WATCH VIDEO. France Télévisions’s advertising unit together with TDF has launched a trial to test targeted advertising in the Le Mans metropolitan region.
France 2 and France 4, two channels from public broadcaster France TV, will offer targeted advertising per area. This TDF-backed pilot study means that ads aired nationally can be replaced by local ads in all households with DTT sets. The test is made with the Thélem insurance company and its agency Havas Media.
The advertiser is able to broadcast simultaneously, several times a day, a national advertising spot for the whole of France and another advertising spot aimed solely at the inhabitants of the Le Mans.
“This technological first demonstrates our willingness to accelerate on segmented TV, which is one of the major challenges of the coming years. We had already been pioneers with addressable TV, our multi-device geo-localised offer, which is based on the regional network of France 3. Geographic targeting will allow a new typology of advertisers to communicate on the TV medium, and we hope that regulations will soon make it possible to do so on a national scale,” said Marianne Siproudhis, general manager of FranceTV Publicité.
Across France, DTT is the most popular TV broadcasting format in France adopted by 52.4% of first homes and 42% of households’ primary TV sets. The trial will run throughout January and will then be extended to the Bordeaux metropolitan region.
TDF has been gearing up for the advent of new DTT-based advertising formats for the last two years and is currently working to develop more advanced individual-specific offers. Even if regulations do not yet allow targeted advertising, this trial shows that DTT will feature prominently by helping TV channels’ advertising units move towards even more targeted formats and DTT may even rival web-based formats. TDF said it has always managed to be at the forefront of game-changing innovations when serving customers, TV channels and viewers, whose habits are changing.
Targeted advertising – sure to be introduced globally over the next few years – will be value-enhancing for TV channels by enabling them to attract new types of advertisers. TDF’s geographical targeted advertising offer for France TV Publicité is a DTT first.
Separately, the DVB Steering Board has approved the creation of a dedicated group for targeted advertising.
