But now, new techniques offered by connected TV platforms promise a lot more.
In Elevated Video, a Beet.TV leadership series presented by TripleLift, eight executives explored what that opportunity looks like.
1. Content ad insertions lighten the load
At TripleLift, the native ad company that has launched a connected TV offering in beta, advanced advertising GM Michael Shields says formats like ad insertions into TV shows, split-screen ads and other overlays “allows publishers to lower ad loads”.
“Unscripted, lighthearted comedies… you’ve probably seen our units in a lot of cooking shows – we think that that’s going to be the future ad model for a certain kind of programming.”
Native Advertising Has Key Role in Future of Ad-Supported TV: TripleLift’s Michael Shields
2. Post-cookie, context soars on data
At Havas’ Media Group’s health practice, managing partner Peter Sedlarcik welcomes the greater finesse available in contextual ad data.
“Contextual has really had a renaissance. We’re using more contextual data streams in order to inform strategy. There’s more of a balance now between purchased based data sets that have been kind of pre-eminent in a lot of the planning that we’ve been doing as an agency.”
3. Dentsu’s quest to demystify media
Dentsu Media U.S. media partnerships EVP Sarah Stringer says buying connected TV is still “very convoluted”.
“A lot of different people sell a lot of the same channels, which means that we’re not getting that single point of view. You’re not getting the efficiencies that you want. How do we demystify the marketplace?”
Immersive Ad Experiences Promise Optimized Results: Dentsu’s Sarah Stringer
4. Tastemade’s Imberman likes CTV’s flavors
At cooking video producer Tastemade, Jeff Imberman, head of sales and brand partnerships, says connected TV manages to combine the best qualities of TV and digital.
“It’s traditional yet progressive all at the same time. You’re still able to serve 15 and 30-second ads the way a linear network can – but what makes it really compelling is it’s delivered in a digital format across digital pipes, so it allows for very unique targeting, contextual especially.”
5. Brand insertions bring viewers organic delight
For Team Whistle, a digital sports content producer, Anthony Susi, vice president of over-the-top sales, says audiences give positive feedback to brand partnerships in its content.
“Picture Bear Grylls wading through the water with a Powerade ad behind it, things like that. We do it in an organic way and not really force down your throat.”
Branded Content Helps to Engage Younger Audiences: Team Whistle’s Anthony Susi
6. Brands pick from new-wave measurement menu
MediaScience CEO Duane Varan says the advertising world is no longer about everyone using a “one-size-fits-all” paradigm of buying 30-second ads using traditional currencies.
“That model is flawed in a lot of ways. All brands are not the same. All categories are not the same. Our objectives are not the same. Every brand needs to discover the best in class measures delivering against those specific communication objectives.”
‘There’s a New Paradigm for Brand Integrations on TV’: MediaScience’s Duane Varan
7. Native can solve ad load aversion
Srinivasan KA of Amagi, a company that helps enable linear ad-supported streaming channels, says changing consumption patterns mean media must change.
“Nobody just has the patience for sitting through 10 minutes of advertising on a per hour basis. You’re going to have much more integrated ad formats. Native advertising on connected TV would kind of blend both content and advertising in a seamless fashion.”
8. CTV can kick-start the sequence
Liza Davidian, EVP of investment and activation at GroupM, says connected TV can be the start of a sequenced conversation with consumers.
“If it speaks to me again on a more personalised device like your Instagram or any type of social media on my phone, I applaud an advertiser who further digs deeper into the funnel and makes their message a little bit more customised.”
]]>Customized Ads at Scale Are Key to Optimized Video Campaigns: GroupM’s Liza Davidian
New limits from privacy regulation and shifts in consumer behavior provoked by the rise in ad-free media are redefining advertising.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Peter Sedlarcik, managing partner for Havas’ Media Group’s health practice, explains how things are changing.
Ads are getting shorter
“The form factor and the format of the ads, particularly from a TV and video perspective, has finally caught up to what consumer expectation is and what the market needs,” Sedlarcik says.
“I think for a long time, we’ve talked about 30-second (ads)… in healthcare, often 60-second or longer ads. We’re starting to see more of an embracement of shorter length units.
