What does “TRA” stand for?
TRA stands for TiVo Research and Analytics. We are an advertising research company, owned and operated by TiVo, that provides advertisers, agencies and TV Networks with access to massive sample sizes of single-source, naturally occurring consumer data. In a nutshell, we match what is seen by a consumer on TV and online, with what is purchased by them at the grocery store, auto dealership and at pharmacies.
What does TRA do?
TRA helps advertisers to improve their advertising ROI and increase sales lift. How we do that is by matching exposure to TV and online display advertising with buying behavior at the household level across millions of homes in the US. The households that we observe are anonymous and are weighted to reflect the general population based on the U.S. census. For the first time, advertisers are able to determine the true ROI of their spending. TRA does this by recording and measuring precise, real-time data at the touch points vital to advertisers, starting with the TV set-top-box and the retail checkout counter. TRA technology makes large-scale measurement readily achievable and cost-efficient.
What is Media TRAnalytics®?
Media TRAnalytics® is a patented breakthrough media research technology that provides marketers with true granular ROI accountability on their media spending. TRA collects immense banks of data: second-by-second tuning data from set-top boxes, household purchase data, and household demographic data. TRA’s algorithms then check, edit, filter, weight and project the data, match the data at the household level, and measure and analyze the data so that clients can use Media TRAnalytics to generate customized reports. Since its official launch, broadcast and cable networks, advertisers, and media agencies have been using TRA software solutions to identify The Right Audience® in order to improve the return on media investment.
How does TRA help advertisers?
TRA adds the most crucial missing element, beyond traditional age/gender TV ratings, to measure the all-important ROI factor. TRA does this two ways: 1) is through ROI analytics that help the advertiser decide how much to run each specific creative execution, how much time to spend on branded entertainment and what form that should take, what type of program to look to sponsor, which networks, dayparts and specific programs are currently driving brand ROI, frequency levels that are optimal, target group to focus on because it has the highest current ROI and is large enough to drive the whole brand business; 2) is through actual media activation via the agency, changing media buys to maximize ROI without increasing agency workload.
The bottom line is that TRA has been proven in ARF conferences by TRA client presentations, also among syndicated media research, to increase ROI on media. For advertisers who have their own in-house databases of customers and prospects in the millions of records, TRA offers the ability to add set-top-box data insights to each of these records so as to allow TV media to be bought to maximize ROI within the advertiser budget.
How Does TRA help media agencies?
Media agencies, increasingly being compensated on an ROI basis, will provide clients with accurate value-added analyses of their media spend. And with TRA’s factual, real-time feedback, they are equipped to make continual improvements in their recommendations, to make changes quickly when needed, and to identify opportunistic buys more easily. Media agencies will take TRA as a starting point to develop their own secret sauce to take the TRA data one step further for their clients. Creative agencies will learn unequivocally which creative works best. That knowledge will markedly improve the success rate of the creative product. When a commercial is wearing out, the agency will detect that by the drop in retention rate and will be able to recommend that it is time for development of new creative. Based on which target groups are responding to the brand and the messaging with their wallets, there will be rich insights to fuel new Big Ideas for the oncoming creative.
How does TRA help Networks?
TRA enables TV networks to increase advertising dollars by finding each advertiser hot buttons and with equal access to the data the advertiser is buying on (TRA + Nielsen) the savvy network can price each program to its maximum for each brand, ensuring high ROI and easy renewal as well as maximum short term profitability.
How does TRA help Satellite/Telco TV Providers?
TRA enables TV distributors to leverage the intelligence in their pipes data to increase advertising dollars. The total ad spend to MSOs and other distributors can be increased by using TRA to prove the purchaser targeting value and ROI of their ad inventory, including the enhanced targeting value of zone targeting as well as advanced advertising platforms being deployed.
Does TRA have any patents?
Yes, in 2010, TRA received U.S. Patent No. 7,729,940 (“the ‘940 patent”) entitled, “Analyzing Return on Investment of Advertising Campaigns by Matching Multiple Data Sources” for matching media and purchase data to drive media planning and evaluating an advertiser return on advertising investment. In August, 2011, TRA received its second major patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, entitled “Using Consumer Purchase Behavior for Television Targeting,” U.S. Patent No. 8,000,993 (“the ‘993 patent”). The ‘993 patent discloses a privacy solution in connection with using consumer purchase behavior for targeted television and other media advertising. The anonymous data collected from households can be used for media planning, return on investment and ratings analytics for advertisers, networks, and agencies. TRA received its third major patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,060,398 (“the ‘398 patent”), in November 2011, entitled “Using Consumer Purchase Behavior for Television Targeting”. TRA received its fourth patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,112,301 (“the ‘301 patent”), in February 2012, entitled “Using Consumer Purchase Behavior For Television Targeting”, affirming the validity of TRA’s unique system for matching television viewership and consumer purchase behavior for targeting television advertising, the Patent Office also approved 124 claims covering a number of future integrations of various data sources. TRA also has additional patents pending.
What is TRA’s privacy solution?
The TRA privacy solution has been vetted by the leading privacy counsel in the telecommunications field and by numerous companies whose business depend upon the utmost privacy protection. In August, 2011, TRA secured a patent titled “Using Consumer Purchase Behavior for Television Targeting,” U.S. Patent No. 8,000,993 (“the ‘993 patent”). The ‘993 patent discloses a privacy solution in connection with using consumer purchase behavior for targeted television and other media advertising. TRA also works with MSOs to provide an opt-out option for consumers and has partnered with leading grocery chains to secure anonymous purchase data from loyalty card programs. In addition, TRA recently became one of only 65 companies in the U.S. (and only media measurement company) to obtain ISO 27001 certification, the information security management system standard published by the International Standards Organization (ISO) designed to ensure security controls to protect information assets.
Is the customer data you utilize anonymous?
Yes. Consumer privacy is protected - TRA receives anonymous data from data service providers, and never personal identifiable information.
What is ISO certification?
TRA became one of only 65 companies in the U.S. to obtain ISO 27001 certification, the information security management system standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) designed to ensure security controls to protect information assets. TRA is the only media measurement company in the United States to achieve this standard. Along with TRA’s patent pending privacy solution, which ensures all data received by TRA has been fully anonymized, this certification highlights the company’s dedication to privacy and information security.