Challenge
Corus is a leading media and content company in Canada, with content distributed across multiple distribution platforms, including pay TV, connected TVs, web and apps. Since 2015, Kantar has been collecting and processing Corus set-top-box data from more than 500,000 households to develop a more granular view of TV audiences and their behaviour.
With over US $10 billion spent on advertising in Canada, and non-search digital spend forecast to reach nearly US $4 billion by 2024, Corus wanted to simplify the TV buying process, making targeting and audience segmentation easier for planners and buyers, and to compete effectively in the rapidly growing addressable advertising ecosystem.
Approach
Corus created Cynch, a self-serve platform where Canadian advertisers can target audience groups and build and track campaign performance.
Cynch provides advanced targeting using 26 predefined segments as well as customisable segments for individual advertisers. Each day, Kantar turns data from 500,000 households into clean, structured data, which is supplemented with Environics Analytics data to power segmented viewing insights.
Insight
The Cynch platform has transformed how ad sales is done in Canada, moving from brand, program, and demographic-based buying to audience-based buying.
- Advertisers are now able to scenario plan different optimisations when building campaigns that can then be brought to market at faster speeds than ever before.
- Efficiency has resulted in minimised waste, with higher indexing audiences on specific targets.
- Positive campaign results have led to increased use of the platform.
The new platform has created opportunities for channel usage that advertisers might otherwise have missed, enabling Corus to better use the entirety of its inventory and to balance supply with demand. Moving to audience-based buying has provided new opportunities for how Corus sells and monetises all its inventory.
Advanced targeting and segmentation now represents about 40% of total TV revenue at Corus. These capabilities have added an incremental boost in linear revenue and also play a role in revenue retention. Corus’s analysis shows that the more an advertiser uses segmentation, the more they spend with Corus year on year.
Impact
Corus is able to use data processed by Kantar in multiple exciting applications, including better understanding how viewers spend time with their content; developing a wide range of viewer segments, and optimising advertising.