Thought your mattress knowing if your partner is cheating was going far enough in this Internet of Things malarkey? Turns out we’re not even close yet.

A report from Ernst & Young says the Internet of Things (IoT) – the connection of devices – becoming ubiquitous is inevitable in the near future. The reasons being the data and highly targeted capabilities are too attractive for advertisers to ignore.

“Armed with meaningful insights about consumer behaviours and preferences, M&E [media & entertainment] companies will be able to use data to deliver highly personalised, contextually relevant entertainment experiences to help people re-imagine their experiences on devices they already own,” said Chris Gianutsos, executive director at the media and entertainment advisory services.

“To fully exploit the potential of IoT, there’s also an opportunity to expand to platforms that may not be considered part of the entertainment ecosystem or even exist today…think about having news and information delivered on household appliances or video streaming in self-driving cars. We expect this will dramatically redefine consumer expectations in the near future.”

The use of sensors within IoT devices – think wearables, touches from phones, speech and command recognition – will be the biggest data unlocking potential, says the report, and is what the marketers are frothing over.

Extra data will allow advertisers to target their ads even more to the right people. The report notes extra data will allow advertisers to figure out when and where someone saw an ad, in what context was it successful, and how many times that ad was seen.

“In an IoT world, media companies will be able to understand what a person is watching, as well as measure how, where, why and with whom consumers are viewing content,” said Howard Bass, partner and global media and entertainment advisory leader at E&Y.

“This new level of insight and context provided by smart devices will allow M&E companies to deliver targeted advertising that is relevant to a person’s mood, physical activity or location in real-time. IoT will not only improve the content experience for consumers, but it will also encourage the advertising industry to completely redefine its measure of success.”

However, E&Y recognises marketers can’t just dive in headfirst without sound knowledge of the legal risks, cybersecurity issues and privacy implications.

Gianutsos added, “IoT is both disruptive and inevitable. For M&E companies to be successful, they will have to address risk and quickly innovate to respond to evolving customer needs and deliver rich content experiences. Only then will the M&E industry find real value in its IoT investments.”