9 Things You May Not Know About Addressable

Do you really know how targeted TV works? We’ve gathered some insights from the industry experts which might just surprise you.

Author

Cape.io

Author

Cape.io

This post was originally published on IMD and Honeycomb's blogs. Find out more about the rebrand from Peach to Cape.io.

Addressable isn’t the easiest thing to understand and keeping up with industry jargon can be tricky. So we asked a few experts to share the things you really need to get to know.

Never.no CEO, Scott Davies; Peach’s Chief Product Officer Doug Conely, Rebecca Hill, Group Digital Manager at Channel 4, and Head of Sky AdSmart Local & Development at Sky Media, David Sanderson share their wisdom…

Targeting isn’t just about people

Targeted doesn’t just mean focusing on an individual or group, it can also be targeting the relevance of the content to the day/situation/events. - Scott Davies, Never.no

You can get really specific

There’s a difference between household level targeting (there are multiple devices in a household and multiple householders that you can stream to but you might not know is watching each ad), device level targeting (you know that it’s a certain tv, laptop, tablet, or mobile streaming the ad but you don’t know which user, just guess), and individual targeting (the user is logged in so, as long as the same user that is logged in is the one viewing, you can use anonymised individual level data) - Doug Conely,  Group IMD

It’s been around longer than you think

Addressable TV already exists and has done for some time through VOD. 60% of All 4’s viewing is on the big screen and is 100% addressable. - Rebecca Hill, Channel 4

It’s surprisingly affordable

Targeted TV campaign costs start from £3000. - David Sanderson, Sky Adsmart

It will change the way TV ads are bought

Addressable TV will increasingly be bought through new buying systems which are being developed specifically by both media owners and media buyers. Both parties are creating new self-serve buying options which have granular audience analytics and granular targeting settings to inform buying choices. - Conely

A bit of forward thinking goes a long way

Building targeted campaigns can sound like a lot of production work, however there are tools to automate changes to your creative. Importantly, developing creative in advance with the ability to change elements throughout the campaign, doesn’t have to be limited to end frames, multiple elements can be made changeable and can be integrated into the final creative seamlessly. - Davies

It’s yours for the taking

C4 are continuing to explore addressable live linear routes with a number of tech vendors. - Hill

It’s excellent value for money

Targeted TV is pay-per-view — but you don’t pay unless 75% of the TVC has been seen. - Sanderson

You can reach the people you care about

Broadcast television can play with time of day, channel, and programme adjacency. However it is still broadcast to all viewers. The difference with addressable tv is that it has many more data options to target against and IP streaming allows the media owner to deliver down to audiences of 1 if they want. - Conely

It’s win win

A good targeted promotion will use social and online to influence the daily delivery of TV ads, but the TV ads can also push back to digital activities exponentially driving your reach and ensuring full integration of the campaign. - Davies

It gives you incredible power (use it wisely)

You are in control of how many times your ideal customer sees your TV ad. - Sanderson

It could go one way or the other

No one know if this will be additive or cannibalistic. - Hill

This article first appeared on Little Black Book.

David Sanderson, Scott Davies Rebecca Hill and Doug Conely were joined by Kristian Claxton, Finecast. on stage at a live event we produced back in 2018. You can watch the presentations here.

 

News

Stay ahead of the curve

Curious about the latest in marketing and advertising?
Subscribe to our monthly Promarketers newsletter.

Mar 18, 2026

No more chocolate at breakfast? Navigating the new LHF ad rules this Easter

As ad compliance requirements evolve in 2026, UK confectionery brands face new restrictions on less healthy food (LHF) advertising. With the January 5 watershed now in effect, ad quality assurance systems must validate timing, placement, and product identifiability to avoid clearance failures this Easter season.

Mar 16, 2026

The future of inclusion: How Cape.io powered Virgin Media Television’s fully accessible ad break during the Men’s Six Nations

As Channel 4’s closed-captioning mandate came into effect in March 2026, Cape.io partnered with Virgin Media Television, Omnicom Media Group and VoiceBox to deliver a truly accessible ad break during the Guinness Men’s Six Nations. More than ad compliance, this moment proved that accessibility can operate at the highest level of live sports broadcasting.

Feb 27, 2026

Navigating Channel 4’s 2026 closed caption mandate

As ad compliance requirements tighten across the UK and Europe, closed captioning has evolved from an accessibility checkbox to a strategic necessity. Whether you're managing CTV campaigns or social media creative, automated ad testing for caption quality is no longer optional - it's fundamental to reaching today's fragmented, multi-screen audiences.

