Today, 91% of U.S. adults have cell phones. Pew Research estimates that 64% of us have smartphones, and over 50% of us have tablets. Wi-Fi coverage in households (not to mention businesses, restaurants and public facilities) is well over 60% in the United States.
For those of us in ad-tech, learning that Facebook's revenue last quarter was over 70% mobile was an eyeopener. Television is going OTT and the Internet of Things is right around the corner. In the very near future, any discussion about “cord cutters” is going to sound pretty quaint as folks head to an Apple or Verizon store to pick up new shield guards and pay their “connectivity bills.”
Ad-tech companies have been throwing around terms like “cross-device” and “device-independent reach” for awhile now, but the reality is that audience targeting has to face up to new responsibilities. Not only does it have to identify the optimal mix of households and individuals to target for each offer—it also needs to take into account the device the consumer will be receiving a promotion on. Desktop, tablet, smartphone and soon, TV—the audience you target has to be tuned for both “reach and relevance.”
Device-independent reach means the ability to deliver your advertising across a variety of devices. Today, that means all devices. With a majority of our ad-tech infrastructure still based on cookies, this is a growing problem. As one recent article in AdExchanger put it: “Arguably a flawed mechanism on desktops, cookies are positively crippled when it comes to mobile.”
Our Smart Zones audience targeting platform is cookie-free and based on a patented technology that can target every device (i.e., desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone) at an audience’s location, using their Internet service delivery points when they are online. Unlike cookie-based audiences, the Smart Zones technology offers 100% reach to consumers at home, work, or connected to millions of identified Wi-Fi hotspots.
To get the right ROI, you need to generate attention. This means placing advertising in the contextual categories, and on the sites and devices that are most appropriate to the target consumer. Smart Zones’ media optimization capabilities connect an audience you select with the media they view. Doing this on the right device, on the right day of the week, and right time of day, increases engagement, response and ROI.
Here's a look at some of Smart Zones features: