Watermarks Flow Naturally From Digital Video Innovations
By Roger Franklin, President and CEO, Crystal
It’s rare that something invisible can become a tool powerful enough to change an industry, but that’s precisely the case with digital watermarks. This technology is rooted in digital video innovations and poised to take a giant leap forward, providing a sophisticated way for advertisers to reach a targeted audience.
The story of digital watermarks begins back in the 1980s with Sony’s introduction of digital video. The shift from analog to digital meant enhanced information could be transmitted with the signal. At first, this metadata was developed by The Society for Communication and Television Engineers for use by broadcasters to cue up videotapes for playback. Today, watermarks are easily added to video or audio signals and used in a variety of ways, including copyright protection and to quickly identify the origins of the content.
In the 1990s, ratings companies Nielson and Arbitron collaborated on technology to use metadata for audience measurement. At the time, identifying who had viewed a piece of video or listened to a certain radio broadcast required specialized equipment designed to read digital watermarks, which are invisible to viewers and listeners. Today, detecting watermark codes is done with software rather than hardware.
That evolution, along with new standards allowing anyone to read digital watermarking codes (currently controlled by companies like Nielson and Arbitron), promises to open up a world of possibilities for broadcasters, narrowcasters, and advertisers.
In Stores And On The Road
One potential use for digital watermarks is to track ad views and product placements, and feed that information back to advertisers. If a device such as a tablet, laptop, or smartphone has digital watermarking software installed, it detects any digital watermark being played nearby.
For example, a product placement in a video played on the laptop containing a digital watermark will be tracked, but so will a watermark from a TV in the room that is on while an individual is working on his or her laptop.
The same technology applies to “digital signs” used in mall and retail stores. The phone in your pocket, if digital watermarking software is present, detects your proximity to video screens in the food court or at a store’s end-cap. Aggregators tracking credit card purchases incorporate digital watermarking information to help advertisers gauge effectiveness — you were near a video screen displaying an ad for Product A at lunch time and purchased Product A later that day. Users that opt-in to having their information used this way will be offered discounts on products and/or services as an incentive to do so.
Another potential use for digital watermarks involves video cameras in cars, the type currently helping drivers stay in a lane or brake before hitting an obstacle. Technology exists allowing camera systems to detect watermarks from digital billboards and relay information to the driver. For example, “Your gas tank is currently low, here are the nearest gas stations. The lowest price option is two miles ahead on the right-hand side.”
A major factor in this technology’s potential is its precision. Once the necessary back-end systems are developed, advertisers will pay for ads based on results, à la Google AdWords. They will maximize digital signage opportunities in a multitude of ways, gathering robust data about who sees their ads and when and where they see them, regardless of whether they’re in a store, walking in an urban area, or driving on a highway.
The days of spending on advertisements without the ability to tie the spend to direct results are coming to an end empowered by a technology that is 40 years in the making.