CANNES – The fragmentation that has long plagued television advertising may finally be giving way to consolidation, creating new opportunities for precision targeting in healthcare marketing.
“One of the enemies of scale is fragmentation. That’s been a huge obstacle in the TV landscape, but I think we’re starting to see some consolidation of that inventory,” Kurt Robinson, EVP and Head of Business Development at healthcare omnichannel platform Swoop, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Robinson pointed to this week’s announcement from Amazon and Roku as evidence of shifting dynamics. “Who knows, perhaps more to follow, but clearly the plates are shifting, and with that consolidation means it’s easier for media buyers to activate across TV in a data-enabled way.”
Precision TV defined
For Robinson, precision TV means “the ability to apply precise audiences across all your activation channels of TV.” This capability becomes increasingly important as inventory consolidates and data-driven buying becomes more feasible across the television ecosystem.
The consolidation trend could fundamentally alter TV’s role in the media mix, particularly for pharmaceutical marketers who have traditionally viewed television primarily as a reach vehicle.
AI makes sense of the data deluge
When asked about AI’s role in healthcare marketing, Robinson focused on its ability to process overwhelming amounts of information.
“AI is really good at taking lots of data, almost an unusable amount of data, and making sense of that,” he said. “The holy grail for a marketer is to deliver the right message at the right time to the right audience. And I think AI provides that promise.”
Robinson sees AI enabling not just better audience targeting and investment optimization, but also creative personalization. “We’re going to start to see some personalization of creative and really customizing the messaging based on who you’re targeting and when,” he said.
From reach to precision
Looking ahead, Robinson predicts a fundamental shift in how pharmaceutical marketers approach television planning.
“They’re going to fundamentally change what TV is within the media mix,” he said. “Historically, we all sort of know this — TV has been a reach vehicle. Pharma loves the TV glass and the impact. But it needs incredible precision to reach the right audience to drive results.”
The combination of AI capabilities and inventory consolidation could flip the traditional planning approach. Rather than starting with broad reach and working toward targeted tactics, marketers might begin with precision targeting and expand outward.
“Perhaps that’s where investment planning starts. Start with the middle of the bullseye and then you work your way out to sort of less targeted reach strategies,” Robinson said. “It hasn’t always gone that way. So I think we may see that flow.”
With consolidation reducing fragmentation and AI enabling better data utilization, television could finally deliver the precision that pharmaceutical marketers have long sought while maintaining the impact they’ve always valued. “You’re going to see TV not just be a reach play, but to be a data-enabled precision vehicle for reaching the right target in an impactful way,” Robinson said.
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