Consider this. Over 71% of advertisers are willing to pay higher CPMs for the precision of addressable television marketing and well over half of them plan on doing so in the next year. Advertisers spent $400 million on addressable advertising in 2015; that number is expected to climb to almost $2.2 billion by 2018.

In other words, if you’re not jumping on the train, you might just get hit by it.

Addressable television, also called advanced TV by those in the media space, describes digital content purposefully pulled and watched by consumers. Unlike the traditional broadcasted television, which provides a set line-up of one-way content, schedules, and advertising space, advanced TV forms a two-way street between marketers and their audiences. Both have their place in your marketing toolbox, just as long as you know how to use them.

Traditional television marketing is great at delivering a message to a vast audience whether they want to hear it or not. It’s still the most common form of television in American (at least for the next two to three years) and remains one of our favorite household background noises. It only shouts, however; traditional television offers little in terms of audience targeting, identified conversions, and recorded engagement.

Advanced TV, on the other hand, has a topsy-turvy effect on our typical ad-buying model. Instead of trying to project what your ideal audience is going to watch and when, addressable advertising targets the audience no matter what they stream. While more expensive than traditional television, advertising in this medium is much more specific and can be served to more highly qualified leads further down the sales funnel. This not only means a higher return on investment, but the two-way nature of this model allows for marketers to keep gleaning more and more information about their consumers.

That’s how the higher price tag of addressable advertising pays it forward. The more you know, the more you (and your profits) grow.

Ready to learn more? Contact MediaSpark to see how advanced TV can advance your marketing strategy.