TVSquared, a business which positions itself as “the gold standard for TV performance analytics and optimisation”, has opened TVSquared Australia.
The Sydney-based offices will provide ground support for Australia’s $3.1 billion TV advertising market, which represents one of TVSquared’s fastest-growing regions.
B&T sat down with TV Squared CEO Calum Smeaton (pictured below) at Cannes to find out more about the business. Smeaton, who has a background in data analytics and start-ups said he saw an opportunity in 2012.
A friend of Smeaton’s, who was a marketer, shared that they were spending all of this money on TV and they knew it was working as they could see results commercially whenever they ran TV campaigns. But when they looked at their digital advertising, they had all of these tools that gave them information about what was working and what wasn’t. That just didn’t exist on the TV side.
The marketer confided that they didn’t trust what their agency was telling them as there wasn’t solid data to back it up. But with digital channels only, they could only get so far as it didn’t seem to have the scale required to drive sales.
This was the opportunity that Smeaton tapped into, an opportunity to innovate in data science and TV. They got a model working in 2012 and launched in the US in 2013. They started to pick up brands like Expedia and traditionally work well with direct response brands.
When a TV campaign runs, TVSquared can track website traffic via a pixel on a website or look at phonecall data. But they can also measure search patterns and match offline TV behaviour and track how it influences online action.
They’ve dramatically changed the way that certain brands can measure their TV effectiveness, with particular strength in automative, finance, entertainment and e-commerce.
Smeaton continued:
“Once we have the data, we can look at day-parts, the creative, the audience and optimise campaigns. The platform offers multi-country, cross-brand analysis by day, daypart, program, network, genre and creative, and provides buy recommendations for the best response. When we do this, we see more than a 30% uplift in sales.”
Praful Desai (pictured below) is heading up TVSquared Australia as Business Development Director. For the last 15 years, Desai has held analytical leadership positions within the Dentsu Aegis Network, most recently as the Head of Data and Analytics for Vizeum Australia.
Desai commented:
“TV not only provides unmatched reach, but it has evolved into a primary driver of digital response. With demand for TV performance analytics at a fever pitch, it was the right time for TVSquared to open its Sydney offices to accommodate the growing number of advertisers that want to make TV work harder and smarter for their brands.”
Jo Kinsella, Chief Revenue Officer and EVP, TVSquared:
“TVSquared has grown exponentially in the last few years, which speaks volumes about the efficacy of same-day TV analytics for driving sales and ROI. Our Australian customer base is pioneering the use of addressable and linear TV and looking to TVSquared to help drive performance and analytics. We are looking forward to continuing to grow our regional presence.”
