Open ad management company Sizmek announced today that its data group, Peer39, has made available new weather targeting attributes for pre-bid buying platforms.
The technology will allow for targeted programmatic buys using current weather data attributes, including temperature ranges, presence of various weather events, flu severity and pollen counts.
“Given the effect weather has on consumers’ immediate plans and activity, as well as purchasing decisions, properly aligning ad creative to current weather conditions is an especially powerful and relevant way to target audiences,” says Alex White, vice president of product strategy at Sizmek.
Regardless of where a web user is viewing an ad, specific weather conditions exist. Trillions of impressions happen each year in digital advertising, and weather data is present for every single impression. Therefore, this set of Peer39 data has broad applicability across advertiser industries and campaign types.
Localised weather data is easily layered with other types of targeting, including geography, demographic, interest, behavioral and content-based data. It also allows for a granular form of location-based targeting that does not require selection of specific regions/DMA’s.
A consideration of the affects of weather on consumer behaviour is not news to advertisers, but the implications of using meteorological data in programmatic marketing are that specialised audiences could be targeted with much more precision. Hayfever medication can be aimed at areas of high pollen count for example, or moviegoers on rainy days.
Using weather data to determine bid price, or to develop strategies for reporting and optimization may be key for any advertiser, agency and trading desk that is looking to gain an edge over the competition.