Vizury tracks users across different screens to understand them better

A consistent and personalised customer experience is a prerequisite for marketers who are keen to build relationships with users. Ahead of ad:tech Tokyo, Vizury, a digital CRM company, has shared some views on evolving a cross-device targeting strategy.

A true view of a user depends on consolidating data from multiple touch points spread over desktop browsers, mobile websites and apps. Vizury believes that the key to an effective cross-device strategy lies in accurate user identification across devices to understand the user's journey from product view to purchase.

"In markets like China and Japan, where a huge chunk of users are multi-screeners, cross-device targeting is very critical," said Subra Krishnan, VP Product Management at Vizury.

Vizury has been working on a cross-device user identification technique that can unify user data sprinkled across devices and channels. "A very important finding is that users show very different behaviour while researching and buying products of different industries like flight travel and e-commerce. This in turn implies that cross-device targeting techniques that rely on broad audience segmentation will not deliver the best results for advertisers," he added.

Advertisers have to consider a multiscreen world

TV viewers are looking for additional content even as they watch TV broadcasts, driving the growth of online content and ‘screen-stacking’ activities as a result, says global research consultancy TNS in its Connected Life* study. The new behaviour has implications for businesses thinking of maximising their advertising budgets.

TNS found that almost half of people (48%) watching TV in the evening are engaging in other digital activities at the same time, such as using social media, checking their emails or shopping online. The Asia Pacific region (APAC) is ahead of this trend globally, with 54% of people across the region taking part in ‘screen-stacking’ or looking at multiple screens, while the TV is on. 

The survey also found that we own approximately four digital devices each; this is just three across APAC as a whole, but rises to five among respondents in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan. This, combined with demand for TV and video content on-the-go, is fuelling the rise of multi-screening or ‘screen-stacking’ – the use of multiple digital devices at the same time.

“This constant connectivity across multiple devices has come to the fore during the FIFA World Cup in recent weeks,” says Joe Webb, Head of Digital, TNS Asia Pacific. He continues, “People the world over are engaging with the event in various ways across different devices – watching it on TV, tablet or mobile, whilst also engaging in conversations on social media. It’s a perfect example of how screen-stacking behaviour has really taken hold.”

The desire to watch TV shows outside of broadcast schedules is also driving online TV usage, which extends our access to the content to 24 hours a day. One quarter (25%) of those surveyed now watch content on a PC, laptop, tablet or mobile daily. This rises to one third (33%) in mainland China and Singapore and 32% in Hong Kong, where phablets are increasingly popular.

In Hong Kong, more people actually choose to watch TV and video online rather than on traditional sets. After dinner, one quarter of people (26%) tune into content on their digital devices, in contrast to 14% who switch on their TVs. 

Many of the big global media companies are already taking advantage of growing online viewing trends, offering on-demand services such as BBC iPlayer, Hulu or HBO GO, which allow people to access premium content wherever they are through their phones or tablets.

Webb continues, “It’s no surprise that we are seeing such a big trend towards screen-stacking in Asian markets – the appetite for online content is huge and growing all the time. However, TV does still have a role to play – particularly during dinner, when we don’t have hands free to navigate on other devices. Our attachment to the TV has been supported by the rise in digital set-top boxes, catch-up TV and on-demand services.

“What’s clear is that media multi-tasking is here to stay and the implications for advertisers are significant – there’s a real opportunity for those that understand how to really integrate their activity in our increasingly connected world.”

*Connected Life surveys over 55,000 Internet users worldwide. 

*Images from TNS. View the full infographic here.

No killer content for multiple devices - yet

Businesses have to be open to try anything to engage their target audiences. The jury, for example, is still out on killer content for an audience under 34, says award-winning author Maureen McHugh in a talk on writing for transmedia at the Asian Festival of Children's Content 2014 in Singapore.

"The generation under 34 gets most of their content from the Internet. They don't watch commercials, they don't listen to radio, they don't read magazines so they don't see the ads, you need to build a story to pull them to you," she observed. 

"New artforms arise out of new technologies. Eighty percent of people who watch TV, watch TV with a smartphone or a laptop or a tablet with them. The moment a commercial comes on, they chat, they text, they look stuff up." 

McHugh has worked on alternate reality games and providing second-screen content to supplement what's showing on TV but said that nothing had quite captured the interest of the generation under 34 as yet. Behind-the-scenes bloopers, quizzes, and content sent to viewers that is not yet shared with TV characters have not received widespread interest, she said, inviting listeners to visit Rides.tv to experience some of the second-screen experiments. 

"If you want to work in this medium you'd better be OK at everything than great at something. If you can write passably in almost everything, that's really important. Write anything. Be willing to try everything. Be a good mimic, you're going to be writing for all those platforms," she said, listing mobile app content, websites, audio scripts, video scripts, and scripted conversations for cars as part of her repertoire. "Write fast, do solid first drafts."

"Somewhere out there, someone is going to figure this out, find the thing that people are excited about, and want to do. If you're a writer, think about different technologies out there. It's a whole new language. We think there are rules. There are none," she added.