INVIDI began 18 years ago, helping TV providers enable their ad inventory for targeted buying, primarily through set-top boxes.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Michael Kubin explains what comes next.
“The distribution of addressable television was done has occurred exclusively through the digital set-top box on linear addressable in the two minutes that are available to the distributors, that are made available to the distributors by the programmers,” Kubin says.
“That’s fine, that’s a great business. It has attracted hundreds of advertisers with many, many success stories as to how well that’s worked. But we all realise that there are constraints there. And one of the constraints is the way the consumer has learned to get access to television.
“It’s no longer (about) just linear addressability. It is now (also) via streaming, OTT, and that is a huge business and a growing business at a rapid pace. That is an area in which we have to play. We’ve committed to playing, and we’re going into that very aggressively.
You’ll be hearing some news from us about that in this year, hopefully in the next few months. Basically wherever the consumer chooses to access television programming, that is going to be an entry point for us in terms of being able to use our technology and target the right individual with the right message.”
Kubin also set out what he sees as three key friction points in the evolution of addressable TV ad buying.
He was speaking after the release of Era Of Addressable, a survey of 522 ad-buying decision makers – commissioned from Forrester by DISH Media, Cadent, Canoe, Comscore, INVIDI Technologies, LiveRamp, Verizon Media, ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia.
The research shows advertisers are “applying addressable TV across the full customer lifecycle”.
Kubin’s takeaways:
“The biggest challenge is that there is not a single distribution footprint for addressability – There are several. That is a challenge to the buyer today. If you’re a planner or a buyer and you’re looking at doing an addressable campaign or including addressability in your campaign, you’re going to have to take into account the fact that it’s not one-stop shopping.
“Distribution is fragmented and. In order for the business to really coalesce and realise its potential, those footprints need to somehow come together. That’s the direction that ultimately it’s going to take.”
“Until now, addressability has been basically available only in the two local minutes that the distributors get from programmers and that’s fine. As the report points out, it’s a $3.5 billion business and significantly important to a lot of marketers, but it’s now getting into the programmer minutes, the inventory that programmers actually own.
“That is a huge step forward, that integrates the addressable availability into programme content, as opposed to being, in many cases, outside of content. So that’s a great step forward. ”
“Data is the fuel that makes addressability work. There is a lot of data that currently exist – particularly in this country, in the United States, we have a lot of data available. If the marketer wants to find not only the specific target that may buy the product, but really where in the funnel, where in that consumer journey the consumer is, that there is data available that can target it specifically to where that exists.
“The challenge there is a more global one where we have found as we distribute addressability internationally, that same access and availability of data doesn’t exist.”
You are watching “The Transformation of Television: Embracing the Era of Addressable TV,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by Dish Media. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>In December 2018, INVIDI, which is owned by a consortium of groups, acquired Pulse, the technology of the former Videoplaza, which was acquired by Ooyala, which in turn had become owned by Australian operator Telstra.
“Since then, our board of AT&T, DISH Network and group WPP authorised us to create a new product which we call INVIDI Edge,” says INVIDI CEO David Downey in this video interview with Beet.TV.
He calls it: “The first product of its type … (a) software interface that takes linear television, interfaces it with OTT and mobile. That product was delivered here just a few months ago.”
Downey says Edge is responsible for “tens of millions of dollars”, allowing advertisers to control the reach, frequency and separation of their ads across linear mobile, OTT or ad-supported VOD channels.
It is the latest video tech platform aiming to satisfy advertiser demand to buy campaigns in an integrated fashion across the array of new video screens.
“I’ve introduced this into Australia, Thailand, China, throughout Europe, United States,” Downey says. “This is the defining product for us because. To bring all the platforms together into one seamless interface is the coolest thing that we’ve ever done
“From our perspective, the consumer doesn’t really think about linear TV or digital TV or OTT, they just want to watch video.”
