KPN and Talpa Network start test to make the TV experience more personal
KPN wants to make the TV experience of its customers more personal and more relevant, for example through customized advertising and personal viewing tips. Customized advertising means that TV viewers see commercials that are more relevant to them and advertisers can reach specific target groups more effectively. Customers themselves decide whether or not they want this. KPN and Talpa Network are therefore entering into a partnership in which, initially, customized advertising will be trialed.
“We want to make TV viewing more personal and more relevant for customers”, says Joost Steltenpool, who is responsible for Consumer Market Products at KPN. “So together we are beginning to trial customized advertising, which has already been used for a while on the Internet, on the TV stations of Talpa Network. Ultimately, our customers will decide whether or not they want this. We also want to give customers viewing tips geared to their interests and preferences. If a customer watches a lot of documentaries on a particular subject, we will draw his attention to similar programs.”
Test with KPN employees
Starting in October KPN and Talpa Network will trial customized advertising among KPN employees that are also customers. They are giving permission for customer data such as viewing habits to be used to receive more relevant commercials when viewing TV programs of Talpa Network, starting with SBS6. This means that some of the existing commercials will be replaced by customized advertising. For example, sports fans will see more sport-related commercials. The TV stations Veronica, Net5 and SBS9 will be added later.
Only with the customer’s permission
If the trial is successful, KPN plans to offer customized advertising on a larger scale. Customers that are interested in a more personal TV experience with viewing tips and customized advertising will have to give KPN explicit permission (known as the opt-in). When it has that permission KPN will draw up profiles of households so as to make the personal TV experience possible. The profiles will be drawn up on the basis of the viewing habits and administrative data such as address, age, gender and subscriptions to channel packages. The various profiles will be linked to specific target groups such as “families with an interest in sport”. In this way, advertisers will be able to target a specific target group more effectively.
All the data used to draw up a customer profile is known only to KPN and will never be made available to third parties such as advertisers and broadcasting companies. Customers will also be able to withdraw their permission easily at any time.
Click here for more information on a more personal TV experience.