MIAMI \u2013 Investor decks for martech ventures are typically rosy if not a bit over-the-top in their marketplace prognostications. Then there is the one that Tru Optik put together in 2014 as it tried to project the scale and growth for consumer uptake of OTT and connected-TV by 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor every single one we actually underestimated how fast and how rapid the growth and adoption of OTT and connected TV would be,\u201d says the company\u2019s CEO, Andre Swanston. \u201cAd-supported, connected TV adoption is growing way faster than I think anybody predicted.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this interview at the recent Beet Retreat Miami 2017<\/a>, Swanston insists that the future is right now for OTT and connected-TV viewing and explains his company\u2019s impending rollout to consumers of a data opt-out solution for advanced TV.<\/p>\n His future-is-now stance rests on the belief that it\u2019s not lack of technology that\u2019s holding back advanced consumer targeting via new and emerging venues. To Swanston, It\u2019s \u201cmore of a speed of adoption across leading advertisers and networks and logistical and bureaucratic things that are kind of slowing momentum down.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to use third-party data sources on indexed linear buy and then use that same data source for your addressable set-top buy? It can be done, along with using that same data source across desktop and mobile and connected TV. Attribution of commercial exposure to store visits and purchases? That, too, can be done.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just very little that an advertiser can want to do now across advanced TV that we can\u2019t actually do,\u201d Swanston says.<\/p>\n Despite the growth of OTT and connected-TV viewing, no industry association has thought to provide consumers with a way of opting out of the data collection associated with advanced targeting. So Tru Optik is leading the charge behind OptOut.TV<\/a>, a one-stop solution.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just thought that it made more sense to be proactive in terms of trying to allow for consumers to have those type of privacy and opt-out controls as opposed to waiting for some issue, some lawsuit to happen or the government to put in place some sort restriction or barrier that really hampered the business,\u201d Swanston says.<\/p>\n In January 2018, when OptOut.TV becomes available to consumers via the Web and through an array of OTT apps, Tru Optik will only support data providers, demand-side platforms and publishers that are compliant with OptOut.TV.<\/p>\n