CBS to offer live dynamic ad insertion through Nielsen partnership

In a bid to offer advertisers granular ad targeting comparable to that available through digital channels, CBS and Nielsen announced they are working to bring dynamic ad insertin (DAI) to live, linear national broadcast television.

DAI would bring addressable targeting to linear national TV, targeting ads to individuals based on behavioral and demographic signals. Currently advertising on linear, national broadcast TV is targeted broadly based on age and gender.

The dynamic solution relies on automatic content recognition technology from Gracenote, a company Nielsen bought from Tribune Media in 2016. Gracenote ACR is integrated in Smart TVs from major brands.

Peter Bradbury, executive vice president and managing director, National Client Solutions at Nielsen, said in the announcement, “Nielsen, through its acquisition of Gracenote, will leverage patented technology to replace linear ad spots on individual Smart TV sets to offer more advanced advertising capabilities to brands.”

CBS already offers addressable advertising on its digital, streaming and OTT properties.

“CBS has been at the forefront of using Nielsen data and measurement to prove the value of television, and now we are working on taking the next step with Nielsen to go beyond age and gender by bringing targeted dynamic ad insertion to national live TV inventory,” said Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer at CBS Corporation. “This will create a more relevant ad experience for our viewers and better outcomes for our clients.”