In the age of online marketing many small and medium sized business have shuttered their spends in Radio, Print, and Television in favor of more targeted and provable media. After all, who can afford to compete with major companies like Ford, Coca-Cola, and Geico for share of voice?
While print may be dead (at least in the broad sense), radio has seen quite the comeback. With the advent of digital radio services like Pandora, Spotify, and iHeart Radio, advertisers are now granted the ability to target more specific groups of potential customers, based on interests, geographical areas, and when paired with segment data, even in-market shoppers.
We now sit at the edge of Television's targeted, servable renaissance. Currently, cable providers in many markets allow for "zone-targeting" , but that's just the beginning. As consumers and cable companies begin replacing set-top boxes with "smarter" replacements, advertisers will the be able to serve specific ads to specific consumers. Imagine running an ad for a new Ford to only those homes in a specific neighborhood who have a Chevrolet registered at that address!
While the possibilities of this are limited only by advertiser's imagination, there are still drawbacks. TV usage is still on the decline against streaming services like Netflix and Hulu while those that watch traditional television are using ad-killing DVRs. It's possible that cable companies will start serving ads to DVR users, but only time will tell.
My prediction? As cable boxes become smarter and allow for more targeting, small and medium sized businesses will begin to re-integrate TV (in small amounts) back into their marketing budgets.
What do you think?