• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, August 9, 2021

GroundTruth now lets marketers target ads through a large weather sensor network using conditions and parameters such as temperature, wind, UV index and alerts. CTV ads will be targeted based on weather and forecasted conditions powered by more than 10,000 weather stations.

Weather Triggering is based on location data. When it rolls out, it will enable marketers to provide contextual, relevant, and tailored messages to customers and tap into consumers’ moods, desires and purchase intent in the moment.

“Location data has a lot of meaningful context,” says GroundTruth COO Eddie Dingels, “whether or not it’s connected to a long-term identifier or something else.”

A forecast of 40 degrees in Los Angeles may not cause the same behavior as it would in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Think IBM Watson Advertising, which uses weather and artificial intelligence to help marketers target ads based on similar attributes. This IBM company will become GroundTruth's new competitor as consumer ad targeting changes.

When asked how Apple’s IDFA and Google’s Cohorts continue to influence the company, Dingels says the company has spent a long time preparing for the change.

Despite the pandemic and many changes related to consumer ad tracking, it has been a busy year for GroundTruth. The location data-tracking firm last week announced it had received accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC) for location, place and visitation data sets.

The three elements comprise the company’s technology stack.

The location is the data received from devices, such as mobile phones. It accounts for bias. The places data set focuses on in-store and online. The visitation data set is when in-store and online intersect.

Dingels says that as the advertising industry goes through changes such as consumer privacy standards, marketers need to know whether the techniques are effective, adding that the accreditation provides validation.

GroundTruth, a location-based marketing and advertising technology company, also rolled out its OTT/CTV advertising solutions in June. It is powered by geo-contextual and audience targeting.

The TV platform provides digital video advertisers with insights about consumers based on offline behavioral data to improve campaign reach, accuracy, and measurement.

TV sets connected to the internet are now in nearly three-fourths of all U.S. households, and nearly two-thirds of those connected households reported having more than one connected TV, according to one report.

In March, GroundTruth acquired Addy, an online local advertising store. The acquisition combines Addy's self-serve advertising technology and UI with GroundTruth's location-based ad capabilities. It offers small businesses access to marketing solutions like visits to their locations.