“As we’ve seen in the Olympics, for example, there were a lot more kind of interstitial, quick-hit, short-form ads that were inserted, not necessarily within a traditional commercial break. I think that there’s going to be more of that coming forward, not only in the linear TV platforms, but certainly in the CTV and other video platforms that are more consumer-controlled and on-demand.
Our latest @prosumer_report, ‘Health and Hygiene in the Post-COVID-19 Era,’ provides a cross-cultural perspective on reactions to the pandemic and explores the new expectations of Prosumers regarding #health, the medical community, and #brands. https://t.co/HUpvZF4p1j
— Havas Group (@HavasGroup) April 29, 2021
Custom ads growing
Sedlarcik also says ad creative is more likely to be produced to match the delivery channel.
In other words, the age of shovelware may be drawing to a close.
“I think we’re starting to see more adaptation of creative so that it can be relevant for the platform on which it’s being delivered, and also that it’s very relevant for the audiences that it’s being targeted at,” he says.
Jerlyn Thomas, VP, Design Director, @HavasHealthPlus explains the #HumanPurpose that drives her work in #InclusiveDesign. Havas Health & You is made of over 4,500 individuals, each intrinsically motivated by the change they want to see in the world. #HumanPurposeFriday pic.twitter.com/EtGyNnMLTs
— Havas Health & You (@HavasHealthYou) April 9, 2021
Creating more context
Havas relaunched its business serving health ad clients back in 2017 as Havas Health & You, uniting Havas Life, Health4Brands (H4B), Havas Lynx and Havas Life PR.
The agency has also responded to COVID-19 by seeking to become more agile. CEO Donna Murphy previously told MM+M: “Our business is moving into short snippets of content and movement so we have folks end-to-end going from writing, creative, shooting — delivering straight across. As we move forward the model will change quite dramatically.”
For Sedlarcik, the privacy wave also means an emergence from reliance on off-the-shelf consumer datasets.
“There’s more of a balance now between purchased based data sets that have been kind of preeminent in a lot of the planning that we’ve been doing as an agency… (and) contextual data sets,” he says. “Some of the partners that are really building out those assets are increasingly part of the conversation.
]]>According to eMarketer, in January 2021, just over a third (34%) of US households that had video streaming capability used ad-supported streaming services. But, whilst 26% of that was AVOD (ad-supported video on demand), the remaining 8% was something more familiar to traditional viewers – linear.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Srinivasan KA of Amagi, a company that helps enable linear ad-supported streaming channels, explains reasons for FAST’s growth – and its challenges.
From SVoD to FAST
“FAST, pun unintended, is the fastest-growing connected TV category today,” he says. “Given the subscription fatigue, given the number of subscription services with the large ones taking bulk of the share, we are starting to see substantial growthcoming in from these free platforms.
“Viewers, after spending 30 minutes to an hour on the Netflix and the Disney Pluses of the world, then look for additional content, either content that is not available on these platforms because they want something niche specific, or they’re looking for much more variety.”
FAST operators include XUMO TV, Pluto and Tubi, all of which have been acquired by major networks, plus offerings from equipment manufacturers like Visio, Samsung and Roku.
FAST’s driving factors
Srinivasan KA, Co-Founder of @AmagiCorp, shares the big business concerns his clients have in moving into the FAST world | #VarietyStreamingRoom https://t.co/RFvOPzHolC pic.twitter.com/HlPkD8CJlJ
— Variety (@Variety) July 20, 2021
For Srinivasan KA, the key difference from AVOD generally is the linear nature of the ad-supported content.
“FAST is provided like a cable dial, where you got an EPG and all the channels are available in a pre–curated linear 24/7 format,” he explains. “You just flip through channels and watch them.”
He ascribes FAST’s growth to two factors:
- People trying to save money without adding subscriptions.
- The arrival of premium-quality content coming into FAST platforms, with some starting to commission their own big exclusives.
Fighting FAST ad fatigue
But, despite the fact that FAST is ad-supported and linear, Srinivasan KA says operators nevertheless must tread carefully.
“The new millennial and Gen Z viewers cannot sustain more than five or 10 minutes of attention span,” he says.
