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SALT LAKE CITY— According to the Los Angeles Times, today's average network hour of television contains more commercial time than ever before. Consumers are more frequently turning to streaming services such as Netflix and DVRs to avoid commercials.
Advertisers, meanwhile, are doing their best to find more inventive ways to not simply blanket consumers with commercials, but to better target ads to those who may benefit most from their products.
In recent years, parents increasingly have had to be more mindful of the types of ads reaching their children. Many an awkward conversation has followed ads for everything from prescription drugs to alcohol and condoms in American homes.
A Utah company claims to have a solution that will make everyone happy. Filtrie founder Jim Birch claims his product will not only allow consumers to see fewer ads they have no interest in, but that advertisers will be better able to target the very consumers they hope to reach. Parents will be able to filter the ads their children see.
Filtrie is a free opt-in service that allows consumers to create a profile that governs which ads would be most desired and appropriate based on a complex series of demographics that include age, gender, race and spending power. The software can target ads for Spanish speakers and ensure that the automotive ads seen by a consumer represent that individual’s income level. In real time, an English language Mercedes ad scheduled to run could be replaced by a Spanish language Ford ad for an individual Filtrie user.
Parents would have the ability to filter out advertising that is not age appropriate or that they deem inappropriate based on religious or cultural convictions. Advertising can even be targeted based on sexual orientation so that a same-sex couple would see more ads portraying families resembling their own.
Advertisers would be able to create multiple versions of ads that could then be targeted to consumers based on Filtrie consumer profiles. Even when only one version of an advertisement exists, the advertiser can be certain it most often reaches targeted consumers.
“Our free opt-in services tie in with the viewer’s mobile phone so we know exactly when they’re watching TV and display ads appropriate for them,” said Birch, who founded Filtrie in Salt Lake City in 2015. “By connecting that information to existing and new television equipment we are able to assist both viewers and advertisers in providing meaningful content and privacy protection at a level that has not existed before, while also providing deeper and more accurate data to broadcasters and advertisers. This is a technology with the potential to move advertising (and viewer control) into a new generation.”
Once a consumer has created a Filtrie profile, they would then pair their mobile phone or tablet to the Filtrie service, which Birch envisions being built-in to every television sold. A stand-alone app would also allow the service to be added to smart TV’s sold without it.
Filtrie is then capable of recognizing which users are in proximity to the TV and tailor advertising accordingly. Based on preferences set by parents, for example, the system would target appropriate ads based on everyone present in the room.
Birch said advertisers are fully aware that consumers are avoiding advertising as much as possible when watching television mostly due to the fact that the advertising is not well targeted. Filtrie will help to solve that problem by collecting data about users that will tell advertisers and networks not only what consumers are watching, when and for how long but also fill in the gaps with the demographic data necessary to help create advertising that consumers will find most desirable.
If advertising delivered to a consumer is such that it’s beneficial and timely, consumers will be more willing to watch the commercials in the first place. If advertisers can spend their ad dollars more efficiently and better target consumers they wish to reach, they and consumers may be more satisfied with the necessity of TV ads.
Advertisers and networks will continue to do business as usual but Filtrie will act as a go between to help direct advertising and filter content based on user profiles. Birch is currently negotiating with networks, advertisers and television manufacturers to bring Filtrie to life sometime within the next several months.
As consumers begin to adopt the service, the days of female millennials watching ads for prostate supplements and parents having to explain what the little blue pill is for may soon be over.