New Jersey-based INVIDI helps advertisers serve household-targeted ads in to TV streams in the two minutes per hour of programming available to MVPDs. But it is also gaining traction overseas, where operators have fewer restrictions, with a launch to support Liberty Global’s Belgian broadcaster Telenet and channel owner SBS Broadcasting.
This video was produced in London at the Future of TV Ads Global forum in December 2019. This series is sponsored by Finecast, the global addressable TV company that is part of WPP. For more videos from the series, please visit this page.
]]>INVIVI, which facilitates addressable advertising systems for global TV platforms, is acquiring what it calls “the advertising technology division (formerly Videoplaza) of Ooyala”.
That amounts to Pulse, a software-as-a-service ad platform, based in Stockholm, that is used in the programmatic trading of digital video ads, including more than 40 software engineers and account managers in the US, UK, Sweden and India.
“That engineering team and the product are now a part of the INVIDI product suite and will be coming onboard as part of the Avatar platform that we sell to broadcast distribution companies around the world,” says INVIDI COO Bruce Anderson in this video interview with Beet.TV.
So why is INVIDI the latest to give incarnation to Videoplaza?
“It’s been very important for us to try to migrate our capability into the online streaming side of the business really,” Anderson adds.
“The Pulse product gives us a way to accelerate our movement in the direction.”
In other words, INVIDI – already facilitating ad targeting to customers’ traditional-style big TV – thinks there is still a growth opportunity in online video advertising.
Anderson continues: “Rather than having to develop all of that technology from scratch, we can leverage the excellent technology that the Pulse team has developed in servicing great clients like Sky in India and add that to our existing capabilities and really integrate the two platforms so that – irrespective of how a consumer is getting their video streams – they can get an addressable ad experience, whether they’re on broadcast or streaming, and it all works in one seamless fashion.”
And Anderson says INVIDI will “reinvest” in Pulse. “(We will) start marketing that into some of our customers within North America, and also leverage a lot of Pulse’s existing relationships in other parts of the world to get them exposed to the Avatar product.”
INVIDI’s acquisition represents another stamp in the passport of Videoplaza…
This video is part of Beet.TV’s coverage of the Future of TV Advertising Forum 2018, London. The series is sponsored by Finecast. For more segments from the series, visit this page.
]]>To hear panelists at the recent Beet Retreat Miami explain it, lunar landings might be easier to achieve than getting TV broadcasters en masse to quickly embrace the future.
Asked by moderator Ashley J. Swartz to explain the implications of ATSC3.0, Rob Weisbord, who was recently named Chief Revenue Officer of Sinclair Digital Group, stepped up to the dais from the audience and said, “It’s taking IP technology, layering it over the linear transmitter so it gives you a hybrid approach. It puts broadcasters into a bit business.”
While that sounds exciting, reality quickly set in. Mike Kubin, EVP, Media at Invidi, explained how his company began working in 2003 with distributors to get its software into digital set-top boxes.
“It took us forever to make that happen,” Kubin said. “Right now we are in five terrific distributors in the United States. Our goals are to go international, but there’s only so much we can do. At the end of the day, they tell us what we can do or what we can’t do.”
SintecMedia CEO Lorne Brown cited a “future of TV survey” his company did in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters in which just 30% of respondents said they were ready for advanced TV. “Of those 30 percent, 60 percent said they were going to rely on legacy, in-house, home-grown technology to deliver advanced TV,” said Brown. “So only 30 percent are ready and 60 percent believe they can pull it off with the stuff that they have in house. I think that’s a major problem.”
Said Swartz: “All I’m hearing is more increased complexity.”
Jennifer Koester, Director of Global Partnerships for Google, took a positive approach. “I think the dichotomy that we keep talking about between linear and digital, it’s going away. I think we need to kind of step back from that and talk about solutions and technology that bridges the gap.”
She listed among the industry’s needs simplifying the ecosystem, making cross-screen reach and frequency easier, plus driving more value and being able to show it with regard to premium video inventory. That led to this exchange:
Koester: “The shift is going to happen and when it does, I think it’s going to happen very quickly.”