“You’re going to have much less advertising time on a per-hour basis. So you need to have interesting interactive video ad formats if you want to be able to monetize the content.”
That means the sweet spot is servicing a point somewhere between two consumer fatigues – excessive SVoD and excessive free ad load.
Wiring channels to platforms
Amagi helps bring streaming linear channels to viewing platforms.
It offers products for cloud play-out, event orchestration, on schedule planning dynamic ad insertion, ad sales and more.
Srinivasan KA Says Amagi can deliver channels on to platforms “like Samsungs and the Rokus and the Vizios and the XUMOs and the Plutos of the world”, as well as others.
“Then we work with pretty much all the major SSPs and DSPs to bring advertising programmatic and directly-sold advertising into these FAST platforms by doing dynamic server-side ad insertion.”
You are watching “It’s time to elevate your video ads, or risk getting left behind,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by TripleLift. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>The digital sports and entertainment company has more than 50 series distributed among more than 30 different platforms for teens and young adults. Its video programming recently surpassed 4 billion views among social media outlets including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Global TV sports programmer Eleven Sports in March reached a deal to acquire Team Whistle.
“We know the younger audience viewing behavior is different now,” Anthony Susi, vice president of over-the-top sales at Team Whistle, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “We see a trend in the decline in live sports viewing, so for us to air sport-adjacent content in a time when we see live sports declining has resonated with our audience.”
Younger viewers prefer to watch highlight reels instead of sitting through a two-and-a-half-hour game. They also seek human interest stories that show the more relatable side of professional athletes, such as their personal activities away from the game.
Seamless Branding
Team Whistle provides ways for marketers to integrate their messaging within brand-safe content that helps to create positive sentiment among consumers. The company works with native advertising technology company TripleLift to offer customized product placements within programming.
“Working with TripleLift in this CTV space also brings a different level of opportunity to these brands,” Susi said. “It’s not just in the ad breaks, but finding unique moments within a program to add in contextually relevant branding.”
Integrated branding can help to reach viewers when they’re most engaged with content, in contrast to commercial breaks that interrupt programming. The integration helps to improve brand recall.
“The same way that content wants to connect with an audience, brands want to connect with their audience,” Susi said. “That’s a unique play that we offer, especially with our branded content side and something with TripleLift and their unique offering.”
Looking ahead, Team Whistle is planning to expand its Whistle TV programming for connected TV so that it runs continuously without days off or seasonal interruptions.
“We have a great new programming slate for the back half of this year leading into 2020,” Susi said. “Partners can partner with us in that branded content way, but also in strategic partnership ways with opportunities like TripleLift.”
You are watching “It’s time to elevate your video ads, or risk getting left behind,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by TripleLift. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>“The results have taught us that there is a new paradigm around how integrations work on television,” Duane Varan, chief executive of MediaScience, said in this interview with Beet.TV.
Product placements are especially effective at priming viewers to experience the same brand in an adjacent commercial break, he said. That means an ad for a home improvement retailer, as an example, can be more effective when its brand appears on a truck within a do-it-yourself show.
“In this day when those ad avails are so much more precious, it becomes so much more important that we capitalize on that as best we can, which is exactly what image integration does,” Varan said.
MediaScience’s methods include monitoring the heart rates of test subjects to measure how they engage with ads, or analyzing their facial gestures to determine whether a commercial was humorous. Engaged viewers tend to recall ads better and more favorably, while also showing higher purchase intent, he said.
His company works with native advertising technology company TripleLift to help brands gauge the effectiveness of brand integrations. TripleLift’s technology enables customized product placements within TV programming.
“We’ve had a great partnership with TripleLift as well helping to test different scenarios to try to understand the circumstances under which integrations are more or less effective,” Varan said. “Every brand needs to discover the best-in-class measures delivering against those specific communication objectives.”
You are watching “It’s time to elevate your video ads, or risk getting left behind,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by TripleLift. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>“We’re looking at providing a more integrated, less interruptive experience that we think is responding to consumer trends as we move from a traditional linear viewing experience to streaming, where consumers are demanding fewer interruptive commercials and less interruptive experiences,” Michael Shields, general manager of advanced advertising at native advertising technology company TripleLift, said in this interview with Beet.TV.
