Visible World and Tremor Media Partner for Targeted Online Ads

After a history of providing targeted offline advertisements via television and cable systems, Visible World created a new broadband division and is moving online with the help of Tremor Media.

As part of the partnership, Visible World will combine its IntelliSpot Broadband Dashboard, which allows advertisers to customize ads based on criteria such as zip code, with Tremor’s Ad-inStream video system and ad network.

Having built its business on being able to provide targeted television messages to specific regions, in some cases down to a neighborhood within a designated market area or specific criteria like weather patterns, the move to an online system is a natural step for Visible World, according to Andy Sheldon, VP of broadband and wireless at Visible World. The capabilities of online advertising should also allow for even more finely-tuned targeting, which could provide a car manufacturer to directly link to the nearest auto dealer, for example.

“For each video’s version that we serve up we can also serve a unique URL. In this case the link can go directly to the local dealer that is closest to the Zip code that you are delivering the ad to,” said Sheldon. “This means you can really start to bring the value of the Internet to the video creative that engages with the consumer in a more meaningful way.”

By adding Visible World’s television expertise with Tremor’s advertising base, the two companies intend to provide a cross platform targeted advertising system. This will allow advertisers to run targeted advertising campaigns to both television and online viewers, or place a single video ad on either television or online based on the parameters set by the advertiser about who to reach and when.

“The ability to do cross platform advertising, the same campaign both offline and
online in the targeted platform, it’s all about serving the users with the absolutely most relevant ad at the most relevant time. That’s really the holy grail for the advertiser,” said Jason Glickman, CEO of Tremor Media.

Combining the offline and online advertising systems has its hurdles, however, as the Internet can provide a higher degree of measurement, while there’s currently no direct response measurement for television. Assessing effectiveness in each platform is a task both companies plan to approach with their combined data.

And while Tremor and Visible World intend to allow advertisers to place ads on both television and online media, Glickman says those ads will not consist of simply placing TV ads on the Internet. Tremor will be urging Visible World and its clients to avoid reformatting standard :30 commercials for use online, and pushing for shorter formats.

“Part of what we’ve done at Tremor is to try to make more of a standard for online ads and bring them to :15 or less. We’ll be pushing that standard to this as well,” he said.