Brown: “I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be a slow, painful…”
Koester: “I think we’re in the slow painful part right now.”
Brown: “I think even ATSC3.0…”
Koester: “That’s going to be slow.”
Brown: “And so how fast can Comcast roll out addressable boxes? All of this is really, really slow.”
Tony Yi, GM, Strategic Commercial/Business Development for Videology, explained the complexity involved in trying to “be nimble” when dealing with integrations with systems for order entry, decisioning, trafficking, billing and CRM systems. While noting that media companies leverage Videology’s software to optimize the planning of data against media, it’s not always used for programmatic transactions.
“As an example, we just landed the press about Fox, a great partner client of ours, they use it for direct sales. They’re not using it in a programmatic fashion,” said Yi.
Swartz related a recent visit to a broadcaster to discuss a solution from her Furious Corp., only to experience a “not made here mentality.” She concluded that the meeting was a waste of time.
Brown summed up the differences between programmers and operators. “If I’m a national programmer, my strategy has to come from legacy linear outward. Versus if I’m an operator I can lean much more into advanced TV and impressions because I control the pipes and I have the data. Legacy linear for a national programmer is foundational and that’s really, really hard.”
This video was produced at the Beet Retreat Miami, 2017 presented by Videology along with Alphonso and 605. For more videos from the event, please visit this page.
]]>This was the approach taken by Ashley J. Swartz, CEO of Furious Corp., which specializes in linear TV and video yield optimization, as she capped off the proceedings at Beet Retreat Miami in November.
The final panel of this year’s conference featured Anupam Gupta, Chief Product Officer, 4C Insights; Daniel Harrison, Head of TV Solutions for Oracle Data Cloud; and Jakob Nielsen, CEO of GroupM’s Finecast addressable TV business.
Declaring that “TV needs to change,” Gupta pointed out that while so-called enemies like Facebook and Google require advertisers to “do it their way” behind walled gardens, at least those companies offer application-programming interfaces. Those API’s facilitate valuable things like ad buying, targeting, reporting, measurement, creative testing and creative trafficking.
“Where are the API’s for the one trillion impressions” that comprise traditional TV?, Gupta asked.
Harrison said the Retreat was a great place for him to gain a better understanding of the financial and technical complexities of advanced TV. His reflections:
“You have to be able to adjust and redirect to achieve your goals. Coming from an Oracle Data Cloud perspective, I’m a bit neutral to all of this because regardless, we look at data as the fuel for innovation and it’s how do we enable this data in every and any place that a client wants this to be to achieve some goals.”
Nielsen warned that progress will be curtailed if agencies and tech suppliers make things too complicated for marketers. Said he: “One thing I’ve seen with advertisers is they are super excited about what we’re talking about. They’re seeing benefits of household targeting, using their own first-party data, to be able to do creative rotation in a different way, near-time optimization. That’s a journey that we’re on. We have to remember to take them on that journey, make it simple, give them what they need but don’t give people too much.”
Swartz suggested that it’s “human problems, not technology problems, that are holding us back.” This led to a discussion about current business models and methods that, while familiar and comfortable, won’t move things ahead at the desired speed.
Gupta described attending meetings with agencies and marketers in which everyone understands the importance of more data-driven TV audience buying. When he asks how they are currently executing it, responses typically include Microsoft Excel. “Then we say okay how are you processing large-scale datasets? ‘Well we don’t have the engineers to take second-by second-data from ten-plus million devices,’” Gupta related. “The point is, you’ve got business issues around talent, around the software not being there, around the horsepower not being there. Those are the issues holding you back. It’s not the desire to do something.”
Said Harrison: “Innovation doesn’t happen because you desire it. It’s because you must do it. You really don’t have a choice.”
Nielsen said there are too many tech solutions and there should be more use of fewer of them going forward. He offered these examples:
“We use Videology within Finecast to do some of the decisioning we’re doing and we have Sky in the UK use Videology as well. We work with Invidi in Australia, they won a fantastic deal with Foxtel, and we were very supportive of that. We went in nearly hand-in-hand and said we suggest you pick Invidi because that works with our systems and that means we can spend more money with you.