The company has invested in technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze video content, and render product placements that can be customized for individual viewers at scale.
“This allows us to deliver all of those placements dynamically so that different users can see different ad experiences, all with impression-level tracking and all inheriting the same kind of tracking that you’re used to with regular digital advertising,” Shields said.
Programming Suitability
He said that some kinds of programming is better suited for product placements than others. For example, unscripted shows and lighthearted comedies are likely more appealing to brands than science fiction shows about dystopic societies. Consumer packaged goods companies and beverage brands that are familiar with product placements are likely candidates for video native advertising. Split-screen ads have more applications for a variety of advertisers, including those in the financial services industry.
“We’re introducing something to the marketplace that’s never been before: the ability to do integrations in television programming, which is something that brands have always wanted,” Shields said. “This is a really elegant solution that maintains consumer interest in the stream, that allows publishers to lower ad loads and just provides a better consumer experience.”
TripleLift works with companies throughout the supply chain, including producers that license their programming to networks. Those programmers integrate the technology as part of their advertising sales efforts.
Future of Ad-Supported TV
Shields sees the possibility for ad-supported television to thrive as consumers reach their limit on subscription services, and look for other ways to consume content. Major media companies invested in ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services, which saw a jump in usage during the pandemic as viewers sought fresh programming.
“There are going to be a variety of players, a variety of consumer experiences,” Shields said. “Certainly, brand-supported television is not going away. It’s just finding a new shape. As a result, we need to find a new kind of advertising-based consumer experience for the future of streaming.
You are watching “It’s time to elevate your video ads, or risk getting left behind,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by TripleLift. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>Founded in 2012, the company publishes videos on global cuisine and has grown its distribution footprint across a plethora of social platforms, over-the-top TV devices, software services and MVPDs.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Jeff Imberman, the company’s Head of Sales and Brand Partnerships, explains why that breadth of distribution opportunities means brands can pick from a large and growing menu.
Going long
As Tastemade has grown out of reliance on social networks, it has gone longer, both with its own video productions and the opportunities offered to marketers.
“With the shift and explosion of the OTT and CTV world, that’s opened up a whole new world of possibilities for us as that modern media company … to allow for new narratives, longer narratives, 22- minute-long content, hour-long content, and to engage audiences in ways that were never possible,” Imberman says.
Best of both
Connected TV has been Tastemade’s most profound shift, offering advertisers an opportunity that is both familiar and new-wave.
“It’s traditional yet progressive all at the same time,” Imberman says. You’re still able to serve 15 and 30-second ads the way a linear network can – but what makes it really compelling is it’s delivered in a digital format across digital pipes, so it allows for very unique targeting, contextual especially.”
These days, Tastemade has its own linear streaming TV channels.
Combining platforms
That breadth of format, of duration, allows Imberman to tag-team the ad roster he offers buyers.
Brand sponsored content he creates to show through Tastemade’s social channels tends also to be fit during ad breaks on Tastemade’s linear channels.
“Many brands now are gravitating towards that because it allows them to, first and foremost, amortise their costs across many platforms, but, more importantly, it allows them to engage in a singular narrative across every platform,” he says.
Meet your new favorite appetizer
pic.twitter.com/S17463xfiq
— Tastemade (@tastemade) July 4, 2021
Dynamic insertions
And, when brands get to Tastemade video, they can also be virtualized. That is to say, Imberman’s company has now taken on the ability to dynamically insert brand products into video productions, even after shooting, when they may not have been originally present.
“TripleLift have created some very dynamic ad products that we are now employing across our streaming network,” he says, “an example being virtual integrations, dynamic virtual integrations into our programmes.”
“Imagine you’re watching a cooking show and a bottle of Pepsi is on the countertop,” Imberman adds. “We’re able to identify the opportunity and virtually, in real-time, serve Jeff a bottle of Coke on a countertop in an actual programme versus serving him an ad in an ad break.”
