Driving Reach and Engagement with Cross Platform Advertising

In today’s time, people spend more time-consuming content on their smartphones than on their TV screens. Even when they are watching television, people tend to look into their smartphones, and during the TV commercials, their focus fully shifts to their phones.

A research study that tracked eye movements of in-home participants found that over 90% of them watched TV with their mobile phones readily available to them. Participants looked into their television screens for only half of the time. The research found that one of the main reasons for not paying attention to television was participants’ staring at their smartphones.

The concurrent use of the second screen, mainly smartphones, has become an inseparable part of watching TV. Due to this second screening behavior, it is becoming really difficult for marketers to engage people in TV ads, resulting in ad waste and a significantly lower return on ad spend.

To deal with this problem, marketers need to adopt a Cross Platform Advertising strategy, which involves running both TV and digital ads simultaneously. It involves running a digital ad on a person’s phone in real-time sync with the same or related ad on TV. Digital ads are delivered through social media platforms.

This cross-platform marketing involves the use of different types of TV ad sync, namely self and competition sync. When both the ads, TV and digital, are the same or of the same brand, it is called self-sync, whereas when the digital ad is of a competitor, it is known as competition-sync.

Besides syncing TV and digital ads, digital ads can be synced in real-time with significant sports moments, weather conditions such as humidity level, temperature, etc., pollution levels - as indicated by AQI, and trending events.

Cross channel marketing offers numerous benefits to marketers. As in self-sync, both TV and digital ads are the same, the impact on the viewer’s mind is profound. Also, if a person completely misses an ad on TV because of second screening behavior, there is a good chance that he or she will watch it on his or her smartphone, thus reducing ad waste.

Apart from the above, cross platform advertising provides another advantage. Unlike TV ads, digital ads on smartphones are interactive, i.e., people can click on the ad and reach the advertised product’s landing page. They can read more about the product and then can directly buy it. This one-click, direct access to product information and buying cannot be availed from TV advertising. By advertising simultaneously on both platforms, i.e., TV and digital, the ad campaign is able to drive more impact and product buying is facilitated.

Cross platform advertising offers a very effective way for marketers for driving reach and engagement, and boosting return on ad spend.