“The unpleasant part of that is there’s tons of technology companies that won’t exist in the future because there’s simply too much and it’s too complex.”
This video was produced at the Beet Retreat Miami, 2017 presented by Videology along with Alphonso and 605. For more videos from the event, please visit this page.
]]>In fact, that future is already happening. It’s called “addressable TV”, and recent estimates of the number of addressable US TV households count about 45m properties.
So what’s next in the addressable journey? Beet.TV convened a panel of leading exponents to offer their views.
Innovation will start in Europe – Dave Downey, CEO, INVIDI:
“We launched the most sophisticated targeting system in the world in Brussels. It’s a cloud-based decision system, it supports several million simultaneous linear buys
“We pioneered that technology in Europe hoping to bring it back to the United States. You … get this system going in the United States and the first reaction of the MVPD owners is, ‘I want to keep this for my inventory,’ because they’re getting great results.
“Well we, of course, always wanted to do it with NBC and CBS and ABC because that’s where the big money is. So a lot of our innovation goes and happens in another market with an eye towards, ‘When will it be ready for the States?’ And I think we’re getting close.”
National addressable will happen – Scott Ferber, CEO, Videology:
“There will be MVPDs, broadcasters … all selling addressable-linear … in the future. It’s a combination of … the technological deployment, the business model and… the human condition.
“We all have to get comfortable with the fact that the world is changing, be okay with changing it. Twenty years ago, the idea of saying you were tethered to some sort of electronic device that was always with you, you’d be like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ So that’s the human condition element.”
Addressability will hit scale – Brian Cordes, director, AT&T AdWorks:
“The marketplace is demanding it. We’re at over 50 million households right now. Projections are that, by 2020, we’ll be in over 80% of households nationally.
“What’s been happening with advertisers demanding these increased metrics and accountability is something that’s going to drive us forward and I think it’s inevitable for it to happen on a national scale.”
This panel was moderated by The Vertere Group CEO Tim Hanlon.
This panel was conducted at Beet Retreat 2016: The Transformation of Television Advertising, an executive retreat presented by Videology with AT&T AdWorks and the 605. Please find more videos from the event here.
]]>Which is precisely why two years ago she founded Furious Corp., of which she is CEO, to offer an advertising enterprise management platform for TV broadcasters and premium publishers called PROPHET.
“Our business has gotten so complex,” Swartz says. “There’s so much technology, new channels and vertical ad stacks, there’s nothing tying it all together to help someone run their business.”
When Swartz is asked for her opinion about census versus panel data for making advertising decisions, the answer is yes and yes. Meaning, media sellers have to be agile and flexible.
“The reality is that everybody’s looking for an easy answer, and there isn’t any easy answer,” Swartz says of a common currency. “The idea that you need to be able to sell in multiple currencies and equalize.”
This is because while a TV buyer probably will want to buy against a traditional Nielsen guarantee, a digital buyer who might be “foraying into television” will most likely desire a buy based on impressions, according to Swartz.
“So we need to be able to do the math with ease and make informed business decisions based on data, regardless of what the currency is,” says Swartz.
She goes on to discuss her efforts to help operators in Europe develop a road map and strategy for building out a sales house, of which there are few and mostly large. Operators are in a “unique space” because they don’t have two minutes of inventory to sell like their U.S. counterparts, while they have or ultimately will have set-top box data with which to sell inventory.
“So the question is, do they enable broadcaster partners to sell their inventory using the addressable data, or do they aggregate and then build a sales house and sell it? There’s a lot of business questions that have to be asked,” says Swartz.
She is heartened by the news that addressable ad platforms provider INVIDI has been acquired by AT&T, DISH Network and WPP.
“I’m so happy for the Invidi team because they have been committed to our industry and its success and they’ve been in the boat rowing for a long time,” says Swartz. “It makes my heart smile and as a founder it encourages me. That’s an awesome sign that we are moving forward.”
