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Suppose you’re watching your favorite TV show, and an ad suddenly catches your attention. It urges you to take immediate action, whether to call a number, visit a website, or text a keyword like ‘DETAILS’ to a specific number for more information. This is direct response television (DRTV), a powerful form of advertising available on all TV types — including live, cable, and streaming — that directly connects brands with consumers to drive immediate engagement and measurable results.
The goal of DRTV marketing is simple: convert viewers into customers quickly and measurably by asking them to do something in real time. Every DRTV ad is carefully designed to drive quick conversions with a clear, direct path from interest to action. This makes it an essential tool for marketers who need to measure their return on investment (ROI) for TV and see instantaneous results.
Key benefits of DRTV marketing
Unlike traditional TV ads that build long-term brand awareness, DRTV campaigns are focused on driving instant results and are surprisingly effective at doing it. Here are a few benefits of DRTV and why it’s a powerful tool for marketers in a digitized world.
Immediate customer engagement
One of the biggest advantages of DRTV is its ability to engage customers right off the bat. DRTV grabs attention and motivates people to act now, whether with a phone number on the screen, a QR code to scan, or a limited-time offer, often with compelling incentives.
Measurable ROI
DRTV is designed to deliver precise, trackable results. Because the ads encourage specific actions — like visiting a website or calling a phone number — it’s easy to see what’s working and what’s not. Marketers can measure everything from sales to lead generation, which guides them in refining their strategies for even better results. Pairing DRTV with digital tools, like web analytics or CRM systems, can provide even deeper campaign performance insights.
Broad reach
Even in the streaming age, live TV and cable still attract millions of viewers, which makes DRTV excellent for brands needing to expand their reach. Marketers can even tailor DRTV ads to specific audiences by choosing the best time slots on the proper channels. Whether you’re targeting parents watching morning news or sports fans tuning into big games, you’ll know you’re connecting with the right people at optimal times.
Types of DRTV ads
DRTV advertising offers several formats, each suited to different audiences, budgets, and goals, whether you’re introducing a new product or driving traffic to your website.
Infomercials
Infomercials are the classic, long-form DRTV ads that most people associate with the term. These ads typically run for 15-30 minutes and go into detail on product benefits and features. They often include demonstrations and special offers to educate and engage viewers with urgent, limited-time deals. Think of the iconic “But wait, there’s more!” ads used to sell everyday items ranging from household cleaners to exercise equipment.
Short-form ads
Short-form DRTV ads are 30-second to 2-minute ads that get straight to the point with a single message or offer and a clear call-to-action (CTA) to encourage immediate engagement. Short-form ads are ideal for quick bursts of information, like promoting a flash sale or highlighting a new product. A 60-second ad showcasing a new mobile app might feature a quick walkthrough of its features, followed by a QR code or website URL to download it instantly.
Product demos
Some DRTV ads focus exclusively on demonstrating how a product works in real-life scenarios. These ads are great for showing off unique features or solving familiar pain points that make the product feel essential. A cookware brand might show how its nonstick pans make cooking and cleanup a breeze while including a CTA to “order now and get a free bonus spatula!”
Testimonials
Testimonials from real customers or experts are a great way to build trust and credibility. Hearing someone’s success story or endorsement of a product or service can help viewers feel confident about their purchase decision. A skincare brand, for example, might air a two-minute ad of a dermatologist explaining the science behind the product, along with five-star reviews from satisfied users.
Call-in contests or limited-time offers
This type of DRTV ad creates urgency by promoting a special offer or giveaway. Viewers might have to call a number or visit a website within a specific timeframe to claim the deal. For example, travel agencies sometimes air ads offering free vacations or planning kits to the first 100 callers, which helps them generate immediate leads.
Hybrid ads with digital integration
Many modern DRTV campaigns blend traditional TV with digital tools, like QR codes, social media hashtags, or links to custom landing pages. These hybrid ads meet viewers wherever they are. A fitness program might air a short-form ad with a QR code linking to their free app trial, making it easy for viewers to instantly engage.
Success tips for DRTV advertising
Creating a successful direct response TV campaign centers on messaging that resonates with the right audience, inspires action, and delivers measurable results. Here are some essential tips for a winning DRTV strategy.
Strong CTA
Every DRTV ad should include a compelling, straightforward CTA that motivates viewers to act immediately. Whatever it is, your CTA should be easy to understand and time-sensitive to create urgency, such as, “Claim this limited-time offer in the next 30 minutes!”
Multi-channel integration
Direct response TV works best when part of a broad multi-channel strategy, so you should make sure your campaign integrates well with digital channels. This can reinforce your message, help consumers engage across platforms, and drive better results.
Audience targeting
Precise audience targeting is critical to DRTV campaign success. Experian’s advanced TV audiences, developed with the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), help you connect with the right viewers to drive immediate action. These syndicated audiences are now available on FreeWheel, the TV advertising industry’s global tech platform.
With over 2,400 ready-to-use audience segments, Experian enables you to target specific groups, such as:
- TV viewership audiences: Target households based on viewing habits and preferred devices.
