Tata Play collab offers premium consumer targeting on linear TV: Amrutha Nair, Disney Star

To provide premium targeting of consumer cohorts to advertisers/brands, Disney Star, in collaboration with DTH player Tata Play, has launched an ad product to provide premium audience targeting on linear TV. 

Unveiling the new ad product at the Pitch CMO Summit 2024, held in Mumbai, Amrutha Nair, Disney Star’s Head of Entertainment, Ad Sales and Strategy observed that premiumization of consumer cohorts has become a trend across all categories of advertisers and sharper targeting has gained importance.

During a spotlight session on ‘Premium Audience Targeting on Linear TV’, Nair said that this new ad product will enable brands to reach out to the most premium consumer cohort in the eight metros.

“Today, premiumization is the trend which is very visible across all advertisers, be it any category – automobile, consumer durable, and even CPG for that matter. It is the premium brands which are at the top of the price hierarchy that are driving the topline for organisations. Because of premiumization, it has become super important for sharper targeting for brands to affluent audiences,” she said.

She explained that there is usually a perception among advertisers that advertising on linear TV gives massive spillover.

“TV has a 900 million reach and if a brand wants to reach out only to the premium cohort, this reach is considered a spillover. Because of this reach, broadcasters will be pricing ads for the entire 900 million being reached out to. So it became prohibitively expensive for brands that want to reach out to premium audiences. They also believed that linear TV lacked targeting capabilities,” she said.

This new ad product of Disney Star in collaboration with Tata Play will allow premium audience targeting on linear television through HD channels and address the need of advertisers to target the premium consumers in the market they want to reach, which is the top eight metros.

Elaborating on why the collaboration with DTH player, Tata Play, Nair said that they have a huge subscriber base.

“Tata Play is a leading DTH player in the market in India. Ever since they were launched in the country, they have a significant consumer/subscriber base that pays a higher ARPU than the average cable bill that a consumer pays.

“Also, due to this new product, Tata Play homes in eight metros, watching the same show as the rest of the country, will watch advertisements meant only for them.

While thanking Tata Play’s CEO Harit Nagpal, Nair said that this collaboration is a result of continuous effort to innovate and find a way to fulfil the customer need to reach out to a premium cohort of audiences in the eight metros.

Targeted ads will be placed within top-rated content on leading HD channels – Star Plus HD, Star Gold HD, Star Bharat HD, Star Pravah HD, Star Maa HD, Star Vijay HD and Star Jalsa HD.

Talking about how this will impact the brand and the advertisers, Nair said, “It is the big screen ultimately, not an ad on the mobile phone where creativity is getting lost and where there is lack of attention. On the big screen, there is guaranteed attention and memorability.

“Also, appointment viewing will ensure brand visibility among the highest-rated TV shows. Targeting has eluded television for a very long time but this time we are bringing a new technology to enable targeting of premium audiences on linear television. Lastly, the elevation of return on ad spends (ROAS). As you can control your spends, ROAS is also guaranteed,” she said, adding that Tata Play Panel data will be the basis of campaign planning, measurement and billing. And cost per completed view (CPCV) will be the currency, she said.

Nair explained that this new product also allows starting a campaign with Rs 5 lakh instead of a crore, which is normally needed for a TV campaign.

“Today if we have to do a TV campaign, it will require a minimum of a crore. So many advertisers are not able to come to television. Plenty of brands are only available in the eight metros. In this case, the campaign can start with just a Rs 5 lakh outlay with a 0.28 CPCV. This uniform rate is across the seven HD channels with three levels of targeting – Geo, behaviour and affluence.

“Geo targeting which means delivering the ads just in these eight metros in the Tata Play high ARPU consumer cohort. Behaviour is extremely important. If a consumer is watching professionally generated content, the attention is significantly different from when they are watching usage-created content. A Rs 600+ ARPU consumer chosen to be on television on an everyday basis, this the affluent audience that we are offering,” she said.

She further said that this premium audience-targeted ad product is ideal for businesses whose share from the top 8 metros is greater than the rest of India's business; brands targeting affluent cohorts from the 8 metros; brands offering high-ticket size products and services; and brands that have chosen mediums other than linear television.

Going forward, Nair said that the aim is to include all HD channels under the network of Disney Star; form partnerships with other pay TV distribution platforms and target beyond the eight metros to include all India's high ARPU audiences.

She also said that this collaboration brings a game-changing innovation to linear television, something that has never been done before as the ad product on HD channels enables a host of new sets of premium brands to access linear television as an advertising platform.