We spoke with Swartz at the Future of TV Advertising Forum in London. Beet.TV’s coverage is presented by the 605. For other videos from the series, please visit this page.
]]>But satellite is far from out of the game. UK satellite pay-TV operator Sky had its AdSmart product in the marketplace for a couple of years now, pushing multiple ads to subscribers’ set-top boxes for subsequent decisioning.
And INVIDI, the early addressable TV pioneer helping operators realize the technology, is launching a new offering leveraging low-earth orbit satellites to help broadcasters transmit multiple streams of alternate ads to viewers’ screens, switched at the client side.
Just acquired by AT&T, DISH and WPP, Invidi launched what it called “satellite switching“, and Kristin Dolan thinks it could be big. The founder of new addressable TV data firm 605 Group spoke with Beet.TV for this video interview.
“It’s about addressability – the opportunity to do full addressability country-by-country, with satellite transponders – doing addressability in the sky,” she says.
“This is about facilitating that to homes from the sky, which we think is amazing, we’re very excited about it, especially here in London.”
Having sold Cablevision to French telecom firm Altice earlier in 2016, Dolan and her husband James, who had been CEO of Cablevision, recently announced that their Dolan Family Ventures acquired Analytics Media Group, a pioneer in the use of set-top box data.
This interview was conducted at the Future of TV Advertising Forum in London. Beet.TV’s coverage is presented by the 605. For other videos from the series, please visit this page.
]]>The 16-year-old company has come in to its own of late, by helping advertisers serve household-targeted ads in to TV streams in the two minutes per hour of programming available to MVPDs, as well as gaining traction overseas.
But why did ad agency holding group WPP buy a stake in the company? Irwin Gotlieb, chairman of WPP’s leading GroupM, tells Beet.TV in this video interview.
“We entered in to INVIDI in the first place not because we wanted to control addressability, but we wanted to be inside the tent and we wanted to have influence on how the ecosystem involves,” he says.
“We never had any intentions of keeping our competitors out or of making anything exclusive to GroupM. We just wanted to be there at the table when the ecosystem was formed, and we wanted to ensure that that ecosystem serves the best interest of our clients.
“We retained our position in iNVIDI for exactly the same reasons.”
We spoke with Gotlieb at the Future of TV Advertising Forum in London. Beet.TV’s coverage is presented by the 605. For other videos from the series, please visit this page.
]]>TV ad technology provider INVIDI, which enables household-level TV ad targeting for broadcast companies more used to beaming out a single message en masse, is getting excited about a technology “satellite switching”.
How could satellites enable addressability? INVIDI CEO Dave Downey explains, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
“Until recently, the bandwidth on those satellites was in very high demand, they were very expensive,” he says. “With the advent of low-orbit satellites … there’s an abundance of geo-stationery transponder space.
“INIVIDI came up with the idea of switching the ads on some of these transponders, that are now not being used at all, to broadcast TV feeds.”
That means satellite TV operators wouldn’t just have to pre-load a selection of ads to subscribers’ DVRs, for targeting at the client end – they could also light up their entire footprint with addressability.
“If it was able to be launched in North America, it would be a great caveat to introducing national addressability,” Downey adds. “If you were to target the four or five broadcast networks, this may be an ability to get to another 25 to 30 million homes.”
For now, New Jersey-based INVIDI, which has a growing business of its own overseas, is targeting international operators with the technology.
In South America, Downey aims to help operators launch background channels carrying ads, which would be switched to during addressable moments.
This interview was conducted by Matter More Media CEO Tracey Scheppach for Beet.TV.
This interview was conducted at Beet Retreat 2016: The Transformation of Television Advertising, an executive retreat presented by Videology with AT&T AdWorks and the 605. Please find more videos from the event here.
]]>But they are not doing it alone – the pair are joined in the deal by fellow acquirer WPP, the world’s largest ad agency holding group, though it is AT&T which will hold a controlling share.
