Are you an AT&T Wireless customer who also has DIRECTV NOW? According to AT&T’s new head of advertising, they plan to use data they gather from your phone to target ads to you on DIRECTV NOW and other services.
During an interview with CNBC, Brian Lesser, the head of AT&T’s new ad company Xandr, talked about AT&T’s future plans. Part of the plan is to use information learned about you from your AT&T Wireless subscription to target ads to you on services like DIRECTV NOW.
The good news is AT&T says they won’t share that information with third parties. “Most of the information we get has to do with how AT&T interacts with you. So, if it’s an app like the AT&T app, if it’s DirecTV, if it’s other information that you give us being a customer, that’s the information we gather,” said Lesser. “The policy is that, the data we collect from our customers always stays with our systems and we don’t sell data for advertising purposes.”
This comes as AT&T recently announced that they plan to also add ads to pause screens on services like DIRECTV NOW, DIRECTV, and AT&T Uverse. This is part of an effort to generate revenue currently lost when customers move over to a streaming service.
AT&T is not the only service to offer targeted ads like this. YouTube TV and Sling TV have already offered targeted ads. This means the commercial you see is likely different from what your neighbor sees. Targeted ads earn more money compared to traditional TV ads allowing streaming services to charge a lower upfront cost but make lost revenue back by selling more profitable ads.
What do you think of AT&T’s plans? Does the idea that your phone could be used to impact what TV ads you see bother you? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.
Did you know we have a YouTube Channel? Every week we have a live Cord Cutting Q&A, and weekly Cord Cutting recap shows exclusively on our YouTube Channel!
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, tips, and reviews. Need cord cutting tech support? Join our Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.