What is SLING TV Advertising?
Cable and satellite television – and the advertising model supporting them – haven’t changed much in the past few decades. This has left them wide open to more recent services that do a far better job at meeting viewer demand.
SLING TV is one such service. It combines the best elements of cable TV and internet streaming and has come up with an advertising format that manages to satisfy both brands and viewers – a rarity in today’s age of ad blockers.
In the following article, we will cover:
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What is SLING TV?
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What is SLING TV advertising?
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How to access SLING TV inventory?
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How does SLING TV advertising work?
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SLING TV Amidst Privacy-Led Industry Changes
What is SlingTV?
SLING TV is a live TV streaming service that started in February 2015 – the first such service in the world. With it, viewers can use their tablets, phones, and computers, and smart TVs to watch the same live and on-demand programs that would normally be limited to cable and satellite TV.
As of 2020, it’s reported to have over 2.4 million subscribers.
Basic subscriptions start at $35, which makes it ideal for budget-conscious viewers. Instead of a traditional cable box, SLING TV subscribers can connect via a media streamer device, a game console, or just the SLING TV mobile app.
What is SLING TV advertising?
SLING TV’s advertising model combines elements from traditional cable TV and that of more modern digital marketing techniques.
Like digital advertising, brands are charged by impression and they can choose to advertise on a range of different networks with premium content. Ads are not skippable, and cannot be fast-forwarded or blocked.
But SLING TV also makes use of programmatic advertising, which allows brands to bid on desirable TV inventory in private auctions. This inventory is divided into live, linear, and on-demand programming.
How to access SLING TV inventory?
There are a variety of ways to access inventory across SLINGTV:
- Run of Network
- Contextual Video
- Addressable
- Leverage SLING TV’s 1st party proprietary data to reach your target audience
- Apply 3rd party audience segments to your SLING TV campaign
Run of Network
This ad type is a mass-market option, which allows brands to reach national audiences by advertising on premium programming and sporting events. Ad inventory is spread across over 200 networks on more than 12 device types across the SLING TV and DISH TV platforms.
Contextual Video
Get in front of your intended audience by running across networks they watch the most. Using SLING TV’s proprietary viewership data, brands are able to identify which networks over-index for their audience and air across this custom curated list.
First Party Addressable video
With 1st party Addressable activation, brands can focus their marketing efforts on targeted audiences based on the following factors:
- Demographics
- Viewer behavior
- Platform
- Location
- Device type
- Time of day
- And more
This option also provides brands with in-depth post-campaign reporting.
Addressable advertising
Addressable advertising allows brands to leverage household-level targeting on a national scale using a host of different customizable filters and metrics. All ads are dynamically served and only displayed when the viewer is online, for zero wasted impressions.
Comprehensive attribution modeling allows insight into the following areas:
- Sales matchback
- Website traffic
- Brand awareness study
- Location visits
- A/B testing
- And more
How does SLING TV advertising work?
The Contextual and Addressable ad options work follow a similar 4-step process:
- Determine your target market. This includes defining segments and campaign objectives.
- Use subscriber data to identify those most likely to engage with your ad using propensity modeling.
- Deliver ads to target networks and dayparts based on the above modeling and segmentation.
- Receive post-campaign reports.
Your ideal SLING TV advertising option will depend on your campaign’s goals, available budget, and the current advertising inventory. SLING TV’s large subscriber base, unskippable ads, and advanced targeting options mean you’re going to be able to maximize your advertising spend no matter what ad option you choose.
SLING TV Amidst Privacy-Led Industry Changes
With major data privacy-focused changes expected to impact the ‘how’ of performance marketing targeting and measurement, many advertisers are seeking fresh solutions that allow them to shift some of their marketing dollars into areas that will continue to be highly targetable and measurable.
“Data is and will continue to be a big piece of the conversation going forward. With the way, data is changing (and as we see cookies going away), deterministic first-party publisher data will be more important. And SLING TV is committed to protecting the privacy of our subscribers while providing the best targeting solutions to efficiently maximize exposure to an advertiser’s desired audiences.”
– Kayla Yee, Account Executive, SLING TV at Dish Media
To learn more about how OTT stands out as a targetable and measurable opportunity, check out our recent blog post and be sure to visit our Q&A with SLING TV.
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