New Jersey-based INVIDI helps advertisers serve household-targeted ads in to TV streams in the two minutes per hour of programming available to MVPDs. But it is also gaining traction overseas, where operators have fewer restrictions, with a launch to support Liberty Global’s Belgian broadcaster Telenet and channel owner SBS Broadcasting. The acquiring trio’s press release says INVIDI is “negotiating distribution agreements in Europe, South America and Asia”.
“Maintaining our independence and deepening our existing relationships with AT&T, DISH and WPP is a big move for our company and our people,” INVIDI CEO Dave Downey explains in the announcement, carried by The Drum. “Our ability to increase the value of ad inventory is transforming the way video advertising is purchased and distributed.”
Earlier this month, Adobe announced plans to acquire video ad-tech operator TubeMogul, in what many hope will be a wave of much-needed consolidation that makes a fragmented ecosystem more straightforward, especially on the buy side.
INVIDI seems destined to work with an increasingly well-armed AT&T AdWorks division, through the acquirers say they will leave it operating independently. INVIDI’s future will not only lay closer to the big guns acquiring it, nor just with a larger global footprint – the company is also going to space.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, recorded at last week’s Beet Retreat, CEO Downey says the company is launching technology called “satellite switching” – using low-orbit satellites to offer broadcasters multiple channel streams of linear ads in such a way, when substituted during commercial breaks, could perform something like addressable advertising.
“If it was able to be launched in North America, it would be a great caveat to introducing national addressability,” Downey said. “If you were to target the four or five broadcast networks, this may be an ability to get to another 25 to 30 million homes.”
This interview was conducted at Beet Retreat 2016: The Transformation of Television Advertising, an executive retreat presented by Videology with AT&T AdWorks and the 605. Please find more videos from the event here.
]]>“We are expanding globally and aggressively, and are keeping most of those plans under wraps,” Invidi chief marketer Fred Di Blasio tells Beet.TV, in this recorded panel interview. He hinted target markets must boast three characteristics:
But one of those characteristics is bigger than others, because TV markets – and technological capabilities – around the world are very different to the US’ uniquely-structured patchwork of operators and programmers.
“The data piece is truly the biggest question mark,” Di Blasio added. “We’re fortune in the United States – there is so much data available to match. In other countries globally, that presents a few more challenges. In Canada, there’s a dearth relative to the US.
“We’ve had our challenges there. Other markets move much more quickly than Canada. We’ve had a trial there. We’re moving to phase two of a trial with Global, the second largest national broadcaster. We’re excited by the prospects that that brings.”
Invidi integrates with operators’ set-top boxes to help box-level ad targeting. It already powers Liberty Global’s Belgian broadcaster Telenet and channel owner SBS Broadcasting for addressable advertising, though Di Blasio says the UK may be challenging to crack due to several entrenched players already being operational.
If overseas TV companies do adopt addressable ad targeting, they may find a pay day. Former DirecTV CEO Michael White has previously said the technology boosted his ad sales business from around a quarter of a million dollars to well over a billion dollars in four years, Di Blasio said.
This video was produced in London as part of our Addressable & Advanced TV Summit hosted by Sky Media and presented by FreeWheel and Invidi. Please visit this page for additional segments from the event.
]]>Invidi EVP Michael Kubin tells Beet.TV, in this video interview: “If there’s a tipping point, we’re either at it or soon to be at it. The distributors … clearly understand what the potential is for them – it’s a huge revenue enhancer as far as revenue per advertising minute is concerned.”
Invidi’s technology is used by operators including DirecTV, DISH, Comcast and Verizon – numbering some 68 million household as customers – around half of which serve some form of addressable television.
EMarketer sees addressable taking 13% of US TV ad spend by 2019 – a percentage that would constitute $11.5 billion.
Kubin says advertisers have been slower to come around to a prospect he says is a no-brainer.
