DriveTime’s evolving TV strategy
DriveTime started working with iSpot in 2019 to improve linear TV measurement. About a year later, DriveTime began testing OTT to better justify and optimize their TV and streaming investments.
Prior to 2019, DriveTime relied on slow, scattered and unreliable TV data. The manual process connecting data points to internal information, customer surveys, business objectives, and statistical models hindered DriveTime even more. Patrick Littler, Vice President of Retail Strategy and Analytics at DriveTime, decided they needed a one-to-one attribution matching an impression to a device. That’s where iSpot came in.
“The partnership with iSpot became our foundation for attribution and measurement, and allowed us to get to the next level.“
Patrick Littler, Vice President of Retail Strategy & Analytics at DriveTime
Optimizing Frequency and Conversions
DriveTime’s Goal – Incremental Results
Understanding conversion rates of linear TV networks was not enough for DriveTime. In order to maximize ROAS, the team needed deeper insight into incremental results at the network level while finding the optimal frequency before diminishing returns. However, linear TV data is notoriously slow and lacks the granularity required for sophisticated modeling. The DriveTime team needed digital-like data for TV integration into their model to fill their blind spots.
DriveTime’s Solution – iSpot Integrated User Level Data (IULD)
DriveTime uses Integrated User Level Data (IULD) from iSpot to connect linear TV ad exposure to conversion events at the individual device level while tallying the number of impressions per device. They then calculate incremental conversion events (aligned to frequency of impressions) through sophisticated lift analysis using an unexposed control group. To take it a step further, the team also looks at spend and conversion rates at the individual network level to calculate the Cost Per Incremental Visit (CPIV). The CPIV metric (also mapped to frequency) is now a top KPI for the DriveTime team to analyze media performance.
DriveTime’s Results – ROAS Boost
Through iSpot’s IULD and CPIV calculations, DriveTime found that the first linear TV ad impression had the highest incremental response rate at 60%, with the response rate diminishing in a logarithmic pattern as frequency increases. The brand also calculated the rate at which TV ad response decreases to determine optimal frequency for each TV network.
The figures below show the difference in reach and frequency strategy made by DriveTime from 2021 to 2022.
DriveTime boosted ROAS 26% compared to the prior year by combining a 15% decrease in spend, a 6% increase in media cost and a 5% increase in media-driven site traffic. Going forward, the team hopes to extend their model to CTV to gain a full view of incrementality across all TV networks and CTV publishers.
DriveTime also had a 90% increase in leads, with only a 34% increase in spend by focusing strategy on reach. The team went from advertising on 10 cable networks to 50 in just one year. The brand also started to implement 15 second ads (over 50% of ad spend) to maximize reach. Streaming was also a huge piece of this strategy, helping DriveTime find incremental reach within OTT. Ultimately, the combination of incremental conversion impressions and reach through OTT allowed DriveTime to finetune their strategy and optimize media spending.
Watch the full DriveTime workshop from Adweek:
About the Author
Sophie Stahura is a Customer Marketing Specialist at iSpot.tv. She covers customer success stories, advocacy and industry events. For questions and inquiries, please contact marketing@ispot.tv.