“小数据”走向“大数据”:广告业务中的数据应用和理念演变

“Small data”to“Big data”:the Evolution of Data Applications and Concepts in the Advertising Business

被誉为“21世纪的石油”的数据作为数字社会的核心资源,驱动着各行各业进行着深刻的变革和转型。广告也逐渐从内容密集型产业转向数据密集型产业,数字广告的业务流程也围绕着数据展开,数据在中观层面上变革着广告运作流程,业务流程的更新升级催生着技术服务提供商、媒体平台等新产业角色的进入,并改变着产业链各环节之间的结构关系,从而在宏观层面上影响着广告产业发展。在如今数据为王的广告行业生态下,深入理解数据和广告之间的关系显得更为重要。事实上,数据与广告的关联并不是在数字技术诞生且创造了大量丰富数据后才出现的,在现代广告早期,科学派广告就强调通过调查和实验来获取指导广告业务、提升销量的数据;另外,在论述数据驱动广告业发展时常会有一种“唯数据论”倾向,即认为广告业是在技术和数据兴起后被动变革的。因此当前关于数据与广告之间的关系认识常常出现历史性的断裂,本文试图结合历史现实条件的社会变迁、技术变迁以及广告行业和理念的转变,梳理广告业对数据的应用在不同阶段的特征及其演变,以此来阐述数据和广告之间的关系,从历史演进的角度总结经验、认识和理解数据对于广告的意义和价值。

As the core resource of the digital society,data,known as the“oil of the 21st century”,brings about profound changes and transformations in all walks of life.Advertising is also gradually shifting from a content-intensive industry to a data-intensive industry.The operation flow of digital advertising also revolves around data.The revolutionary role of data not only exists in the advertising operation process at the medium level,but the upgrading of business processes has given birth to the entry of new industrial roles such as technology service providers and media platforms,which has changed the relationship among various links in the industrial chain,thus affecting the development of the advertising industry at the macro level.In today's advertising industry ecosystem where data matters the most,it is even more important to deeply understand the relationship between data and advertising.In fact,the connection between data and advertising did not appear after the birth of digital technology and the creation of a large amount of rich data.In the early days of modern advertising,scientific advertising emphasized the use of surveys and experiments to obtain data that can guide advertising business and increase sales.Secondly,when discussing the development of the data-driven advertising industry,there is often a tendency of“data-only theory”,that is,the advertising industry is forced to change because the rise of technology and data.Therefore,the current understanding of the relationship between data and advertising often has historical gaps.This article attempts to combine the social changes,technological changes,and changes in the advertising industry and concepts to sort out the characteristics of the application of data in the advertising industry at different stages,in order to demonstrate the relationship between data and advertising,summarize experience from the perspective of historical evolution and understand the significance and value of data for advertising.