Millennials, the generation born between 1980 and 1995, connect with the world through digital devices. We’re constantly using them, and we hop quickly from one device to the next. According to a recent study, millennials have access to an average of 7.1 devices, and 55% claim they watch video on multiple screens every day.
As a result, many millennials are cutting the cord on traditional media. Instead, we consume our favourite TV shows and videos when and where it suits us best. My household is made up of three millennials, and none of us own a TV. eMarketer reports that over 60% of millennials’ time spent with TV is time-shifted, because it’s inconvenient to watch TV only at scheduled times.
These shifts in consumption have serious implications for video advertisers. That’s why, if you’re targeting millennials with digital video, it’s time to get personal.
Advanced Targeting, Personalisation and Millennials
In response to shifting video watching habits, advertisers are targeting audiences in increasingly sophisticated ways. According to eMarketer, 97% of US video advertisers employed advanced targeting criteria in the fourth quarter of 2014. That’s a 38% year-over-year increase. The most common advanced method was geotargeting, followed by behavioural and domain targeting.
But an Adobe study found that marketers believe that personalisation will be their most important capability in the future. Personalisation applies demographics, location, timing, online behaviour and/or buying habits to deliver individualised offers, content, ads, and more. Personalised creative is relevant to your audience’s wants, needs or interests.
Millennials, as we’ll explain, are particularly receptive to personalised targeting. According to a recent study by Yahoo and IDG, 55% of consumers prefer personalised ads to general ads. Why? Subjects reported that these ads are more engaging, save them time, and teach them new things. Millennials, however, are more likely to expect personalisation. They’re also more tolerant of personalised ads than adults over 35.
What’s more, millennials are more accepting of personalised ads informed by consumer data, such as age, past searches, or location. In a Yahoo study on millennials, 46% said that branded content on social works when it is “relevant to who they are.”
Perhaps most importantly, millennials engage with content and brands differently than other generations. As the Boston Consultancy Group put it, millennials engage “far more extensively, personally, and emotionally—and in entirely different ways—than have other generations.”
3 Ways to Get Personal with Millennials
Millennials’ higher expectation of/tolerance for personalisation, combined with its strong multi-screen behaviour, makes personalisation the ideal strategy. Here are three ways advertisers can explore the power of personalisation:
1) Leverage mobile user data to target millennials based on geographic location. Provide customised ads based on location, weather, time of day, calendar, and/or future plans. In doing so, you’ll give millennials instant access to the most relevant events, restaurants, stores, etc.
2) Engage millennials visually and emotionally with brands and product categories they love. Personalise content with characters, pop culture references, and social media callouts they relate to. Use targeted Twitter handles, Tumblr links, etc. Showcase your ads in native settings like social media feeds.
3) Tailor your ad messaging. Which publishers attract millennial audiences? Create unique messaging for those publisher sites. Leverage behavioural data to retarget millennials who have visited your site or made previous online purchases. To get the biggest bang for your buck, engage millennials who have made a recent initial purchase, and upsell with other related offers.
As a millennial myself, I believe advertisers who deliver highly targeted, relevant ads will win my generation’s heart. But if you’re personalising for a target audience, make sure they’re actually being reached. Your technology partner should provide accurate audience insights, verified by an independent third party.
By Natalie Yadegar, market research analyst at BrightRoll
Originally posted 12 Ahead 20 July 2015