Targeted, Tailored Ads Coming To Your Living Room

Satellite provider DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) has rolled out a new advertising methodology to allow companies to send commercials to specific households based on troves of compiled data.

The new technology, known as “dynamic advertising”, is allowing Toyota to target those individuals most likely to be in the market for a new electric vehicle and Kellogg Company (NYSE:K)’s to show Special K commercials to women trying to lose weight.

DirecTV hires marketing-data firms that compile consumer information from credit cards and other sources to identify, for instance, Spanish speakers…DirecTV can transmit the ads only to subscribers who meet the criteria and live in the targeted cities.

In doing this, DirecTV is able to sell ads at 4 to 5 times their normal rate. With TV advertising being a market worth about $73 billion, their share of revenue is likely to increase. Also in play is the trend of the “cord-nevers” and “cord-cutters” those individuals not paying for conventional TV and relying on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), Hulu, and YouTube. As these folks dodge TV commercials altogether, the market for those remaining is becoming more competitive.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has recently launched a foray into this segment as well. With plans to launch a service this year, their technology will be even more targeted and specific than that of DirecTV. The chip-maker plans to allow advertisers to bid in real-time for commercial slots and give “feedback on demographics, behavior and location.”

Advertisers would have the ability to target individual consumers as they sit in front of their screens, using a profile based on viewing habits, services purchased and billing information like ZIP Codes. Intel and other technology companies weighing a TV service would round out the portrait with data from third-party marketing firms such as Experian..

So much for heading to your living room to relax and be alone.

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