woman smiling while laying down looking at her laptop screen
With the level of streaming consumption skyrocketing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, small business owners may find benefit in using multiscreen advertising to reach more customers. — Getty Images/FG Trade

Year after year, data shows that TV advertising is one of the consistently best ways to promote your business. TV ads have greater reach than social media campaigns, as well as less noise to compete with for a captive audience. However, many small business owners perceive TV advertising as too complicated and too expensive.

It’s true that the TV advertising landscape has evolved. People are consuming video content across multiple screens and devices. For businesses to reach their customers, they need to reach them wherever they’re watching. Enter: multiscreen advertising.

Multiscreen advertising is not just for big businesses. With partners like Spectrum Reach, small business owners can take advantage of targeted, advanced TV advertising to reach customers on their favorite devices while they watch their favorite content.

This is a powerful way to connect with consumers in your local community –– and it’s more accessible and affordable than you may think.

What is multiscreen advertising?

Multiscreen advertising often gets conflated with concepts like omnichannel marketing or mobile marketing. And, while there are some similarities, multiscreen advertising is much more straightforward.

“Multiscreen advertising is really the ability to reach any consumer on any screen where they are watching television,” Michael Guth, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Spectrum Reach told CO—. No matter whether someone is watching a football game, a reality TV show or comedy, and no matter whether they are watching it at home, on their phone or on an iPad, we can deliver an ad in any of these places.”

The pandemic has, unsurprisingly, increased the number of people watching TV. Nielsen reports that streaming consumption across all video options is up more than 74% from last year. Not only is traditional TV consumption up; people are watching video content across multiple screens and devices. One survey found that more than 40% of respondents stream video on their mobile devices daily; more than 25% said they do so at least weekly.

Bottom line: People are watching a lot of TV, and on every device that they have. The ability to use television to target, reach and segment in myriad ways has never been more effective and available to small businesses.

Multiscreen advertising is really the ability to reach any consumer on any screen where they are watching television.

Michael Guth, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Spectrum Reach

The value of multiscreen marketing

While the pandemic may have captivated TV audiences, many merchants are struggling to survive the intermittent lockdowns, social distancing measures and changes in consumer spending. As a result, however, customers are spending more time looking at screens, creating opportunities for businesses looking to reach them.

Even pre-pandemic there has been an increase in multiscreen viewing. In fact, the Video Advertising Bureau reports more people now than ever are streaming TV, with a 43% increase in average monthly hours spent viewing in the first half of the year compared to 2019.

Rather than scale back your budget, now is the perfect time to double down on your outreach effort. And, critically, multiscreen advertising can have a greater impact than advertising on streaming alone, increasing ad recall and traffic to your website.

How to get started with multiscreen advertising

When you think of TV advertising, it may seem out of reach to many small businesses. It’s a lot to try to navigate on your own. But the right marketing partner can offer the best content, insights, products and people to help you grow your business.

Spectrum Reach’s advertising solutions harness the power of aggregated and de-identified viewership data to help businesses find and reach the right people, no matter how they’re watching their favorite content. Dozens of demographically targeted networks and advanced audience-targeting tools give Spectrum Reach the ability to put your message in front of your customers across all screens with precision.

Two things set Spectrum Reach apart as marketing partners in multiscreen advertising. First, they’re a one-stop shop to build a campaign that reaches anyone, anywhere, on any screen. Tools like AudienceApp, AudienceTrak and Ad Portal take you through the steps of creating a campaign, either online or by working with one of Spectrum Reach’s representatives, that will reach your customers. Any place you can imagine putting a television ad, Spectrum Reach has the unique capability to do just that. Spectrum Reach’s in-house creative agency, known as Kernel, will take the reins in bringing your ad vision to life. It will work with your specific budget and make sure you’re 100% compliant with privacy regulations.

Likewise, Spectrum Reach has local expertise to help businesses reach their customers. With offices in local communities across the country, they are a trusted neighbor invested in the success of your local business and your community. This brand is committed to providing access to marketing insights and local marketing expertise that will make small businesses big.

TV advertising is more important than ever — and Spectrum Reach is making sure small businesses are set up to succeed in this new media landscape. Reach out to get advice and expertise in building TV into your small business’s media plan. No matter the budget or audience size, Spectrum Reach will help businesses turn consumers into your customers.

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