Clear Channel, in addition to other media companies like A&E and Tribune, has teamed up with ad agency Interpublic to build and test an automated ad-buying system for radio and television ads.
Ad buyers and sellers tell the Wall Street Journal that automated systems give advertisers more consumer data than they would ordinarily have to better target their message.
“There is so much intelligence and data out there, we have to capitalize on that and it cannot be restricted to digital media,” Matt Seiler, chief executive of IPG Mediabrands, the Interpublic division building the system, tells the Journal.
Such an ad system with more data will put traditional media more on a level playing field with digital media, according to the president of ad sales for A&E Networks, Mel Berning. Broadcast executives say with the proper targeting enabled by the new system, ad time could become more valuable, and offset any downward pressure on price.
The new system could be ready in six months, according to Interpublic.
