Welcome to The TV Room. Your weekly digest of television, streaming, and digital media insights that matter.

This week we're covering:

• 📈 Walmart’s Shoppable Ad Campaign

• 🔄 Nielsen’s Ratings reversal

• 🎥 Creative Spotlight: Apple - “Heartstrings”

• 🛠️ OpenAI Ads Incoming

Walmart Made TV Shopping as Easy as Texting on Thanksgiving

Walmart took a major leap into the future of TV advertising during last week's Thanksgiving NFL showdown between the Dolphins and Packers. For the first time ever, viewers could shop directly from their couches using nothing but their phones.

The retail giant partnered with NBCUniversal to debut two groundbreaking shopping features during the broadcast: on-screen QR codes linking directly to exclusive holiday deals, and a new "Shop the Pod" text-to-buy system that let viewers purchase products shown in commercials.

The timing couldn't have been better - according to Walmart's research, 86% of their customers watch NFL games. "This will be a game-changer in helping to solve the linear equation," said Rich Lehrfeld, SVP at Walmart Connect, referring to traditional TV advertising's historical lack of measurability.

What made this different?

This marked the first time Walmart Connect, the company's retail media network, reached into linear TV territory. The partnership built on their streaming collaboration that began with Bravo's "Below Deck Mediterranean" on Peacock last year.

NBCUniversal's president of advertising called it "the next era of advertising," combining:

• Premium sports content

• Interactive shopping features

• Cross-platform measurement

• Real attribution data

The initiative went beyond just the game itself - Walmart also debuted a two-minute segment from their holiday "Deals of Desire" campaign during the broadcast.

While QR codes on TV aren't new, the addition of text-to-shop functionality and direct attribution tracking signals a major shift in how retailers might approach television advertising in the future.

For Walmart, it's a bet that the living room can become the new shopping mall - no Black Friday lines required.

Read More:

• Walmart, NBCUniversal partner for live shoppable ads on linear TV

[Webinar] TV Advertising, Reimagined

Welcome to the future of TV advertising! As digital transformation and streaming shift consumer behavior, traditional TV has become costly and harder to measure, leading many brands to redirect ad budgets to digital channels with clearer, outcome-based metrics.

When:
Thursday, December 12th, 11:00 AM PST | 2:00 PM EST

Webinar:
TV 2.0–Drive Better Outcomes with the Next Evolution in TV Advertising

Why Attend?

• Leverage TV 2.0’s advanced capabilities to precisely target audiences and measure success.

• Activate campaigns with a platform that uses AI-driven optimization for improved ROI.

• Maximize both top and bottom-of-funnel results through non-skippable, in-view ads reaching 100M U.S. households.

• Prepare for the future of TV advertising and gain a competitive edge by learning from early adopters

TV Industry Updates

• Ratings reversal: Nielsen kept its C3 and C7 metrics after clients emphasized their importance for business operations.

• Disney's new approach: Disney refocused its ad sales structure to target midmarket advertisers and expand data-driven solutions.

• Cable's breaking point: Cable TV coverage dropped to 55.32%, with most networks now reaching less than half of US households.

• Freevee farewell: Amazon shut down Freevee, consolidating free content into Prime Video’s "Watch for Free" section.

Stay up to date on the latest in TV advertising by joining our Slack community!

Creative Spotlight: Apple -“Heartstrings”

Apple's "Heartstrings" campaign showed AirPods Pro 2's hearing aid feature through a father hearing his daughter's Christmas guitar performance.

The Details:

• Directed by Oscar-nominee Henry Alex Rubin, with sound design by three-time Oscar winner Paul NJ Ottosson.

• The campaign has been a major push from Apple, reaching global audiences across broadcast, digital, and social media during the holiday season.

What We Loved: The ad combined product demonstration with emotional storytelling, proving that even the most fundamental storytelling tropes, such as a father’s relationship with his daughter, will always resonate.

Marketing Mix

• Ad tech antitrust: The DOJ and Google closed arguments in a case that could force Google to sell parts of its ad tech business.

• OpenAI ads incoming: ChatGPT's creator explored advertising options to expand its revenue streams.

• Canada vs Google: Canada’s Competition Bureau sued Google over anti-competitive practices, aiming to break up its ad tech tools.

• Zoom's new identity: Zoom rebranded as an "AI-first work platform," dropping 'Video' as it moves beyond virtual meetings.

• Content evolution: Branded content shifted toward authenticity, from Netflix-style documentaries to interactive board games.

• DEI rollback: Walmart scaled back its DEI efforts, pulling out of the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

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