 92% of broadcast and cable ads reach only 50% of TV viewers. (Samba U.S. State of Viewership Report). As a reminder, current TV consumption looks like this:

To reach all of these viewers, even the most robust cable and broadcast buys must be supplemented with connected TV ads. With ACR data, we surgically identify who is underexposed to particular cable and broadcast ads, and supplement these audiences with connected TV.

🔱  Opposition Ad Retargeting 

You've lived through this scenario: your campaign is cruising along. You're executing and playing your game. But then the negative hit comes from the other side, either on your candidate or your issue. Your client is seeing the negative ads. Their mom is seeing the ads, and the client now wants to get off your game and respond to the other side. But with ACR data, we can now see exactly who saw the negative ad. If it only went to a small audience, you might ignore it entirely. If it struck a nerve, you might do some discrete online survey work to see if it softened your numbers with the audience who saw it. Most importantly, if you do choose to respond, you can respond only to the people who saw the negative ad, instead of doing the other side's work for them by distributing the content to a broader audience. So ACR data keeps you playing your game, with a constant view into what the other side is doing. 

🔱  Influencer Targeting 

With ACR data, we identify people consuming TV content about particular policymakers or issues, and then retarget these audiences with your message. This helps us reach influencers of politicians who regularly consume news about that elected official, and influencers on issues who frequently watch content about particular topics.

🔱  Building Voter Audiences 

We use ACR data to identify voters consuming TV content about particular issues, and then retarget them with ads. So for example, if your candidate is focused on inflation, we can find and reach voters regularly consuming TV content about inflation-related topics. 

ACR Data Brings The Precision Of Digital Targeting To TV

Each of the use cases above is based on natural language processing, a branch of AI that allows us to rapidly analyze vast amounts of data. We then use this data to build precision audiences for your campaigns. We've used these tools for some time to reach digital audiences. But think of your TV now as an extension of your phone. Whenever you are considering digital targeting, remember that AI brings the power of digital targeting to TV.

🔱  If you'd like to learn more about how AI can impact your campaign, contact us today to chat. 

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