Thanks To Next Gen TV, Local Broadcasting Stations Can Track You And Sell You Targeted Ads like Google And Facebook

A recent ruling by the FCC has cleared the way for Next Gen TV (technically called ATSC 3.0), a means for providing advertisers with a more precise targeting option on local broadcast TV stations, while allowing broadcasters to tap into a new revenue source that Google and Facebook now enjoy.

Based on Internet Protocol (IP), Next Gen TV can go to devices such as smart phones and tablets over the air without using cellular data services. Much like current subscription cable and satellite TV, local broadcasters will be able to target and deliver specific ads to neighborhoods and individual households. The ads, like Google, can be directed at the viewer’s specific interest, unlike the current situation where broadcasters deliver the same ad to their total viewing area.

While there is always a privacy issue related to Next Gen TV, it isn’t much different from various advertising vehicles currently used on social media and cable. Even billboards are being developed to deliver specific ads based on reading the retinas’ of passing motorists.

In addition to this new protocol being a boon to advertisers, it is also expected to provide benefits to viewers with better picture quality, broadcast signals less resistant to interference, interactive features to viewers and providing localized emergency alerts.

Technology for providing Next Gen TV will have to develop over the next few years, allowing for inclusion in new TV sets and converter boxes, not to mention adjustments to broadcast towers.

With the more precise targeting and collection of viewer data, TV broadcasters will become more competitive with non-traditional advertising.  

The use of Next Gen TV, also known as “addressable TV advertising,” is heralded as the future of TV advertising.

Information for this article was collected from the National Association of Broadcasters, The Washington Post, Variety, Techhive.com and the Wall Street Journal.