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Television ads are SO 2015 and Time Warner’s Turner intends to do something about it in 2016.
Presenting at CES this week, Turner has unveiled a new insights-powered unit tailored to help it “align with a brand and replace the traditional commercial pod with a space more powerful and impactful to the viewer,” the cable programming giant said in a statement. Its new ad sales division, Turner Ignite, enables the company to “produce longer-form branded content for a client, or utilize the client’s existing and typically digital-based long-form content that previously didn’t have a home on television.”
What that means for the viewer are more commercials that don’t feel like commercials, as Turner’s portfolio of TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and other channels seeks new ways to retain viewers during ad breaks. The goal is to work with marketers to replace traditional commercials with long-form (two- to three-minute) content that offers greater brand storytelling opportunities. Expect these advertiser-sponsored vignettes to look and feel increasingly similar to the content they are supporting as Turner moves toward becoming what Dan Riess, the company’s head of content sponsorships, described as a “giant native ad platform” while speaking at CES.
Turner has an arsenal of capabilities at its disposal to facilitate the transition. The list of data-driven offerings includes Turner Native Plus, which was the company’s engine of branded content online and now comes fully into the broadcast space. Another new offering called Launchpad will help leverage branded content into real-time social analytics and promotion, while optimization tool TargetingNOW helps brands target their audiences more specifically and schedule ads more effectively across Turner’s roster of channels.
“We broke ground last year with our suite of data products, and now we are building on that with Turner Native Plus and Launchpad,” said Turner Ad Sales President Donna Speciale. “These capabilities aren’t available anywhere else. We are fully equipped to take the burden off our partners and become a stronger resource for them. We want brands to connect with consumers like never before.”
Turner waded into the native advertising waters in 2015 with a partnership between CNN’s branded content studio Courageous and Subaru. The fruits of their collaboration were a series of extended pieces of content called “CNN Heroes,” introduced during the show they were supporting, playing during commercial breaks, and leading right back into the programming without additional interruption.
What ensues is “less interruptive for consumers and more powerful for brands,” said Riess.
Brief Take: Nobody thinks they should have to watch commercials anymore, so Turner’s making a smart move by rolling with that tide instead of against it.
Read more at Ad Age.
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