You are watching “It’s time to elevate your video ads, or risk getting left behind,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by TripleLift. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>“The industry now is challenged because we have a range of different ways to buy CTV, OTT, linear TV,” Sarah Stringer, executive vice president of U.S. media partnerships at Dentsu Media, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “We’re looking for ways we can consolidate the data signals across these different ecosystems to create a better, more pleasant viewing experience for audiences.”
A more holistic view of consumers helps to not only improve that viewing experience, but also to make media buying more efficient for advertisers.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work in terms of: how do we demystify the marketplace, how do we take that duplication out of the market and how do we start looking at the data signals that we have?” Stringer said. Those data signals are part of the effort to “try to identify in a respectful way an individual’s experience through this ecosystem and we try to optimize it for not only the brand, but also for the customers themselves.”
Measurement and Cross-Platform Reach
Brands have more software tools to help measure the effectiveness of TV ads, including eye-tracking technology that can provide more granular detail about how the creative elements affect people’s receptivity to a marketing message.
“It’s fascinating that we now have these tools at our disposal, and it’s something that we continue to dig into at Dentsu, because we continue to see that it has such a huge impact on the effectiveness of your campaigns,” Stringer said.
The cross-platform media environment has many digital “walled gardens” that add to the difficulties in making campaigns less repetitive for consumers as they move across different platforms.
“We will need as agencies to look at these translation points across the media that is a little bit more open and are building out industrywide tools to have a better performance across each of their platforms, and how we factor that into some of the other players that we work with that are fundamental to a media plan as well,” Stringer said. “The Holy Grail will still be around how we identify individuals in a still-respectful way and in a privacy-first way. We’ll find that it will be less around the individual and more around the outcome and the context.”
Immersive Ad Experiences
Mixing content and commerce is becoming more feasible with the emergence of technologies to insert branded product placements within programming.
“The technology I’m most excited around is this idea of 3D object that has been added to a video post-production,” Stringer said. “It’s essentially like an overlay technology, and it will identify key moments where it would seem natural for an object or an advert to be placed into a video, and allows for a more seamless way for a brand to be visible without necessarily being an interruptive force.”
Video channels increasingly are offering more interactivity that gives people an immediate way to buy products they see on screen.
“There’s some really exciting technology that will really allow for that moment of brand to be reconnected to that moment of content or purchase, which is great,” she said.
You are watching “It’s time to elevate your video ads, or risk getting left behind,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by TripleLift. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>“When I think about ways to optimize video content, I think about customization at scale,” Liza Davidian, executive vice president of investment and activation at GroupM, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “I think about what should be your first message to a consumer about your brand, and how to further draw people into that funnel as they see more and more exposure to your ad.”
An integrated approach includes the broad reach of television and channels like social media that offer behavioral targeting.
“I applaud an advertiser who further digs deeper into the funnel and makes their message a little more customized based on possibly some data that they have drawn from me,” Davidian said. “Frequency doesn’t always have to be a bad thing as long as it’s not just hitting you over the head with the same message over and over again.”
Millions of U.S. households have canceled their cable or satellite TV service while connecting their TVs directly to the internet, giving them more control of the viewing experience. While ad-free subscription video on demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Disney+ are popular, consumers will also rely on AVOD services like Paramount+ and Discovery+ to see premium video.
“There’s always going to be a place for Netflix and non-ad-supported platforms, but we have seen the expansion of so many ad-supported streaming platforms,” Davidian said. “That content is so expensive that…the burden of creating that content cannot reside solely with the consumer in the future. Brand messaging and advertising is a necessary way to bring premium video to consumers.”
Consumers have become more concerned about personal privacy, leading several states including California and Virginia to pass laws that give people more control over their data. Limitations on data-sharing make ad targeting more challenging, especially as “walled garden” media environments like social media and AVOD services guard their first-party data.
“We do see this trend of user data being moved into these ‘walled garden’ or buying siloes, if you will. The role of a modern agency has evolved…to be the tunnels that are connecting those gardens,” Davidian said. “We strive to give our clients access to the premium supply and data, and still provide that connectivity and that consistency and that scale across these fragmented landscapes.”
You are watching “It’s time to elevate your video ads, or risk getting left behind,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by TripleLift. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>