电视广告“动”起来

最近千禧媒体（Millennial Media）正在与消费定位业务公司合作，也许有一天你在电视上看到一个广告，稍后手机上就会出现相关的广告视频和最近的商店，或者把促销信息添加到你的智能手机的日历上。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

reorientating 重新定位

collide 碰撞

integrate 整合

set-top boxes 机顶盒

anonymously 匿名

capitalise 利用

阅读即将开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用时间，并对照我们在文章最后给出的参考值来估算您的阅读速度。

TV ads to be ‘retargeted’ on to smartphones （437words）

By Shannon Bond in New York

* * *

Millennial Media, the mobile advertising network recently bought by AOL for $238m, is partnering with Rentrak, the video measurement company, to allow advertisers to “retarget” through their phones people who have seen a particular ad on TV.

The partnership comes as AOL, which was itself acquired by Verizon in a $4.4bn deal this year, is reorientating its digital advertising business towards mobile devices, where consumers are spending increasing amounts of time.

AOL’s ability to drive more spending through its advertising technology tools, particularly video ads on mobile devices, was a key driver of Verizon’s interest in the company as the largest US wireless operator searches for new sources of growth.

Tim Armstrong, AOL chief executive, has said that “this is the year when TV and web budgets are going to collide”.

US mobile advertising revenues in the first half of this year reached $8.2bn, accounting for 30 per cent of overall digital ad spending. In 2014, online ad spend reached $49.5bn, compared with combined broadcast and cable ad revenues of $65.7bn.

Millennial Media says its new offering will help accelerate big brands’ spending in mobile and measure the results of that investment.

“Advertisers want to integrate all of their spending across screens,” said Liza Blumenthal, head of north-east sales for Millennial Media.

The partnership uses Rentrak data from set-top boxes to track which commercials a viewer sees while watching TV. Those viewers are then anonymously matched in Millennial Media’s database of smartphone and tablet users, so that personalised video ads can be placed in mobile apps, targeting viewers who have already seen a brand’s TV ad.

For example, a retailer could follow up a TV spot with a mobile video ad encouraging a consumer to find the nearest store location, add a sale to their smartphone’s calendar, or sign up to receive more information or offers over email.

Advertisers can also target mobile advertisements to people who have seen their competitors’ ads.

Millennial Media measures the impact of the retargeted mobile ads by tracking foot traffic to stores and the rate at which people who see the mobile ads take an action, like locating a store or adding an item to their calendar.

“We are taking [advertisers’] big TV commercial campaigns and allowing them to capitalise on mobile usage,” Ms Blumenthal said.

While other ad tech companies offer some ability to retarget TV viewers on the internet, Millennial Media says the scale that it and Rentrak bring sets its offering apart. Rentrak has data on 25m households, while Millennial Media’s ad network extends across 65,000 mobile apps, reaching more than 190m unique users each month.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1. Who owned Millennial Media finally?

a. Rentrak

b. AOL

c. Verizon

d. the government

2. Where are consumers spending increasing amounts of time as mentioned?

a. mobile

b. tablet

c. PC

d. video devices

3. What is the key driver of Verizon’s interest in the AOL?

a. video measurement technology

b. service quality

c. advertisement operation

d. video advertising technology

4. What is the most important thing from Rentrak for Millennial Media?

a. video advertising technology

b. data from set-top boxes

c. mobile devices

d. its investment

[1] 答案c. Verizon

解释：Millennial Media被AOL以2.38亿美元收购， AOL又被Verizon收购。

[2] 答案a. mobile

解释：AOL正在将数字广告业务转向消费者花费时间越来越长的移动设备。

[3] 答案d. video advertising technology

解释：AOL在广告技术，尤其是在移动设备上的视频广告，从而带动更多消费冲动的能力，是Verizon迎娶AOL的关键动力。

[4] 答案b. data from set-top boxes

解释：综合全文，Rentrak从机顶盒收集的数据是Millennial Media是区分用户投放广告的关键。