The advertising landscape is facing a seismic shift. By March 1, Channel 4 will become the first UK broadcaster to mandate closed captions across all advertising - including linear TV, streaming, and sponsorships.

The mandate is  a redefined standard for global inclusivity. Here is everything you need to know about the new mandate and how to stay ahead of the curve.

Feb 26, 2026

One platform, many realities: How creative automation platforms resolve the global vs. local tension

Scaling global marketing without losing local relevance requires more than brand guidelines and templates - it requires a creative automation platform designed for both global control and local flexibility. Most systems optimize for standardization, but scaling ad creative production across markets demands architecture that enables creative variation and adaptation by local experts without fragmenting brand governance.

Many global advertisers are chasing the same ideal: scale without losing relevance.

Consistency without uniformity.
Efficiency without bureaucracy.

It sounds simple. In practice, it’s one of the hardest tensions to resolve in modern marketing.

The global vs. local challenge isn’t new, but it’s becoming more urgent. As brands expand across markets, channels, and cultures, the question is no longer whether you should scale globally, but how you do so without erasing the nuance that makes marketing effective in the first place.

Everyone is looking for this balance. Very few get it right.

Feb 11, 2026

EPTVI Initiative launches Stage Two to help programmatic TV scale across Europe’s largest advertising markets

Broadcasters, streamers, agencies and ad tech companies including Google Ad Manager, Equativ, Adform, LiveRamp, The Trade Desk, FreeWheel and Cape.io begin work on practical solutions to reduce complexity and speed up adoption.

Feb 4, 2026

The guardrails of growth: Why creative intelligence demands compliance

Generative AI can produce thousands of creative variants, but most compliance systems are still manual, fragmented, and reactive, unable to keep pace with today’s velocity. To move fast without breaking things, the industry needs a new approach: real-time verification, programmatic enforcement, and end-to-end visibility. Embedded inside the stack, not bolted on at the end.

News

Stay ahead of the curve

Curious about the latest in marketing and advertising?
Subscribe to our monthly Promarketers newsletter.

Mar 18, 2026

No more chocolate at breakfast? Navigating the new LHF ad rules this Easter

As ad compliance requirements evolve in 2026, UK confectionery brands face new restrictions on less healthy food (LHF) advertising. With the January 5 watershed now in effect, ad quality assurance systems must validate timing, placement, and product identifiability to avoid clearance failures this Easter season.

Mar 16, 2026

The future of inclusion: How Cape.io powered Virgin Media Television’s fully accessible ad break during the Men’s Six Nations

As Channel 4’s closed-captioning mandate came into effect in March 2026, Cape.io partnered with Virgin Media Television, Omnicom Media Group and VoiceBox to deliver a truly accessible ad break during the Guinness Men’s Six Nations. More than ad compliance, this moment proved that accessibility can operate at the highest level of live sports broadcasting.

Feb 27, 2026

Navigating Channel 4’s 2026 closed caption mandate

As ad compliance requirements tighten across the UK and Europe, closed captioning has evolved from an accessibility checkbox to a strategic necessity. Whether you're managing CTV campaigns or social media creative, automated ad testing for caption quality is no longer optional - it's fundamental to reaching today's fragmented, multi-screen audiences.

The advertising landscape is facing a seismic shift. By March 1, Channel 4 will become the first UK broadcaster to mandate closed captions across all advertising - including linear TV, streaming, and sponsorships.

The mandate is  a redefined standard for global inclusivity. Here is everything you need to know about the new mandate and how to stay ahead of the curve.

Feb 26, 2026

One platform, many realities: How creative automation platforms resolve the global vs. local tension

Scaling global marketing without losing local relevance requires more than brand guidelines and templates - it requires a creative automation platform designed for both global control and local flexibility. Most systems optimize for standardization, but scaling ad creative production across markets demands architecture that enables creative variation and adaptation by local experts without fragmenting brand governance.

Many global advertisers are chasing the same ideal: scale without losing relevance.

Consistency without uniformity.
Efficiency without bureaucracy.

It sounds simple. In practice, it’s one of the hardest tensions to resolve in modern marketing.

The global vs. local challenge isn’t new, but it’s becoming more urgent. As brands expand across markets, channels, and cultures, the question is no longer whether you should scale globally, but how you do so without erasing the nuance that makes marketing effective in the first place.

Everyone is looking for this balance. Very few get it right.

