TV ad tech gives restaurants more control over screens

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This article was published 29/06/2022 (1166 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In-house advertising on televisions in sports bars or restaurants can come in different forms.

The Winnipeg tv-tech company Taiv has figured out some tricky technology which allows its system to know exactly when a broadcast television program switches to ads and can insert its own, either in-house ads for the establishment itself or paid-for targeted ads created by the ad agencies for their advertising clients.

The company was ready to launch in late 2019 with a number of local restaurants and bars agreeing to sign on, but then the pandemic began and the company was forced to back off since all those public facilities had to close.

Company co-founder and CEO, Noah Palansky said when they started seeing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeting that the state would sue restaurants and bars who shut down, they decided that was where it would launch.

“We didn’t know a soul there, but we hopped on a flight and launched in Florida,” Palansky said.

It now has 140 establishments throughout Florida and more recently in Austin, Texas.

The company has more than doubled in size in the last year and is up to 20 employees.

In a couple of weeks it’s moving from cramped 800-square-foot offices on McPhillips Street to a 5,000-square-foot space in the Exchange District.

Taiv just received $100,000 from the province’s Innovation Growth Program to continues to expand in the U.S. Palansky said it is the kind of support the province will definitely see a return on.

“Every time the province invests $100,000 in a tech company like ours, they get an incredible return on investment,” he said. “It helps grow and attract world class talent in Manitoba. We have seen that first-hand at Taiv.”

The company has hired about a dozen people over the past year and continues to grow.

Using anonymized telephone data the company can sell advertisers on very highly targeted demographics of the people that can be found in a bar on a typical night.

For instance targeted ads on Taiv’s system for Guinness beer in Irish bars in Florida produced a 15 per cent increase in Guinness sales.

The company does not produce the creative itself but works with ad agencies to do so and advertisers — the ones who pay Taiv — are loving it.

“For instance if you want to reach women between the ages of 20-30 who like golf, we can do that. Suddenly the ads are worth more and we can charge a huge premium for them,” he said. “We built the technology and we are the only company in the world that can do it.”

It can also give an idea of how many people who saw that narrowly targeted ad then went on the company’s website.

Palansky said the bars and restaurants love it and receive a cut of Taiv’s take, usually at least enough to pay for the monthly cable bill.

Cliff Cullen, the province’s economic development, investment and trade minister, said it is companies like Taiv which will create economic growth and increased exports for the province.

The Innovation Growth Program, which was launched in 2019, has been renewed for another year with a $2.2-million annual budget with the next intake deadline in September.

Companies have to be based in Manitoba with fewer than 100 employees and less than $15 million in annual revenue to be eligible.

Cullen said the companies that have received funding from the program may be the kind that might receive further investments from the venture capital funds that will start to get activated in Manitoba when the province’s $50-million fund of funds kicks off later this year.

In addition to the $100,000 to Taiv, the latest round of Innovation Growth Program funding went to:

— Marsix Solutions Ltd., $30,500 — to commercialize a portable sprayer system that produces on-demand hypochlorous acid-based disinfectant for surface cleaning at a fraction of the cost of the commercially available disinfectant;

— C2 Custom Furnishings Inc., $85,000 to develop and commercialize a heat treatment system for beds and furniture that removes dust mites, allergens and bedbugs; and

— Optimus Gear, Winnipeg — $71,000 to commercialize a multi-use, crash-rated seat belt and buckle system for dogs.

Martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca