That is to say, many trends which marketers got interested in last year and now ready to be adopted in earnest in the year ahead.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Julie Anson, Director, Strategic Investment, Advanced TV, at the ad agency Magna Global, says interest in targeted TV ad buying is ready to flourish fully in 2021.
“I think we’re going to see a combination of all of it,” she says. “More of a shift into nonlinear CTV streaming environments, more use of platforms and technology to make it feel more programmatic, and ‘audience’ (is) going to continue to be the hot buzzword for 2021.
“2020 was a year where people were really interested in moving away from traditional demo(graphic targeting), and more into audiences, and trying new technologies and innovation. So I’m really hopeful and excited that 2021 is going to be the year we do it.”
Forecast growth
EMarketer last year estimated programmatic TV ad spending will reach $6.69 billion in the US by 2021, more than doubling from $2.77 billion. That makes it a still-small but fast-growing part of the overall TV ad spending pie.
Ad buyers are getting interested by the ability to target specific audiences or households, the ability to use other data in doing so and the ability.
Going nationwide
Anson is interested in how addressable TV is emerging out of local cable operators’ domain and on to the national scene.
“I think national addressable is a really exciting possibility,” she says.
“In traditional local and addressable, I think everyone’s pretty set; they know what it is, they either do it, they don’t do it, they feel they’re a client that it applies to. I think national addressable is just going to change that.
“I think national addressable is something all clients can be a part of, not only the ones with a really hyper-focused target, and a niche consumer base. I think, even for creative versioning, take a national ad that you bought in the upfront anyway, and do creative versioning to different targets, something really simple, that isn’t so hyper-precise. I think there’s room for a lot of clients who haven’t done traditional linear, to start to play with it.”
Business bottlenecks
But the transition won’t be all plain sailing. Anson thinks bottlenecks remain that inhibit the pace of roll-out for addressable TV.
For once, they aren’t strictly technical, however. Rather, she sees challenges in simply educating advertisers and in ensuring that the old business can adapt to the new way of doing things.
“It’s not there yet, I’ll be frank,” she says.
“As buyers and sellers, we actually have to come to the table and figure out what the business terms look like – how does it fit into the larger upfront conversation, what the financial, commercial terms look like?
“So I think that piece is still TBD, and I think it’s going to be an obstacle in 2021.
Buy-side education
“I think there’s a big learning curve on the buy side, a lot of conversations that we’re going to have to have with our clients, and our agency teams, to educate them and bring them to the table,” Anson adds.
“I think they know it could be a thing, I don’t know if they totally understand exactly what that thing is yet. I think there’s definitely interest; I get emails every now and then about testing opportunities.
“We’ve been writing POVs every time there’s an announcement – (for example), Nielsen bringing in different data sources to help measure national addressable … the difference between Nielsen beta, and Adcuratio, and Project OAR.
“So, they’re definitely asking, but to be very honest, there’s a lot of conversations that still need to happen.”
You are watching “An Open Ecosystem is Key to Advanced TV Success,” a Beet.TV leadership video series presented by DISH Media. For more videos, please visit this page.
But how are advertisers adapting to the palette of options presented by OTT (over-the-top) and connected TV delivery?
In a panel called “Buy-Side Perspectives – The Big Asks” at the Beet Retreat San Juan 2020, four industry executives described how they see ad buyers adjusting:
- Julie Anson, Director of Strategic Investment, Advanced TV, MAGNA Global
- Anupam Gupta, Chief Product Officer, 4C
- Brett Hurwitz, Business Lead, Advanced TV, Verizon Media
- Sean Robertson, head of partnerships, DISH Media
Advertisers don’t know what they’re asking
Magna Global’s Anson said, when ad buyers make requests, “they don’t actually, they don’t know they’re asking for advanced TV”.
“First thing is, ‘I know I can get audiences, but I don’t really know how or why’,” she said.
“Second is OTT – they just know that there is a thing called OTT, they know they need to start spending there. And the number one thing that I get asked is, ‘What is the actual de-duplication between the offerings, between the Tubi, the Xumo, the Pluto? They may each have 20 million uniques per month, but how much of that is a crossover?’
