How broadcasters and media sales houses can improve monetization strategies by improving audience understanding

Although media platforms and broadcast channels matter, audiences are the most important aspect of an effective marketing strategy in 2021. By enhancing audience understanding, media sales houses and broadcasters can unlock competitive advantages. These five tips will get you started. 

More choice is a good thing for audiences. But, for broadcasters, publishers, and media sales houses, the explosion of entertainment options creates a fiercely competitive environment in which organizations fight for audiences and ad dollars. 

Marketers realize that in today’s omnichannel world, reaching the right audience is the ultimate goal, regardless of what that audience is watching, reading, or listening to – assuming the content is brand-safe. Like marketers, media sales houses must shift from a channel or platform focus, to an audience-centric approach. This requires the adoption of advanced, data-driven strategies to improve audience understanding, and new technologies and tools to convey that understanding to prospective advertisers. 

Let’s consider five ways media sales houses can unlock next-level audience understanding to improve monetization strategies. 

1. Play up your first-party data advantage

Google’s decision to phase out third-party cookies (albeit not quite as quickly as originally thought) evoked panic in the advertising world. But, really, it is just one of many reasons why marketers need privacy-friendly targeting and measurement alternatives. From tightening privacy laws, to Apple’s decision to do away with IDFA (Identity for Advertisers), the message is clear: first-party data, collected with consent about an organization’s customers or audiences, matters now more than ever. Broadcasters and media sales houses must make the most of user-level behavior data and lean into tools for analyzing this data to unlock valuable insights for advertisers.

2. Bolster data with research

The better you understand your audience, the more effectively you can reach niche customers across your media network – without cookies – using contextual targeting or first-party data. As audience behaviors are ever-changing, many media organizations are investing in their own surveys to better understand consumers. By enhancing audience understanding, they should be able to provide more effective recommendations to advertisers that improve campaign performance.  

But the truth is, most surveys don’t ask the right questions. To discover powerful but often overlooked questions you can ask to uncover surprising insights, download Telmar’s guide for broadcasters and media sales houses today.  

3. Integrate your data: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Research is even more powerful when you combine it with additional data. For example, you can layer big-picture trends with granular data on lifestyles, beliefs, and interests to improve targeting and decision-making. But, many organizations fail to combine data in a meaningful way because their data platforms do not support all of the market research and data sources they need. Media sales houses should consider a source-agnostic data solution provider to facilitate the integration of all data sources, including behavioral data, syndicated surveys, proprietary research, and measurement platforms.

Don’t leave insights on the table

Across verticals and the advertising landscape, organizations are “leaving insights on the table.” Why? They may not be aware of strategies for gleaning more from data, or they may lack the tools and in-house skills to access and analyze information. Media sales houses have an opportunity to differentiate their offerings by using strategies and platforms to enhance audience understanding. Telmar solutions facilitate a number of statistical techniques that are proven to unlock new insights and are easy to use –including volumetric coding and cluster analysis. 

Be sure to download the guide to learn more.

Prove you are an expert storyteller

Content providers are in a race to create or buy the rights to engaging stories audiences can’t get enough of. It is time for sales teams to apply some of those storytelling best practices. Consider the needs and mindset of your audience (in this case, the prospective advertiser), and weave observations and insights into compelling stories, coupled with actionable recommendations. Data visualization is a powerful strategy for improving sales collateral, so consider tools for improving and streamlining data visualization processes. Most media sales houses and broadcasters can cut the time they spend on data visualization by 50% using dashboards equipped with templates and automated visualization tools.

Bottom line: Improving audience understanding is the ultimate sales team enabler
By using data, statistical techniques, and tools for integration and visualization, you can better understand your audience and, in turn, create more nuanced recommendations for advertisers and more impressive sales material. 

To help you harness data to differentiate your media company’s offerings, Telmar created an eGuide, “How broadcasters and media sales houses can achieve more success in 2021.”

In this guide, you will discover:

• Media trends and industry predictions you need to know to prepare for the future
• Underutilized strategies for audience analysis to inspire, inform, and improve your approach to monetization in 2021 
• How to improve sales collateral by visualizing actionable insights based on user-level behavior data and multiple data sources 
• Tips and tricks for streamlining and improving processes to create internal improvements that lead to external results

Ready to put your data to work for you? Simply fill out the form below to download your copy of the eGuide.