Feb 11, 2026

EPTVI Initiative launches Stage Two to help programmatic TV scale across Europe’s largest advertising markets

Broadcasters, streamers, agencies and ad tech companies including Google Ad Manager, Equativ, Adform, LiveRamp, The Trade Desk, FreeWheel and Cape.io begin work on practical solutions to reduce complexity and speed up adoption.

Feb 4, 2026

The guardrails of growth: Why creative intelligence demands compliance

Generative AI can produce thousands of creative variants, but most compliance systems are still manual, fragmented, and reactive, unable to keep pace with today’s velocity. To move fast without breaking things, the industry needs a new approach: real-time verification, programmatic enforcement, and end-to-end visibility. Embedded inside the stack, not bolted on at the end.

News

Stay ahead of the curve

Curious about the latest in marketing and advertising?
Subscribe to our monthly Promarketers newsletter.

Mar 18, 2026

No more chocolate at breakfast? Navigating the new LHF ad rules this Easter

As ad compliance requirements evolve in 2026, UK confectionery brands face new restrictions on less healthy food (LHF) advertising. With the January 5 watershed now in effect, ad quality assurance systems must validate timing, placement, and product identifiability to avoid clearance failures this Easter season.

Mar 16, 2026

The future of inclusion: How Cape.io powered Virgin Media Television’s fully accessible ad break during the Men’s Six Nations

As Channel 4’s closed-captioning mandate came into effect in March 2026, Cape.io partnered with Virgin Media Television, Omnicom Media Group and VoiceBox to deliver a truly accessible ad break during the Guinness Men’s Six Nations. More than ad compliance, this moment proved that accessibility can operate at the highest level of live sports broadcasting.

Feb 27, 2026

Navigating Channel 4’s 2026 closed caption mandate

As ad compliance requirements tighten across the UK and Europe, closed captioning has evolved from an accessibility checkbox to a strategic necessity. Whether you're managing CTV campaigns or social media creative, automated ad testing for caption quality is no longer optional - it's fundamental to reaching today's fragmented, multi-screen audiences.

The advertising landscape is facing a seismic shift. By March 1, Channel 4 will become the first UK broadcaster to mandate closed captions across all advertising - including linear TV, streaming, and sponsorships.

The mandate is  a redefined standard for global inclusivity. Here is everything you need to know about the new mandate and how to stay ahead of the curve.

Feb 26, 2026

One platform, many realities: How creative automation platforms resolve the global vs. local tension

Scaling global marketing without losing local relevance requires more than brand guidelines and templates - it requires a creative automation platform designed for both global control and local flexibility. Most systems optimize for standardization, but scaling ad creative production across markets demands architecture that enables creative variation and adaptation by local experts without fragmenting brand governance.

Many global advertisers are chasing the same ideal: scale without losing relevance.

Consistency without uniformity.
Efficiency without bureaucracy.

It sounds simple. In practice, it’s one of the hardest tensions to resolve in modern marketing.

The global vs. local challenge isn’t new, but it’s becoming more urgent. As brands expand across markets, channels, and cultures, the question is no longer whether you should scale globally, but how you do so without erasing the nuance that makes marketing effective in the first place.

Everyone is looking for this balance. Very few get it right.

Feb 11, 2026

EPTVI Initiative launches Stage Two to help programmatic TV scale across Europe’s largest advertising markets

Broadcasters, streamers, agencies and ad tech companies including Google Ad Manager, Equativ, Adform, LiveRamp, The Trade Desk, FreeWheel and Cape.io begin work on practical solutions to reduce complexity and speed up adoption.

Feb 4, 2026

The guardrails of growth: Why creative intelligence demands compliance

Generative AI can produce thousands of creative variants, but most compliance systems are still manual, fragmented, and reactive, unable to keep pace with today’s velocity. To move fast without breaking things, the industry needs a new approach: real-time verification, programmatic enforcement, and end-to-end visibility. Embedded inside the stack, not bolted on at the end.

Get in touch

Let us show you what Cape.io can do.

Intelligent Campaign Automation

Cape.io connects up your team, DAM, ad servers, DSPs, tools, and more, so you don’t need to rip and replace.

Copyright © 2026 Cape.io all rights reserved

English

Get in touch

Let us show you what Cape.io can do.

Intelligent Campaign Automation

Cape.io connects up your team, DAM, ad servers, DSPs, tools, and more, so you don’t need to rip and replace.

Copyright © 2026 Cape.io all rights reserved

English

Get in touch

Let us show you what Cape.io can do.

Intelligent Campaign Automation

Cape.io connects up your team, DAM, ad servers, DSPs, tools, and more, so you don’t need to rip and replace.

Copyright © 2026 Cape.io all rights reserved

English