Hasn’t TV always been advanced? Well, yes. Advanced TV can seem an odd term as TV has never stopped advancing, from the introduction of colour to the introduction of catch-up, from HD to 4K. And its advertising capabilities have always joined it on this voyage of innovation.

Perhaps the best way to describe what is today known as Advanced TV advertising is that it is the umbrella term for the multitude of technological and data-driven business solutions now offered by TV broadcasters. These new capabilities are making TV more flexible and more available to businesses of all sizes.

Thinkbox have done a sterling job at compiling everything you need to know about advanced TV advertising into one handy resource which you can download here - we've summarised a selection of key highlights below.

• The best of both worlds - advanced TV brings together the best of the internet – dynamic, one-to-one ad delivery and access to huge volumes of first-party data – with the best of TV – a high-quality, scalable and brand-safe environment; big screen; fully viewable; fully viewed; sound on; shared viewing.
• Immense scale - 17 million people use one of the broadcaster VOD players to watch their favourite shows at least once a week.
• Rich first-party data - ITV Hub has 32 million registered users and counting.
• A premium environment - TV set VOD now accounts for 70% of all broadcaster VOD viewing. It offers advertisers all the advantages of the big screen – such as shared viewing and 100% viewability. 97% of the advertising delivered in and around broadcaster VOD content is played out in full, from start to finish.
• Extend campaign reach - As TV viewing redistributes across linear TV and on demand, advertisers need to utilise the whole of TV in order to attain the highest possible levels of cost-effective reach. BARB’s new planning tool reveals the optimal splits between linear TV and Broadcaster VOD, for a given budget, in order to maximise reach.
• Explore geo-targeting - This advanced TV opportunity works for businesses of all sizes and has made TV more attractive to more brands, many of whom would never have considered TV before – for example, smaller businesses with highly specific geographical footprints.

​

​

• Choose from customised target audiences - By combining broadcasters’ firstparty registration or customer data sets with other data sources they have access to, advertisers can select from advanced TV’s huge array of targeted, customisable audiences covering demographic, psychographic and behavioural classifications. 
• Data match customers - All the broadcasters also offer a means for advertisers to combine and match their own customer data sets with the broadcasters’ first-party data. This enables advertisers to target very specific audiences that can deliver against highly tactical marketing objectives. ITV's partnership with InfoSum allows us to offer a first party data match solution to advertisers and agencies who work with us.
• Evolving measurement - Currently, broadcasters trade advanced advertising inventory using their own first-party, census-level return path data, as the panel-based measurement used for linear TV isn’t suitable for one-to-one advertising. However, Sky has developed a very sophisticated means of measuring total reach and frequency across their linear and VOD offerings called CFlight. Plans are in place for a collaborative project to build a cross-broadcaster CFlight tool.
• Simplifying buying - The broadcasters are developing sophisticated buying platforms that will enable advertisers and media agencies to automate the way they access TV inventory, increasing their control and allowing them to take full advantage of the advanced TV solutions on offer. ITV launched our advanced advertising platform Planet V last year. 

ITV is in the midst of a digital evolution. Audience viewing habits are changing, and in turn so is our business and advertising proposition.

In early October we announced the creation of a brand-new business unit – On Demand – to better serve the everchanging TV landscape. Ensuring ITV is at the forefront of driving this change, advanced TV is now at the heart of our More than TV strategy – our AVOD service ITV Hub now boasts 32 million subscribers; our SVOD platform BritBox has just reached its one year anniversary; our advanced advertising platform, Planet V, has launched, signifying a dramatic shift in the way content is produced, distributed, viewed and activated for advertisers, and certifying ITV as an impactful media partner for advertisers.

• ITV Hub - ITV Hub is the home of our advanced TV advertising opportunity, with 32 million registered users across over 30 different connected TV, mobile, tablet and desktop devices. ITV Hub has evolved to become a leading destination to watch live TV, catch up, and countless hours of box sets, across the entire family of ITV content.
• Maximising the addressable opportunity - ITV Hub combines the best of TV content, with the power of digital addressability, from targeting through to personalised creative and measurement. 
• Extending TV reach - The impact and reach of TV is well documented, and ITV Hub extends that in an environment that mirrors TV’s credentials of big screen, sound on, market-leading viewability and advertising completion rates. 

• Content Alignment - ITV offers advertisers scalable opportunities around content categories such as drama and comedy, as well as more specific programme alignment like finance around the Martin Lewis Money Show.
• Precision Targeting - You can execute precision targeting with ITV, giving brands the opportunity to focus their marketing efforts on their core target audience. You can closely match your campaigns to your carefully created audience segmentation, reaching only the most likely customers.
• Data Matching -  ITV allows you to match your data with ours to help enhance your existing segmentation, construct custom audiences and use your marketing to create a competitive advantage.

The final piece of the puzzle to maximise the impact of your advertising campaigns is technology. Planet V, our recently launched self-serve platform, is designed to put the power of ITV Hub’s premium broadcast content and unique data proposition in your hands. It empowers agencies and advertisers to apply their unique understanding of their audiences to their premium video buys.

As a demand-side platform, sell-side platform and an ad server all in one, Planet V marries the best of programmatic advertising’s customisable buying options with the fundamentals you expect from a market-leading media partner. As a wholly owned technology, we are able to protect our buyers from advertising fraud and ensure that every pound invested will be delivered as working media. Planet V is already an impactful technology, but we are just getting started.

As an evolving proposition, Planet V enables us to surface additive premium video inventory, and aims to be the technology that facilitates addressable linear TV on a self-serve platform. Visit our Planet V website to find out more.