“The third thing is probably putting it all together and that’s incremental reach. That is a big focus these days.”
Making OTT clear
DISH Media’s Sean Robertson said his company tries to clearly explain to ad buyers the over-the-top TV opportunity.
“The first thing is education and clarity in the marketplace about what offering should be utilised to solve what problems,” he said.
“When we enter the marketplace, we take a stance of ‘Let’s be very clear about what addressable is’.
“We talk about what OTT is and what our offering does and the skinny bundle versus the other competitors. We think that education in the marketplace helps us all. It truly is trying to raise all boats with the tide.”
Help advertisers target
Verizon Media’s Brett Hurwitz said ad buyers often “have a confused perception of what target they should really be using”.
“Fortunately, addressable television lets them kind of learn from their mistakes,” he said.
“For those that are really embracing it most fully, I think they’re looking to remove friction. They’re looking to bring down the walls and be able to have simplicity in the way that they’re achieving total reach.
“The process for (buying) a linear addressable (ad) is a lot more complicated than an ad in the traditional linear piece. And so I think we as an industry need to look toward simplification.”
The panel was led by Matter More Media’s Tracey Scheppach.
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.
]]>Addressability is a term that is becoming more widely used. Rather than simply relating to set top box data and cable or satellite data, it’s more a targeting methodology and an understanding of how to reach a household based on a specific set of attributes.
According to Anson, this widening aperture is a positive thing.
“I think it’s a plus because it’s a really effective targeting tactic,” says Anson. “I think it’s proven itself out in the cable provider and satellite provider space, and I think it’s going to help eventually as we move into live linear. It will help the programmers with diminishing ratings and tightening inventory, and it will allow the buyers to remain with the programming giants that they’ve had partnerships with for so long, but open it up to really hit who they want to hit within those traditional environments.”
Some clients are keeping linear and digital budgets separate and others are looking at them together. When they do come together, however, they tend to be on a smaller campaign strategy. The challenge is less about keeping them in various buckets but rather providing effective measurement.
Anson expressed uncertainty as to how measurement will play out, but sees it as a welcome challenge.
“People are buying television on Nielsen demos and then they’re buying some digital on strategic targets,” says Anson. “I think we have to come to a common currency as buyers as well as have the sellers accept it and have a third-party validate it.”
This leaves everybody with work to do around understanding what that common currency is that companies will start transacting on. Without it, there will be no way to holistically measure. A part of that understanding is figuring out where the data that they gather is coming from.
“I think it’s really becoming important for clients and agencies to understand if I am using data for targeting or retargeting, that I really understand where the data is, how it’s being captured, how it’s being cleaned, and that the consumer has consented to the use of the data.”
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.
]]>As far as what’s currently working, Anson says that both devices and glass-level insights are moving the dial because they allow for scalable footprints.
“More than ever targeting is allowing buying teams and advertisers to understand the incrementality of OTT off of their TV plan,” says Anson. “More so than just competitive conquesting or sequential messaging, really understanding how OTT acts as a complement to your linear TV plan and the devices and the platforms and the glass companies are allowing us to do that through platform tools that they’re investing in or their existing ACR tech.”
For MAGNA, the approach to the marketplace started with platforms, partnering with companies like Amazon, Roku and Samsung, and investing in publisher-direct relationships. Connecting directly with publishers has been particularly fruitful.
“As platforms and DSPs and SSPs come and go, the publisher of the agency is what’s going to be standing at the end of the day.” Anson says.
Looking ahead, Anson suggests that performance and distribution of OTT should be weighed as a complement to a traditional plan. It first must be proven out as a media channel and a new definition of television in order to further invest in it. Anson cites Viacom’s purchase of Pluto as an indicator that the next year will likely bring more consolidation as we dive further into the streaming war.
“I think over the next year we’re going to see a lot more acquisitions and mergers,” says Anson. “People are finding their footing in what they want their distribution endpoints to be and their holistic video offering to be.”
This video is part of the Beet.TV series title the Road to CES 202, a preview of the topics expected to be explored in Las Vegas in January. The series is presented by Samsung Ads. For more videos please visit this page.
]]>Because, seeming to come as a response to the rise of pay-for VOD, a new wave of ad-supported OTT TV services (AVOD) is growing, too.
Even NBCUniversal’s just-announced “Peacock” service, which will carry a subscription cost, will also include advertising, will also include advertising making it a part-AVOD service.
Not just advertising, but a new approach. Comcast’s CEO has promised Peacock will include “advertising with a light ad load”.
The partner innovation associate director at Interpublic Group’s Magna Global welcomes that. In this video interview with Beet.TV, Julie Anson says: “I love the AVOD opportunities.
“I think everyone in the industry is understanding the necessary investment in them. For example, Viacom’s acquisition of Pluto, Roku, Samsung, and Amazon all have their own AVOD services.
“It’s so apparent that consumers are willing to watch ads in return for free content. So as our own traditional players are creating their AVOD services, it’s great for buyers. It’s an additional distribution end point.”
Over the last couple of years, ad buyer consternation has grown at the soaraway success of subscription video services, plus growing consumer resentment to advertising, including ad blocking.
Across the TV industry, executives are striving to reduce ad load and length in a bid to regain consumer attention. And it seems the next generation of VOD service wants to recognize a reconstituted kind of advertising as a business model.
Anson recognizes such ad excesses as “one of the major reasons that people are turning to OTT”. That is why she is welcoming new VOD services that promises a lighter ad load.
This video is from a series leading up to, and covering, the Xandr Relevance Conference in Santa Barbara. This Beet.TV series is sponsored by Xandr. Please visit this page to find more videos from the series.
]]>Currently on the sell-side, there’s too much fragmentation “and a lot of suppliers borrowing from other suppliers in the traditional aggregator space and the DSP space specifically,” Anson adds in this video interview with Beet.TV taped last week at the Cadent & one2one Media UpFront event.
“I hope things like the consortiums and the announcement NCC brought to the table kind of starts pooling the inventory together so advertisers can have more access to one source of inventory and that scale.”
Anson was referring to last month’s news that the owners of NCC Media—Charter Communications, Comcast Corporation and Cox Communications—are creating a new division within NCC. Slated to launch later this year, the new division will design, deploy and sell unified advertising solutions across NCC’s participants’ national footprint.
“The group will use non-personally identifiable data and targeting capabilities to create advanced video advertising products that deliver greater scale, audiences and measurement to meet current and future demands of advertisers,” NCC said in a news release.
As the industry moves into the 2018 TV Upfronts, Anson expresses concern about the impact of demand outstripping supply amid linear TV ratings declines.
“If so many people are tapping into one inventory source, how do priorities kind of waterfall down from the top and how does the supply get allocated?” she asks. “If I have two advertisers buying the same source, which advertiser kind of gets under-delivered because of that fact?
“I think there’s a lot of partners in the space that are helping combat that challenge, but it definitely is a concern.”
At the outset, Anson felt that the OpenAP audience targeting consortium formed by Fox, Viacom and Turner “had a ton of potential.” One of its biggest challenges was luring more partners into the consortium to increase its scale and appeal.
“In a transaction and execution sense, I think now that NBC has joined the ranks it’s definitely more likely that OpenAP will more quickly turn into something that everyone can use in a really effective way.”
OpenAP turned out to be a launch pad of sorts when it came to advertisers building audience target segments, according to Anson. “I think a lot of advertisers kind of leapfrogged over the need and built their own segments and licensed their own data from NCS and Polk and the IRI’s of the world.”
When the 2019 Upfronts roll around, Anson hopes the industry has advanced from the test-and-learn phase “into greater volume and demand for the advanced advertising products.”
That will mean “clients letting go of traditional GRP guarantees and moving into finding their audiences where they’re consuming media today at a larger scale.”
This video was produced at the Cadent & one2one Media UpFront 2018 industry summit. You can find more videos from the series here. The sponsors for this series are Cadent and one2one Media.
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