- In-market car buyers: Reach consumers actively searching for their next vehicle, which is ideal for driving sales.
- Holiday shoppers: Engage gift-givers, deal-seekers, and travelers during peak shopping seasons.
New TV audiences released in August 2024
In addition to these, our August 2024 release introduced several updates that further refine Experian’s targeting capabilities. Some of the audience updates in this release included:
- New retail transaction audiences: These segments offer insights into categories like children’s products, parenting, hobbies and crafts, science and nature, and sports and fitness. With high spending and frequent purchase behaviors, these audiences provide a deeper understanding of consumer preferences. Notable segments include:
- Sports and fitness high spenders
- Children’s product high spenders
- Science and nature high spenders
- Updated TV audiences: New and refreshed TV segments now reflect the viewing habits of today’s consumers for accurate insights and targeting. Examples of newly added segments include:
- Free and paid ad-supported streaming TV subscribers
- Satellite service subscribers
- Cable and streaming TV service subscribers
With these advanced targeting capabilities, your DRTV campaigns can be more effective and resonant with viewers most likely to respond for maximum ROI and engagement.
Effective planning
A strong DRTV campaign starts with defining your objectives, budgeting effectively, and identifying the right media mix. Understanding where your audience spends their time — prime-time TV or niche cable channels — will get you the most value from your DRTV investment.
Real-time tracking
Tracking your DRTV campaign’s performance in real time is critical for success. Tools that provide immediate insights into viewer responses, website visits, or call volumes allow you to identify what’s working and pivot quickly if needed.
Measuring success
Measuring success against key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversion rates, ROI, or cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is an excellent way to know if your DRTV campaign is delivering results. Experian’s advanced data solutions make tracking and analyzing campaign performance easier, so you can make data-informed decisions and deliver precise results to stakeholders.
Continuous optimization
DRTV marketing is an ongoing effort. Use the insights from real-time tracking and performance measurement to refine your strategy. Optimization keeps your campaign relevant and effective, whether you need to tweak your CTA, adjust your audience targeting, or test new creative formats.
How DRTV relates to advanced TV and connected TV
While DRTV has historically focused on immediate viewer actions via traditional linear TV, it’s found new relevance within advanced TV and connected TV (CTV) ecosystems. These modern formats expand the measurable, action-driven qualities of DRTV while incorporating the precise targeting and personalized storytelling made possible by digital technologies.
DRTV and advanced TV
Advanced TV enhances DRTV by enabling addressable advertising, which helps marketers deliver ads to specific households based on behavioral or demographic data. For instance, using tools like Experian’s Graph, advertisers can integrate data sets across multiple sources to refine audience segmentation and tailor messages to individual households.
Advanced TV also supports cross-channel consistency to provide a unified customer experience whether the viewer engages with linear TV, streaming services, or other devices. Additionally, programmatic ad buying plays a role in automating the ad-buying process. This helps advertisers optimize their bids and placements and get DRTV campaigns in front of the right audience at the right time, which maximizes cost-efficiency across both traditional and digital channels.
DRTV and CTV
CTV has a high rate of logged-in, authenticated viewers and provides a lot of helpful first-party data. This allows for hyper-precise audience targeting, cross-device attribution, and an ability to link ad exposure to conversions — even when purchases occur on non-CTV devices. Universal IDs like UID2 further strengthen these capabilities by creating consistent and privacy-respecting user identities across platforms.
Experian’s TV partnerships
Through partnerships with leading CTV players like Madhive, Samsung, Disney/Hulu, and others, Experian’s identity solutions integrate seamlessly to support well-timed, personalized ads across major streaming platforms. These integrations, powered by our Digital and Offline Graphs, offer a complete view of audiences to enable more controlled, effective activation across mediums, including free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels.
Using Experian’s advanced data and identity tools, advertisers can tap into the full potential of DRTV strategies within advanced TV and CTV to make campaigns more actionable, efficient, and impactful.
The future of DRTV
So, what is DRTV going to look like in the future? With the integration of digital and television platforms, DRTV is becoming more targeted, interactive, and personalized. This shift creates new opportunities for advertisers to drive conversions. Here are some key advancements that will continue to shape the future of DRTV:
- Addressable TV: Advertisers can deliver targeted ads to specific households based on demographic and behavioral data. It uses data from smart TVs, streaming devices, and third-party data providers to enable highly relevant ads based on the interests of individual viewers.
- Interactive TV ads: Interactive TV ads enable viewers to engage directly with the content through their remote control or mobile devices. Users can click on a product for more information or make purchases without leaving the TV screen and immediately convert.
- Authenticated audiences: With CTV and AI technology, advertisers can use first-party data from authenticated users to improve targeting, measurement, and campaign performance. Advertisers can create a more cohesive and personalized experience by linking viewers across multiple devices, which improves ad effectiveness and attribution.
- Branded apps with saved information: Branded apps that store payment and personal information streamline the direct response process. These apps reduce purchase journey friction and allow quicker conversions, as viewers can complete transactions with fewer steps.
