Connecting the Dots: How TEGNA Attribution Helps Measure Campaign Results

For years, advertisers have faced an age-old conundrum posed by John Wannamaker: “I know half my advertising dollars are wasted. I just don’t know which half.” Simply put, the technology hasn’t been there to map a consumer’s journey from campaign ad exposure to a store visit.

That’s where TEGNA Attribution comes in. Before, the only way to measure this was to ask customers, how did you hear about us? Or automatically correlate a spike in sales with people viewing the brand’s commercials or other messaging.

With TEGNA Attribution, advertisers can now drill down into the data to know if the person in your store, or if the person on your website is there as a result of seeing the ad campaign.

“Customers need to be able to connect the dots between their investment and results,” Mark Cornetta, Executive Vice President at TEGNA, tells the Denver Business Journal. “We can now track a customer’s journey from seeing an ad via OTT, broadcast, or digital platform to their activity in terms of walking into a store or visiting a website. These tools have been a game-changer for our customers.”

One of those customers is the Director of Marketing for Easterns Automotive Group in D.C, Joel Bassam. “I’ve been buying TV for so long, it’s been hard to say if it’s effective or not,” he tells Cynopsis. “This model allows me to get very specific on how I buy based on real data. Looking for these small increases in attribution and click-through rates will increase my business exponentially over time.”

Reaching New Audiences with OTT 

With surging OTT viewership, eMarketer forecasts that the number of U.S. OTT users will reach 222 million this year. Accelerated by the pandemic, consumers have embraced streaming video platforms, and advertisers are now catching up to find their audiences there.

With OTT, advertisers can reach the audience that matters most to their brand. Now with TEGNA Attribution, we can tell if the audiences are responding. For example, when you receive an Attribution report at the end of a campaign, you can drill down into the effectiveness of each ad, looking at dates, times, and schedules of when ads aired, and when people visited the website. This data then informs future decisions to optimize campaigns and maximize their effectiveness.

“It’s exciting,” Jessica Daigle, TEGNA’s Vice President of Sales Intelligence, tells Cynopsis. “We are ensuring that every customer, whether you’re in Abilene or Dallas, Texas, has the opportunity to maximize their marketing spend.”

Want to Learn More About TEGNA Attribution?

At TEGNA, “We recognize the increasing importance of bringing tangible results to our advertisers and making linear local TV as equally measurable as social and digital campaigns,” says Tim Fagan, senior vice president and chief revenue officer at TEGNA. To learn more about how we can help your business thrive with linear broadcast, over-the-top streaming (OTT), and digital solutions, click here to get connected with an Attribution expert at TEGNA.