The Scientific Method's Coming To TV Advertising. That's Good For CMOs

"For decades, television advertising has been a game of creativity and repetition. The formula was simple: build a clever concept, run it at scale, and hope it seeps into the culture through sheer exposure. It worked. We can all remember Flo from Progressive or the Geico caveman. Jingles and mascots became part of our shared language. But the playbook rested on what marketers call reach and frequency - how many people see an ad and how often."

"This disconnect left CMOs vulnerable in the C-suite. Unlike the COO or CFO, they couldn't point to a clear cause-and-effect between their budgets and business results. That dynamic is starting to change. Advances in data and machine learning are bringing the rigor of the scientific method to television advertising. Indeed, 43% of marketers now use AI or machine learning to analyze the performance of different creative choices in connected TV (CTV) commercials."

Television advertising traditionally relied on creative concepts plus reach and frequency to build cultural impact, with jingles and mascots becoming shared cultural touchstones. That model produced cultural gains but was difficult to quantify, leaving marketing leaders unable to demonstrate clear cause-and-effect between ad spend and business results. Advances in data and machine learning are enabling experimental approaches to TV and connected-TV advertising, allowing creative choices to be analyzed and measured. Forty-three percent of marketers use AI or machine learning to evaluate CTV creative. Audiences increasingly access live sports via CTV and mobile; data from Prosper Insights & Analytics shows nearly 30% of NFL viewers watch online and just over 30% use mobile, so advertisers must adopt measurable strategies that tie ad exposure to outcomes like sales.

Read at Forbes