Heartland Bowhunter Converts TV Audience To Database
The Overview
Heartland Bowhunter has been an award winning outdoor program on The Outdoor Channel for over a dozen seasons. As one of the most visually stimulating hunting programs on linear TV, their viewership was one of the most engaged across the network. But as TV viewership declined and brand partners sought out a more digital savvy connection with their consumers HBTV led the charge to convert their viewership to a database they owned outright.
The Challenge
TV viewership has been declining for years and no one truly knows how many people were watching at any given moment. You certainly don’t know who is watching, if anyone. As brands that help fund content production chase more effective and measurable impact on sales, HBTV saw the opportunity to prove they had an audience they could actually influence. That meant they had to convert their TV eyeballs into to a marketable database. But how?
The Brief
Audience Approach had already used direct response tactics on TV, in print and across the web to convert passive, non-digital viewers into databases for brands in many verticals. HBTV knew they had an opportunity to measure, research and influence their audience by offering a value exchange using their own :30 commercial spots. If they could build a database of opted-in fans of the show they also control their destiny. As the outdoor content distribution landscape was becoming increasingly fragmented, HBTV wanted to be able to move that audience to another platform if or when needed. They also wanted to monetize a personalized email channel with brands as a value add to their investment in the TV program.
The Solution
Over 4 seasons, we deployed simple 10 question survey sweepstakes incentives using dozens of prizes from HBTV’s brand partners. HBTV created :30 commercial spots promoting each of the sweeps that felt like part of the programming more than a promo spot. These promos included an SMS keyword for viewers to text in order to enter the sweeps. That inbound text triggered an instant response including a link to a mobile optimized sweeps form. Each of the brand partners were also offered a question in the survey in exchange for promoting the sweeps across their email and social accounts.
One of the biggest KPIs was to determine promotional attribution for every single entry. This meant that timestamps on entries generated from the TV promos would reveal exactly which broadcasts of their show drove the most engagement. Knowing which days, or even if a morning, afternoon or primetime airing was most impactful was critical. We were also able to show which commercial blocks within the 30 min program were most effective; first, second or tail end promo blocks.
Furthermore, each brand partner was given a unique UTM link that allowed us to track the traffic generated from their efforts. This gave HBTV a real-time dashboard of insights on which partners had the biggest impact on promotion. It also allowed HBTV to collect new contacts that may not have been watching their TV show.
Browse Some Email Examples
The Results
With well over 100k entries, HBTV now had a formidable database of passionate hunters to activate. That data also revealed the location of every entrant, their product and hunting preferences as well as oher zero-party psychographic data that even The Outdoor Channel didn’t have access to. Beyond that, it was easy to determine which days or time slots had the biggest impact on entries. Data could be analyzed by not only the minute, but by the second, revealing exactly when in a promo spot someone was picking up their phone.
Now they knew exactly how to price commercial spots better for brands in future seasons but they also saw a massive pile of entries coming from those brands’ promotional efforts. But another datapoint was knowing how many views each brand drove along with their conversion rates into actual entries. This afforded HBTV insight into which brands were actually able to help grow their own brand.
Because all the poll questions data was stored at an individual entry level, with attribution on how the entrant found the sweeps promos, we were also able to understand which TV spots, which channels (FB vs Instagram vs YouTube, etc..), and which brands actually converted the ideal customer profile. Knowing that Brand X had the highest percentage of qualified hunters in their entries gave HBTV great insights on who was worthy of long term partnerships.
"TV is a mess. Neither content producers nor the advertising brands know if it actually works. This direct response campaign was a risk for HBTV but it proved their ability to reach and activate an audience. It gave them great data to prove to their worth to key partners while also empowering HBTV to chart a new path forward. Owning their audience is a key part of their future success, no matter which platform or channel they decide to use."
Tim Glomb - Founder Audience Sherpa & Audience Approach
The Insights
HBTV has always focused on quality content above anything. This proved to differentiate in a cluttered outdoor content TV channel and really paid off when they needed that audience to join their own database. Not only did they monetize the multiple quarterly sweeps with partners but they were able to leverage partner brands into helping build their audience. The data allowed HBTV to make hyper personalized email offers to the audience on behalf of their brand partners. Being able to segment those emails based on wants and needs rather than blasting their entire database keeps the database engaged.
Having direct access to their audience also gave them to confidence to double down on their own digital turkey series outside of the confines of The Outdoor Channel’s grip. It gave them freedom, revenue and a major lift over other content brands vying for advertiser support.