Ethan Heftman Explains A+E's Precision + Performance With Guaranteed Clarity

AE Networks has dubbed its delivery of both as quotPrecision Performancequot Ethan Heftman senior vice president of Precision Performance advertising sales recently described the group39s approach to me He also discussed AE39s firsttomarket guarantees of select outcomes As this is an essential area for everyone in media to understand I recommend listening here to the full discussion The following article has been edited for clarity and brevityTo bring the kind of transparency that every conversation on this topic needs I asked Heftman for specific definitions starting with quotattributionquot and how it applies at AE quotFor us attribution is amp8230 tying a media exposure on AE Networks to a specific business outcomequot he explained quotIt39s going beyond simply the discussion of what type of media metric we delivered amp8212 the delivery of an impression amp8212 to what type of action or behavior that impression caused Is it fueling a behavior at the top or awareness area of the funnel the middle or consideration area or at the bottom of the funnel a sale or specific outcome typequotAE markets its Precision Performance product as impacting outcomes in each of those three areas versus just the expected topoffunnel Historically quottelevision hasn39t been properly credited with outcomes in the consideration segment of the funnel or in the real action area driving a web visit driving a store visit driving a specific salequot Heftman saidNext I asked Heftman to explain AE39s view of precision and performance quotPrecision is our advanced audience targeting tools that is through the use of advanced data sets amp8212 whether it39s MRI settopbox data from an MVPD Axiom or Polk data or firstparty data that an advertiser provides usquot he explained quotPerformance are the tools that we use to discuss find and prove specific outcomes within that purchase funnel The better job you do of identifying and finding those discreet audience segments the better job you do of picking dayparts and programs that deliver against them the better outcomes you will havequotThat39s not to say AE is aiming to move the business entirely away from where it39s been traditionally he clarified It39s important to find a balance he asserted quotFor too long now the business has been overweighted towards specific actions whether it39s search or immediate lastclick web conversion We have always said that the value of brand advertising is in the combination of broad reach and specific focusquotWhat he39s also saying though is that television has been overlooked as a driver of conversions and as such AE is working with attribution partners such as Data Plus Math and iSpot who according to Heftman quotare coming up with multitouch attribution models that for the first time fairly calculate the value of all of those different media touchpoints to create that conversionquotTo a degreequotWe39re still in the very early days of this and the two metrics that we feel comfortable guaranteeing are foot traffic and web conversion That is store foot traffic which can be to a store a restaurant an auto dealershipquot Heftman said quotAnd web conversion can be a visit to a broad website a visit to a product configurator amp8212 any type of web behavior that can be tagged is something that we are willing to guarantee We39ve done this now across 48 advertisers across a number of product categoriesquotWe circled back to precision and how it dovetails with AE39s programming as well as its audiences and how they behave quotThe team is able to take the audiences by program daypart and network and overlay them with the discreet segments that our partners are looking forquot he said quotAnd then translate that into a buy that takes the best of television amp8212 the ability for our content to reach mass audiences amp8212 with precision targeting builtinquot Targeting that is as only good as the data provided he cautionedHeftman also shared the categories that perform well and which platforms AE can precision target hint all and measure performance across ditto quotWe39ve always been able to talk about performance outcomes in the digital space in the OTT space We believe that the real gamechanger is being able to have that conversation in the linear space and then marry that with the existing conversation in digital and over the topquotAs for the famous guarantees Heftman said quotWe are comfortable managing the risk guaranteeing specific behaviors If an advertiser is willing to let us use our entire audience let us precision target across our entire audience find the most valuable consumers serve a message to them then we will guarantee that a behavior will occur on the backendquotThe plan is to expand the behaviors AE is willing to guarantee he noted quotWe don39t make the claim that this is the future and it has arrived today fully baked and ready to go We understand that the world is becoming more fragmented in terms of viewer consumptionquot Heftman said quotWe understand that demand continues to be strong from advertisers looking to get into television We want to be able to offer each and every one of those advertisers a buying opportunity that works for themquotEditor39s Note For future podcast episodes like these from MediaVillage and more subscribe to Insider Interviews with EB Moss on Apple Stitcher and your favorite listening platformsDon39t stop now Stay in the know on AE Networks and HISTORY with more from AETNINSITEScom and on industry trends with executive interviews and more from EB MossClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Ethan Heftman Explains A+E's Precision + Performance With Guaranteed Clarity

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E.B. Moss

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Ethan Heftman Explains A+E's Precision + Performance With Guaranteed Clarity

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