Individualized Ads on TV Could Be One Result of AT&T-Time Warner Merger [telecom]

open original image

In a call with investors, the chiefs of the companies noted that the combined trove of their consumer data would be useful to marketers and consumers.

By Sapna Maheshwari

Targeting people with individualized TV commercials using cable or satellite boxes has been promoted as the future of television for at least a decade. But the business, known as addressable TV advertising, has remained on the fringes, usually limited to two minutes of local commercial time an hour on cable shows.

Now, AT&T and Time Warner are pointing to targeted advertising as a major benefit of their proposed $85 billion merger. Jeffrey L. Bewkes, the chief executive of Time Warner, and Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T's chief executive, highlighted the vast trove of consumer data their combined companies would have in a call with investors on Monday, and its usefulness for both marketers and consumers.