In spite of a lack of targeting, TV advertising continues to grow, albeit slowly. The old black box on the living room wall still moves needles for a lot of businesses.

We marketers love to imagine our customers. We want to see them, understand them and get inside their heads. Who knew that for decades these efforts have been suppressing business results?

There’s no doubt that TV media planning, buying and measurement will be disrupted by the smart application of technology and data. But unfortunately, programmatic TV in its current form isn’t a big enough step forward.

It’s not a secret that in many areas linear TV viewership is trending down, and that no traditional thinking on this subject is likely to change this. The thing that’s scary is that we seem to have lost the ability to predict success. So, what gives?