Introduction
Last autumn, FranceTV Publicité, M6 Publicité, and RMC BFM Ads, collaborated and partnered with Unlimitail, to launched TV Retail Connect, the first collaborative Retail Media Marketplace for Addressable TV (ATV) and HVOD in the country.
Addressable TV has experienced noticeable growth in recent years in France, with impressions increasing by 41% since early 2024. With the number of ATV-enabled households in France projected to reach 10 million by 2025, this was the perfect time to launch this initiative, taking the best of two trends shaping the current advertising market: targeted advertising and retail media.
They use Unlimitail’s first-party data and Freewheel’s technology to provide advertisers with a powerful, targeted, and scalable programmatic solution to book addressable inventory.
Key Advantages
This new platform has been very well received by the French market, on which clients are gladly welcoming any approach to facilitate the access to data-driven inventory. Leveraging Unlimitail’s first-party data, the marketplace enables precise targeting with access to 14 million cardholder households from one of France’s biggest retailer supermarket, Carrefour. This platform is open to all advertisers provided they use programmatic guaranty (PG) via The Trade Desk, Xandr or Hawk. They can segment audiences into 50 categories based on store and drive-through transactions, ensuring high relevance and efficiency. Freewheel technology underpins programmatic execution, enhancing delivery across connected TV screens within a brand-safe environment.
A single point of entry simplifies campaign management, with unified reporting through Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs). After the campaign, the platform provides a post-campaign reporting that measures campaign impact on actual sales, offering data-driven insights into advertising effectiveness.
Simplicity is one key element this platform promises: one commercial contract, one deal, a unified reporting DSP with all details per channel and one single price (as of 75K €).
Certain advertisers will access a free outcomes report after the campaign, analysing the lift on conversions, as well as secondary KPIs such as turnover driven during the campaign, turnover per buyer, average basket, percentage of new buyers in the target group etc.
A fluid and centralised process between the 3 sales houses
Step 1 : The brief – The client asks one of the three sales houses for a briefing session. There is one single commercial lead for the three sales houses.
Step 2: The offer – The Commercial Lead coordinates the general frame of the deal and communicates the terms and conditions to the client. That includes the total budget, the choice of sgements, the volume of impressions et the average weighted CPM.
Step 3: The Set-Up – Freewheel proceeds to set-up the deal in collaboration with the Commercial Lead and the client (nb the spot needs to be tranfered to the sales houses via PEACH)
Step 4: Broadcast and assessment – The campaign is follow-up in real time by FreeWheel. The client can also access in real time to the performance of the campaign, directly in its DSP, with the detail per channel.
Strategic Implications
TV Retail Connect enhances advertising by aligning traditional TV reach with granular digital targeting. This innovation provides brands with a scalable solution to engage high-intent audiences effectively. By merging the power of TV with sophisticated data-driven targeting and programmatic efficiency, this marketplace offers advertisers an innovative approach to maximising campaign impact while ensuring precision in audience engagement.
While this initiative is currently focused on the French market, they are open to new clients and future expansion.