TV viewing habits and purchasing data in one

Alan Mitchell raises some insightful questions in his thought-provoking piece on the evolving television landscape (MW May 4), which encouraged brand managers to “embrace the need for a rethink”.

As a media owner, Sky grapples with many of the same questions, like who are the “interactors” and why. How much more TV is being watched once a PVR is bought and how does it affect consumption of ads? Do we have a sufficient understanding of audiences that view the smaller channels?

But when it comes to targeting, aren’t we all trying to answer the same simple question: who are the people prepared to engage with a commercial and then act on the message? Once we understand this, we can explore where to place those messages.

All too often, reach is the foundation of media strategies. Yet, surely, frequency among people that respond to the message is far more valuable?

SkyView is a panel of over 20,000 homes, which brings together electronic measurement of viewing behaviour and TNS product purchasing data from many of those same households. So at last we have viewing data and product purchasing data from a single source.

With this flexible and scalable technology, we can look at groups as diverse as “interactors”; mobile TV subscribers; ethnic channel viewers; children TV subscribers; BMW drivers; or baked bean buyers.

Jeremy Tester

Director of insight

Sky Media

London SW1