- QR codes replacing URLs: QR codes are becoming a popular alternative to traditional URLs in DRTV ads. These codes provide a quick, convenient way for viewers to visit a website, access a product page, or act on a CTA simply by scanning the code with their phone.
- Better targeting algorithms: Advancements in targeting algorithms allow advertisers to serve more personalized and relevant ads. These algorithms help ads reach the right audience at the right time, which can increase engagement and conversion rates.
These innovations offer advertisers more tools to connect with audiences in a personalized, interactive, and measurable way.
Connect with Experian’s TV experts
Experian can help you achieve the full potential of your direct response TV advertising efforts with our advanced tools, precise audience targeting, and strong industry partnerships. We help brands create impactful DRTV campaigns that drive real-time engagement, audience connection, and measurable results, whether for traditional, advanced, or CTV.
Reach out today to work with us on your DRTV efforts and achieve better ROI, or explore how our expertise can transform your TV advertising campaigns.
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At Experian, we understand the importance of audience targeting when it comes to crafting a successful marketing campaign. That's why we've invested in developing 2,400+ syndicated audiences, which span across multiple verticals and categories, including demographic, and lifestyle and interest data. We are excited to share a curated list of audience recommendations to support your campaign planning so you can confidently connect with your audience. What separates Experian’s syndicated audiences Readily available on-the-shelf for activation of most major ad platforms, including the Trade Desk, Cadent, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Our audiences span 15 data verticals and categories including demographics, auto, retail purchases, lifestyle and interests, financial, and travel. With our history in data management and participation in industry standards groups, we have the expertise to build audiences that are built for privacy and focused on accuracy. New audience segments to consider for Q4 campaign planning These new audiences, recently released on major platforms, offer unique opportunities to align your campaign planning with the latest consumer trends and behaviors. Here are four new Experian audiences to include in your Q4 campaign planning: Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday Holiday Travel – Budget Savvy Airline Geo-Indexed Audiences – Hybrid Vehicle 24-Month Future Car Buyers Seasonal audiences for Q4 Political audiences As the 2024 election approaches, moving beyond broad categorizations like “Democrat,” “Republican,” or “Independent” is crucial. Voters want candidates who align with their beliefs and values and Experian’s political personas offer a nuanced understanding of American voters to craft tailored engagement strategies. Experian has created 10 political personas to help better understand the American voter so you can reach consumers based on their viewpoints on key political issues. Additionally, over 200 politically relevant Experian audiences are available for activation on-the-shelf of the leading TV, demand, and supply platforms. Learn more here Holiday audiences This upcoming holiday season serves as the perfect opportunity to drive sales and build customer relationships. Experian has recently introduced 19 new audiences that can help you reach relevant shoppers across major ad platforms including TV and programmatic. By using Experian’s audiences in your holiday advertising campaigns, you can reach last-minute shoppers, discount-seeking shoppers, gift-givers, and holiday travelers. Just as shoppers seek the perfect gifts, your holiday advertising campaigns can capture the right shoppers this holiday season with the right strategy. Read our holiday audience guide now Our top 10 audience recommendations for Q4 Based on the top Experian audiences activated in Q4 of 2023, our top 10 list is designed to help agencies and media buyers plan data-driven advertising campaigns. Household income level 1) $100,000+: This segment contains consumers who are likely to have an estimated household income of $100,000+. 2) $75,000+: This segment contains consumers who are likely to have an estimated household income of $75,000+. Demographics 3) Ages: 25-54: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 25-54. 4) Ages: 30-39: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 30-39. 5) Ages: 35-39: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 35-39. 6) Ages: 40-49: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 40-49. Homeowners 7) Homeowner: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be homeowners. Military 8) Inactive: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be inactive military. Automotive 9) In-market for a small, mid-size SUV: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be in the market to buy a mid-size SUV in the next 180 days. 10) In-market for a full-size SUV: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be in the market to buy a full-size SUV in the next 180 days. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix. Activate the right audiences with Experian When you choose Experian’s syndicated audiences, you gain access to over 2,400 audiences that span across 15 verticals and categories. These audiences are directly available for activation on over 30 platforms and can be sent to over 200 media platforms. Experian is ranked #1 for data accuracy (as validated by Truthset), and Experian Marketing Data is the foundation for successful targeting, enrichment, and activation. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide. Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice. Connect with our audience team Appendix Here are the complete audience segment names (taxonomy paths) for all audience segments discussed in this blog post. New audiences Autos, Cars and Trucks > Near Market > 24-Month Future Car Buyers Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday Autos, Cars and Trucks > Ownership – Geo-Indexed > Geo-Indexed Audiences –Hybrid Vehicle Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers Household income level Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $100,000+ Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $75,000+ Demographics: Ages Demographics > Ages > 25-54 Demographics > Ages > 30-39 Demographics > Ages > 35-39 Demographics > Ages > 40-49 Homeowners Demographics > Homeowners/Renters > Homeowner Military Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Occupation > Military – Inactive Automotive Autos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Small Mid-Size SUV Autos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Full-Size SUVs Latest posts
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