The rising frequency of cord-cutting has run hand-in-hand with the inflating streaming TV industry. Every month, more and more streaming providers enter the fray, with Comcast/NBCUniversal’s Peacock being the latest giant to try to win back lost cable subscribers.

As crazy of a situation as it is for network executives, it is just as crazy for marketers. Advertisers have been running through quite a gauntlet the past couple years. Transparency, privacy, and third-party cookie blockers have all created obstacles to scale. Now with increased fragmentation and more subscriber platforms keeping advertisers out, marketers are scrambling to find a way to find their customers.

enter an unlikely hero: social media

When it comes to understanding people’s interests and behaviors, social media provides an all-you-can-eat buffet for marketers and network executives. People flock by the millions to engage with their favorite streaming shows, YouTube personalities, influencers, and new and classic brands.

Make it personal. Digital marketers have a bevy of tools to segment their audiences based on demographic data. But what we buy, watch, drink, drive, and wear is personal. With over a billion engagements occurring every 3 months, social media has become the new office water cooler, with people collectively and passionately discussing and engaging with their favorite brands, influencers, TV series, movies, and interests. Don’t segment audiences by what matters to you – segment by what matters to them, and boost your messaging effectiveness. Simply put, improved targeting, improved ROAS.

Improve your reach. Reach can no longer be achieved by advertising on one network or show or game. Targeting a TV audience is great, but to achieve the reach and frequency required, marketers need to find the same and similar audiences everywhere else—YouTube, Instagram, Reddit for example. Social insights provide multiple dimensions of where fans frequent most, and a well-placed campaign will reel in those customers and those most similar. And, while streaming providers like Peacock provide ad-supported subscriptions targeting, if you want to target the fans of ad-free platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+, you will need to find them off the platform. Social media insights provide the best way to reach viewers of any streaming service, effectively getting them up and over the ad-free wall.

Tune-In targeting for network marketers matters. Fans are excitedly discussing their favorite shows across a variety of social platforms. Fan interests outside TV can be leveraged to identify YouTube influencers and channels that align best, creating a road map for expanding TV targeting placements, beyond the usual, to new and relevant areas. Using the FanFinder360 platform from Affinity Answers, marketers can get a 360º view of who their fans are, what else they watch, where they go online, which influencers they follow, and what brands they love. If fans of The Mandalorian share a love with Bat in the Sun on YouTube, then you might want to consider reaching out to that audience or even a cross-promotion.

A fragmented streaming landscape can provide some challenges in effectively reaching audiences, but social insights close the gaps, delivering necessary answers to strategic advertisers. The market may currently be broken up between multiple providers and an abundance of content, but social insights provide parallels between each world, allowing advertisers to reach their most ideal audiences while improving overall campaign targeting and performance.

More questions? We’d love to help. To find out more about our Fanfinder360 platform or how you can activate our audiences give us a shout at audiences@affinityanswers.com.

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