The programmatic marketplace has evolved to give advertisers greater flexibility in their media buying, while also being mindful of the consumer experience. That include a reduced ad load, innovative ad units and other opportunities for brands to engage with viewers.
“In order to maintain and preserve a responsible ecosystem, particularly for programmatic, we must always consider the consumer,” Ashley Luongo, senior vice president of advanced TV and programmatic digital sales at NBCUniversal, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “It’s about the on-demand access and meeting consumers where they are, but it’s also about the user experience and keeping that at the center.”
Marketers may have the misconception that the programmatic marketplace consists of the scatter market, without opportunities for placements adjacent to premium content. With private marketplaces (PMPs), programmatic guaranteed or insertion orders, advertisers can now buy ad time in the upfront or scatter market.
“That level of flexibility and activation-agnostic approach affords all partners the ability to transact in the way that best meets their business objectives,” Luongo said.
NBCUniversal has invested billions of dollars in technology and premium content that helps to ensure that advertisers have access to brand-safe premium content through the programmatic marketplace, Luongo said.
“It’s no longer a small slice of an investment that’s peeled or carved out. It’s very intentional, it’s very front and center,” Luongo said. “The opportunity is to leverage programmatic as the most intelligent and sophisticated way of buying available in the marketplace today.”
This video is a summary of interviews with executive who spoke in the TV transformation track presented by PubMatic, the sell-side platform (SSP) for programmatic advertising:
Many consumers have shown a greater preference for streaming services that don’t carry ads, a trend that will challenge ad-supported channels to improve the consumer experience. The future of ad-supported TV depends on it.
Instead of loading up on advertising that becomes a nuisance and pushes audiences to pay for ad-free programming, media outlets will have to focus on improving the consumer experience, said Adam Gerber, global chief investment officer at Essence, a unit of WPP’s GroupM.
Media outlets also recognize the importance of giving consumers greater flexibility in controlling the viewing experience. Improvements to the consumer experience can include a reduced ad load, innovations in ad units and other opportunities to engage viewers. Combining the efficiencies of programmatic buying with premium content at scale is a key goal.
“It’s about on-demand access and meeting consumers where they are, but it’s also about the user experience and keeping that at the center,” said Ashley Luongo, senior vice president of advanced TV and programmatic digital sales at NBCUniversal.
The upfront market traditionally has been one of the best ways for media buyers to reserve premium inventory. But the marketplace is changing amid a shift in viewing habits and the growth of quality content that’s available in the programmatic market.
Buyers awakening to idea of wanting security of reserving scarce, premium inventory, but want a biddable environment, said Nicole Scaglione, global vice president of OTT and CTV business at PubMatic.
Consumers are viewing content among a wider variety of connected devices, spurring discussion about a cross-screen currency for measurement. But data and metrics can be used for more than just a currency, said Christine Grammier, head of TV measurement at data connectivity platform LiveRamp.
Millions of people were stuck at home during the pandemic, spurring a significant shift in their media consumption habits. Advertisers have responded by de-emphasizing dayparts as people spend more time with streaming platforms.
“When everybody’s at home during the pandemic and wanting to watch primetime content at all hours, every hour of the day became a theoretical prime hour,” said Mike Fisher, vice president of advanced TV and audio at Essence. “It changed up the way we did our planning and our buying.”
This video is part of the Global Forum on Responsible Media produced by Beet.TV, GroupM with the 4A’s. For more videos on this topic, visit this page.
The entire Forum can be watched on-demand here, and all videos from this project can be found here.
]]>“We believe powerful content creates the best environment for advertising and efficacy. It’s an attention economy where consumer choice reigns,” Ashley Luongo, the vp of Adsmart advanced advertising sales, told Jon Watts during a town hall at the Beet Retreat in San Juan. “That clutter makes it hard for marketing to break through.”
At the core of Adsmart’s approach is a dedication to the consumer experience. Ad avoidance is something that the ad industry is dealing with, and creating a positive experience, Luongo says, is something “we lost the plot on. So we’re pulling it back to put customers at the center, so ad assets don’t create the avoidance.”
Data strategies help inform better messaging that then helps advertisers stand out, doing more for buyers at the same time as it’s improving the customer experience. The cross-portfolio approach changes how buyers work with NBCU, says Luongo. Where a potential buyer might enter the company through a division, like sports or entertainment, the Adsmart approach breaks down barriers to transact on the basis of “audience and automation.”
With the advancement of initiatives like Adsmart and One Platform, Luongo says that NBCU is on its way to opening the door to global transactions that are easier and forward-looking for the industry.
“We’re at this point where we’ve done enough test and learn, it’s time to do,” says Luongo. “Locking arms with the industry we can do better together. If you wanna go fast go alone and if you wanna go far go together. It allows the market to transact with publishers in an audience based way.”
This video was produced at the Beet Retreat San Juan 2020 sponsored by 605, DISH Media, NBCU, Roundel & Tubi. For more videos from the series, please visit this landing page.
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