Nine has launched data tools that allow advertisers and agencies to plug in their own audience data sets and better target offline and online data across its network of inventory.
The aim is to make it easier for advertisers to define and mine audiences, and is another step towards Nine's ultimate goal of harmonising programmatic buying across all of its TV and digital channels, which AdNews is told is “the absolute plan for early next year”.
The move, which Nine says challenges the offerings of international players, is set to shif the focus away from siloed data to using all types of data in a "harmoniously and productive fashion".
Nine’s Audience Sync allows advertisers and agencies to plug in their own data management platform (DMP) to activate audience segments in real-time across Nine’s digital inventory, while Audience Match enables advertisers to fine-tune the conversation they are having with existing and prospective customers.
“It's about bringing a couple of products to market that allow marketers to find their needle in a haystack,” Nine’s director of sales – digital, Ben Gunn, tells AdNews. “They allow marketers to use multiple channels to tell their story through all the tools we have available.
“We're going to have automated forward guarantee products in market this quarter or next for all of our premium inventory. Any ad unit you want to buy, you'll be able to buy programmatically with us.”
Gunn says Nine received a positive response from clients during a testing phase for both Audience Sync and Audience Match.
Prior to Audience Sync, advertisers would take audience criteria to Nine, which would then use its own internal data sources to find people across its network.
“[Advertisers] now have their own ways and means of collecting data on things that are valuable to them for targeting purposes; data assets that we might not have access too,” Gunn explains.
“It's common practice for agencies and clients to have their own DMPs and data sources and for us it's about easy to buy from. You can use your own data, store it in a way that is safe for the advertiser or agency and use the uniqueness for what you have to target your audiences across what is a massive network at Nine.”
Gunn says the tool is compatible with all DMPs he is aware of in market.
Audience Match allows clients to take offline data, such as name, postcode, and so on, and match that against 15 million unique user accounts that Nine has accessed through a partnership with Microsoft.
Experian uses its offline database to then match this with Microsoft Ids, allowing marketers to finely tune target audiences across Nine's network.
“Being able to leverage an advertiser's data asset across a network the size of ours to give it scale is what really makes this unique,” Gunn says, adding that using an independent third-party data firm like Experian ensures all security and safety measures are put in place.”
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