The advertising industry risks focusing too closely on a data-led granular approach when many major brands prefer “fuzzy” targeting, according to BBC Worldwide’s ad sales chief.

Speaking at the Association of Online Publishers’ (AOP) Forum at Google’s UK headquarters in London, BBC Worldwide vice-president global strategy and sales operations Bowman said media owners must appreciate the continued desire of advertisers to reach a wide range of consumers.

“We have to be very careful about statistics, about what we want to happen versus what will actually happen. Tons of stuff doesn’t work well, we’re not as far forward as we might feel like,” said Bowman.

“There’s lots of stuff to sort out first, not least the idea that advertisers want to target exact consumers. Lots of advertisers we talk to like fuzzy targeting – they want to his large groups of men and women very quickly.”

Bowman joined a panel session discussing the impact of video advertising led by Google’s head of entertainment, UK, Benedict Autret, also featuring David Fisher, head of strategy and sales, Futures, at Sky, Mike Shaw, vice-president sales, TMT, at comScore, and Justin Sampson, CEO of the UK’s TV audience measurement body, BARB.

Fisher said that, in the long-term, viewer numbers for TV “look pretty sound” as the medium has continued to evolve its offering, including through Sky’s AdSmart targeting system.

“There is content, data and technology – and where you can get the three to meet, it gets really interesting,” added Fisher.

Members of the panel called for a new “gold standard” measurement for online video which incorporates data from set-top boxes, web servers and the “long tail” of viewing.