Digital channels like social may have a head start when it comes to applying identity to ad targeting.

But TV, thanks to internet connectivity, is catching up.

In this video interview with Jon Watts for Beet.TV, Will Keggin, Director, Advanced Advertising, UK, LiveRamp, explains how brands are taking an interest in the UK.

Broadcaster innovation

“As the barriers lower to make sure you’ve got different audience definitions in TV, more advertisers coming into the TV space,” Keggin explains.

“I think we’ll start to see people who have traditionally been looking at identity-led platforms, such as social, which comes from those data-heavy performance brands, start to really invest more in the TV space, which will just get more advertisers in and it should be a different budget.”

In the UK, LiveRamp, which offers advertising identity solutions, works with Sky, the TV and telco operator, to help it allow ad buyers to deploy across the breadth of its platform, including Sky AdSmart, a pioneering addressable TV solution.

Keggin says burgeoning UK interest is being driven by broadcast platforms like Sky and by broadcasters’ own offerings. ITV and Channel 4 each have programmatic solutions offering access to millions of registered viewers, available through their respective cross-platform viewing apps and, increasingly, even linear platforms.

Brand enthusiasm

But LiveRamp’s Keggin is also excited by the growing interest from brands directly, including the health retail chain Boots.

“I think they’ve really led with innovation here in the UK over the last couple of years,” he explains. “They’ve started to show how they can increase the addressability of their own first-party data.

“We help them to orchestrate their audiences, push it into more places for more better distribution so they get greater addressability from their plans.

“What really excites us is when we start to see the customer experiences and how that relates back from the clients.

“It was nice to hear people like Pete Markey talking about how LiveRamp helps them connect to more of their audience in a better way, and to really drive through some highly effective and targeted paid for media.”

UK Health Retailer Boots Leaning Into Targeted TV: CMO Markey

Next up, collaboration

Keggin is thankful that GroupM’s advanced TV unit Finecast is leading the charge with creating an addressable-audience ecosystem.

“We help them and their clients to activate and measure against better defined or more precise audience definitions, so they can make sure that they are targeting with greater efficacy,” he explains.

That’s something Keggin expects more of. Whilst TV companies like Sky, ITV and Channel 4 now boast attractive audience data capabilities, he thinks the next wave will be about collaborating.

“I’d expect to see more third-party data being used, and more different variations of an audience that can be used for different TV destinations here in the UK,” Keggin says.

“All of the TV companies, such as Sky, ITV, Channel 4, they’ve all actually got quite good identity assets. So what we are looking to do is helping them collaborate.”

You are watching “Advanced TV Advertising in the UK: The Next Three Years,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by Finecast. For more videos, please visit this page.

By Robert Andrews on @robertandrews