Advertisers who use pan-Arab satellite television channels to reach consumers will soon be able to customise their commercials for different markets with the June launch of Selevision’s Dynamic Commercial Delivery System.
The Dubai Media City-based company is harnessing the latest digital satellite receiver technology to enable advertisers to target their customers like never before.
From selecting individual viewers to receive specific adverts based on their age or income level, to targeting viewers in different locations with country-specific adverts, the region’s advertisers will soon have an infinite range of possibilities at their disposal.
Dr Raed R Khusheim, CEO and president of Selevision, said: “The rise and popularity of pan-Arab satellite channels has provided advertisers with more choice, but also reduced their ability to target consumers effectively.
“A viewer in Saudi Arabia is not likely to be interested in a consumer promotion taking place in the UAE, but with Selevision’s unique Dynamic Commercial Delivery System advertisers can choose which markets receive a particular advert, and even which individual viewers within that market.”
The technology works by sending commercials to the television screens of targeted viewers via Selevision’s Digital Satellite Receivers. The adverts are broadcast during the usual commercial breaks of the programmes they are watching, regardless of which channel they are tuned to, in place of the adverts that would normally have been shown.
The television networks stand to gain as they will be paid for every viewer watching a Selevision advert during their commercial breaks – effectively enabling them to ‘multi-sell’ the same slot – while viewers also have the option of watching the adverts originally broadcast by the networks that they missed.
“The ability to target viewers in this way is set to revolutionise the television advertising industry in the region,” Dr Khusheim said. “Advertisers will be able to produce different commercials for broadcast in different markets, and the Selevision technology enables us to guarantee that those adverts will be delivered to their intended recipients.”
Even if a selected viewer’s television is turned off, the commercial will be ‘queued’ and delivered to their Selevision set the next time it is turned on and the viewer is ‘captive’, he explained.
Selevision will be launching its technology in the Middle East in June and expects to supply 800,000 homes in the UAE and Saudi Arabia with its Digital Satellite Receivers – a multi-functional ‘set top box’ - within the next 12 months.
Dr Khusheim believes consumer demand will be high because of their affordability – a monthly subscription of just AED 5 in the UAE (a deposit is required) - and the increased functionality they offer to viewers.
“The receivers act as digital video recorders which enable viewers to pause the programmes they are watching, and even record two programmes at the same time,” he explained. “They also act as an Internet browser, fax and answering machine so they are more than just a means of watching television.”
