It’s a…miss! Only 53% of ad impressions served in the UK were viewed by people of the age and gender advertisers intended, according to a new study from Nielsen.
The measurement company examined 3,400 UK campaigns run between April and June 2016, revealing that in the UK the accuracy of ad targeting is likely to frustrate brands – but is still deemed more precise than in traditional media.
The reports states that travel marketers are the most likely to reach their desired audience, doing so 66% of the time, followed by entertainment (64%). However, FMCG (40%) and retail (42%) marketers are most likely to waste impressions.
The report also shows that the accuracy of demographic targeting varies significantly depending on what group is being messaged. Nielsen said campaigns focusing on 25-44 year olds reached the desired audience 38% of the time, compared to 44% in campaigns targeting 18-34s and 58% for 35-64s.
The data, collected by the company’s Digital Ad Ratings service which measures websites, apps and online services, also reveals desktop (53%) and mobile (52%) campaigns perform equally well when it comes to reaching broad audiences. However, mobile campaigns are more accurate in targeting narrower ones.
“Although 100% accuracy is likely to remain a pipe-dream, a school report on digital technology’s ability to hit specific audiences might read ‘could do better’,” said Barney Farmer, Nielsen’s marketing effectiveness director in the UK & Ireland.
“However, in fairness it’s more precise than traditional media and performance is improving all the time, particularly on mobile whose superiority in reaching narrower audiences reinforces its status as the most highly personal ad medium.”
The study also showed that campaigns bought directly from a website publisher are slightly more accurate at hitting target audiences (doing so 55% of the time) than via a third-party ad platform/network (52%).
The overall UK success rate of 53% is lower than Germany (58%) and Italy (57%) but higher than in France (43%).
