Week In Review: Facebook Goes Deep; Google Wants To Break The Broadband Monopoly

1. Facebook Goes DeepHidden behind all the noise about how Messenger chatbots were going to be the future of e-commerce everything was a very important little tidbit about how Facebook was going to be giving marketers access to much deeper data about its users that they could  then deploy for targeting purposes.That means more than name and location and friend list. It means education, likes, interests, job title, education level and a lot more. Given that most of the world is on Facebook (over 1.5 billion users) this gives marketers a whole lot of ammunition to go much deeper with their targeting, finely slicing and dicing the audience segments.Why That MattersWhile there is a wealth of data already out there on consumer behavior, Facebook provides one-stop shopping in that it’s easy for TV networks (and brands) to run ads directly on Facebook to target those users.With other data sources, the target generally has to be tracked back to another platform for the ad to appear. But Facebook can offer up both an audience and an ad platform. That’s going to be a huge plus as it eliminates any potential guesswork and, more importantly, allows for targeting on an individual level versus a household one.What You Need To Do About ItNetworks and marketers should be thinking very granularly about who their audiences are and what they’d like to learn about them. Facebook’s deep audience targeting allows you to test out different paradigms in order to understand who your best audience is and where the most opportunity lies. This presents a phenomenal learning opportunity, so start doing your research now in order to take advantage of it when Facebook opens the gates.  2. Google Fiber (And Aereo’s Chet Kanojia) Go For The Wireless Workaround This has the potential to be huge: Google Fiber has joined the ranks of companies looking for a way to provide high-speed broadband without cables, thus effectively breaking the stranglehold the MVPDs have over broadband in the U.S.All the recent drama about Net Neutrality and who owns the cable box is directly attributable to the fact that broadband access in the U.S. is generally a monopoly, occasionally a duopoly, and rarely in anyone’s best interest, save the incumbent MVPD.Why It MattersBy creating competition for broadband access, Google and others would open up what had previously been a very closed market, particularly around OTT and internet-based pay-TV.At present, the incumbents have all the power: if Comcast is the only broadband provider in a region, they can raise the price of a broadband-only subscription to a point where they can eliminate any potential competitors. But if Google and others can provide wireless broadband, that advantage disappears and Comcast and other MVPDs will be forced to compete with newcomers.While we suspect the ultimate scenario will be similar to what happened in TelCoLand—lots of small companies eventually swallowing each other up until only a few were left standing—breaking up monopolies is always a good thing.What You Need To Do About ItCross your fingers and hope Google or someone else succeeds. This is the change that needs to happen in the TV industry in order to speed innovation and when and if it does happen, there will be plenty of new opportunities for everyone. We’re still a while away from this becoming a reality, but when it does become one, things will change very quickly, so be prepared.