TV ads will now be re-targeted through mobile channel

Millennial Media, a leading advertising network, has now started to allow advertisers to retarget their customers by combining the traditional and the upcoming channels in advertising. Customers will now be retargeted through their mobile devices with the ads that they have seen on television. This novel advertising technique resulted from a vertical integration of services, as Millennial Media was recently acquired by AOL, which was recently acquired by Verizon. As Tim Armstrong, the AOL Chief Executive, puts, “this is the year when TV and web budgets are going to collide.” This is by no means a surprise; mobile advertising is the fastest growing channel but the majority of ad spending is still on broadcast and cable channels. Millennial’s move will accelerate big brands’ spending in mobile, as retailers will now be able to follow up a TV spot with a mobile video ad, in ways that traditional TV channel would never be able to achieve, like location-based offerings.