“It’s been quite a process to get them to understand why this is better, but they’re very much there,” he adds. “There are over 700 campaigns now that have been done addressably – over 90% have been successful enough for those advertisers to go back and do it again, integrate it in to their marketing plan, spend more money on it.
“A few years from now … we’re going to wonder why anybody ever spent money on linear TV without addressability. There’s really no down side.”
This video was produced in London as part of our Addressable & Advanced TV Summit hosted by Sky Media and presented by FreeWheel and Invidi. Please visit this page for additional segments from the event.
]]>Now it’s ready to close the loop back from TV to online media, too.
Company chief marketer Fred Di Blasio tells Beet.TV the firm is readying to spread its cloud-based ad inventory decisioning engine, helping buyers segment and target audiences, from TV over to digital, coming this fourth quarter.
That will allow customers to count impressions across devices, for what he’s calling an “all-glass” strategy.
Addressable TV is already coming to fruition, impressing advertising, Di Blasio says, claiming a 92% renewal rate on addressable ad buys.
The company recently rolled out in Belgium, underpinning an addressable TV advertising launch by Liberty Global’s Belgian broadcaster Telenet and channel owner SBS Broadcasting.
Back in January, CEO Dave Downey told Beet.TV: “We have 92 million homes under contract, 30 million of those installed. Last month, we did 9 billion addressable impressions and we’re gonna triple that by next year so it’s at a rapid pace of growth.”
Invidi has now taken a hefty $132.25 million in funding from 13 investors in more than a decade, including big-name Google, WPP Ventures, GroupM and DirecTV.
This video was produced in London as part of our Addressable & Advanced TV Summit hosted by Sky Media and presented by FreeWheel and Invidi. Please visit this page for additional segments from the event.
]]>
The company already has traction, and the pace of change it is already seeing suggests a big uptick in the opportunity this year.
“We have 92 million homes under contract, 30 million of those installed,” CEO Dave Downey tells Beet.TV in this video interview. “Last month, we did 9 billion addressable impressions and we’re gonna triple that by next year so it’s at a rapid pace of growth.”
Invidi is currently in a big international expansion, with the company’s technology due to underpin an addressable service launch by Liberty Global’s Belgian broadcaster Telenet and channel owner SBS Broadcasting.
That is just one part of its ambitions. Downey says he has another 100 million homes identified all over the Pan Asia area, Europe, South America and other markets.
So what does “addressability” mean to this addressable pioneer?
“If we’re watching American Idol or The Voice or any of the more popular television shows and they go to a commercial break and the commercial’s for Revlon, obviously that’s a commercial geared towards a female of a particular age group,” Downey says. “There’s obviously other people watching that show who are outside that cohort.
“With addressability, we’ve been able to take television advertising and increase the value of single commercial instances of up to 700% … Think of direct mail with the sight, sound, and motion of TV – it’s a great combination.”
This video was produced at the Beet.TV executive retreat presented by Videology with Adobe, AT&T AdWorks and Nielsen.
You can find more videos from the Beet Retreat on this page.
]]>Speaking with Beet.TV in this video interview, CEO David Downey reveals the company’s technology will underpin a launch by Liberty Global’s Belgian broadcaster Telenet and channel owner SBS Broadcasting.
The European addressable opportunity is a world away from that in America.
“It’s quite different,” Downey says. “As we head around the world, that same concept of two minutes an hour is not as prevalent. You’re dealing with a broadcaster, which has 24 hours a day of inventory availability, as opposed to the way it works in the United States in the MVPD community, where they own two minutes per hour for their advertiser capability.
“Europe is playing a bit of catch up in terms of addressability. But this is a very sophisticated system. This has the potential to really demonstrate to the rest of the world the power of addressability.”
Privacy concerns have previously been said to slow the rise of addressable TV in European countries like Belgium. Downey says his system includes sophisticated control over the targeting of viewers.
European broadcasters have already been delivering addressable campaigns using HbbTV technology from rival Smartclip.
This video was produced at the Future Of TV Advertising Forum presented by Xaxis. You can find more videos from the Beet Retreat on this page.
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