A recent study from Nielsen found that 40% of Americans use their tablet or smartphone daily while watching television. Though checking email was the primary activity at 60%, 19% looked up information about a TV ad and 13% looked up coupons related to an ad. Advertisers, however, have not yet embraced this change in viewer behaviour. For example, only 1% of advertising dollars were spent on mobile devices last year.

Drawbridge is aiming to solve this problem by carrying over ads across a user’s many devices. It anonymously collects data based on cookies from multiple devices and uses its algorithm to determine whether devices are originating from the same user: If so, it determines that it has found a match and displays relevant ads. The implications of this technology are immense, since it allows for advertisers to more efficiently follow users wherever they go. Before we start overloading users with our ads, however, there are important factors to consider.

Spam or Supplement?

At Mesh Marketing 2012, Jason Chaney shared his philosophy that advertising should move away from being interruptive to actually providing value and enriching a person’s life. Though we are getting closer to being able to throw our ads on any and all of a user’s devices, is this really the right approach? Though a user will become aware of your service, it might have the reverse effect of annoying a person and having them resent your brand for being so invasive and omnipresent.

It might prove more effective to think about how users are interacting with their devices and tailor ads accordingly. As mentioned earlier, consumers are using their mobile devices to search for information relating to ads that they see on television.

Advertisers can take advantage of this by simplifying the task for viewers and providing a service that is of value to them, such as:

TV ad – Restaurant…………Mobile ad – Menu

TV ad – Orange Juice……..Mobile ad – Coupon

TV ad – Laptop……………….Mobile ad – Technical Specs

TV ad – Airline………………..Mobile ad – Flight Rates from Viewer’s City

The point is that just because it is possible to spam people with your ad doesn’t mean that it is the right approach. There are many ways for advertisers to effectively reach consumers on their multiple devices and it benefits everyone if the consumer is happy with how a company is reaching them.

Do you think that multi-device advertising is the way to go? Let us know in the comments below!