Marketing Architects Adds Reach Index Optimization for Smarter TV Buying
Reach Index Optimization (RIO) automatically directs media dollars toward TV placements with the highest concentration of a brand's target audience.
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TV advertising agency Marketing Architects has announced Reach Index Optimization (RIO), a new capability built directly into Annika, its proprietary media-buying AI.
Powered by third-party audience composition and reach data, the index gives Annika a real-time view of where a brand’s target audience is most concentrated across linear TV networks and dayparts.
It accounts for how a brand’s buy is currently delivering in-market, the unique reach being achieved across inventory sources, and where the next dollar spent will have the greatest impact.
Annika uses that data to automatically optimise media investments toward content with the highest density of target audience viewers, maximising both current and future reach.
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TV campaigns run across hundreds of network/daypart intersections. At that scale, even small inefficiencies in audience targeting compound quickly. Without a systematic way to score placements by audience concentration and reach potential, buying decisions rely on historical patterns and manual analysis.
RIO changes that by making audience composition, saturation levels, and predictive reach data a continuous, automatic input within the buying process.
The feature scores linear TV placements based on the concentration of a brand’s ideal audience.
A higher score means a greater predicted share of that audience will watch there so that the next dollar invested delivers the most unique reach possible. Annika factors those scores into buying decisions continuously, prioritising placements where the target audience is present and most likely to grow.
Buying against historical data alone means chasing audiences after they’ve moved. Predictive reach signals let Annika stay ahead of audience shifts so budgets follow viewers rather than lag them.
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“Knowing where your audience watches has always been foundational to effective TV buying,” said Joe Ackerman, Senior Director of Media Solutions at Marketing Architects.
“RIO takes the analysis we’ve always done and automates it within Annika, so every placement is assessed based on where a brand’s audience is most concentrated, where current reach is strongest, and where the next dollar spent will drive the greatest unique reach.”
“TV works because it reaches people at scale. This is about making sure every dollar is working toward the right scale,” added Catherine Walstad, Marketing Architects’ Chief Media Officer. “This is audience-driven buying the way it was always meant to work.”
