Bell Media’s upfront, which takes place this afternoon, will be packed with new partnerships and launches, including a new platform for advertisers looking to reach local audiences.
Bell Media strikes deal with TikTok
Aiming to expand its footprint in the country and offer more opportunities to advertisers, the media company announced that it has become a partner of TikTok’s premium advertising product, Pulse Premiere. Under the partnership, brands will have the ability to place ads next to popular Bell sports or entertainment content on TikTok’s “For You” feed. Bell Media will also place entertainment news from Etalk and other content from TSN, RDS, and CTV in the feed.
The company is the first Canadian media publisher to join Pulse Premier. Other Pulse brand partners include The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal and WWE.
Stewart Johnston, SVP of content and sales at Bell, tells Media in Canada that the partnership allows the telco and its partners to reach targeted audiences beyond the comany’s traditional channels. “This is a way not only to offer excellent content to those specific audiences, but also to generate business opportunities for our partners,” Johnston says. “We think a huge advantage we have as a sales organization is the omnichannel approach. We’re not afraid to partner to continue the expansion of our access to audiences.”
Johnston says he is not concerned about the ban the social network could face in the U.S. “We’ve seen nothing but strong partnership opportunities with TikTok and strong engagement from users of that platform.”
According to TikTok Marketing Science Global Community and Self-Expression Study, 73% of TikTok users say they feel a deeper connection with brands on the platform than on other sites and apps they use. And 93% act on the content they see in the For You feed, found TikTok Marketing Science Global, Time Well Spent Custom Research.
Bell Ads for Business launches alongside partnership with Dotdash
Bell also announced a new advertising platform, Bell Ads for Business, which allows marketers to utilize the company’s premium data and target desired audiences while accessing digital inventory through the open Internet and Bell’s digital properties.
Powered by Bell’s First Party Data offering, the new platform enables local advertisers to leverage Bell’s DSP capabilities through a self-service platform. Advertisers can track campaign metrics with the platform’s built-in real-time reporting feature, can select their target audience with pre-defined audience segments or create their own using behavioral data relevant to their business. The platform also offers location targeting – marketers can define a radius between two to five kilometers or a driving time of five minutes to send ads to potential customers.
Bell launched the platform in beta fashion a few weeks ago with select advertisers, and plans to officially launch it this Friday.
The launch is part of Bell’s goal to boost its data business and take advantage of the technology to target more local advertisers, says Johnston. “It’s a digital ad plan buying platform. It helps local advertisers who often have unique needs and requirements relative to a national buyer, and allows them to reach their very specific desired audience across our premium Bell media, digital and third party inventory.”
He adds: “We have found that advertisers appreciate the targeting capabilities, ease of use and attribution of the beta platform. We continue to push ad tech innovations that are more of a national scope.”
But its partnership with TikTok and the launch of the platform is not all. Bell used its upfront to announce that it would be the new exclusive Canadian sales representative of Dotdash Meredith, a U.S. digital publisher.
The partnership brings Dotdash’s digital advertising inventory, which includes more than 40 media brands such as People, Better Homes & Gardens, Allrecipes, Investopedia and Verywell, to Bell’s portfolio. Advertisers will be able to access brands across a variety of sectors, including health, finance, food and beverage, home, beauty, travel and technology. The partnership provides advertisers with unique opportunities for better targeting and more options for buying digital inventory in Canada, says Johnston.
