The upfronts, the season in which US TV companies tout their upcoming roster to advertisers, is now in full-swing. But do things look any different this year from previous years?<\/p>\n
One key question on everyone’s lips, according to one ad-tech exec: “Will audience-based and cross-screen transactions become a key part of how the upfront negotiations work?”<\/p>\n
That is according to VideoAmp chief strategy officer Jay Prasad. His company aims to help advertisers and media owners plan, package, execute and measure the success of de-duplicated and precisely targeted campaigns that reach linear TV, VOD, OTT and digital consumers.<\/p>\n
Founded four years ago, the company has witnessed the evolution of early notions of “programmatic TV” – from packaging up remnant inventory at a mark-up, to something with far more potential.<\/p>\n
“I think the market has moved past that,” Prasad says. “(You were) putting data on top of inventory that a brand advertiser doesn’t necessarily want and then you’re saying ‘it’s just gonna be more expensive’. The market’s really not going for that.”<\/p>\n
Instead, Prasad sees more emerging value in programmatic tools being used to create private marketplaces for linear TV, so that premium broadcasters are dealing with clients through programmatic platforms.<\/p>\n
If the very notion of programmatic TV has changed, so has VideoAmp’s own approach during its last four years in the market. Prasad observes:<\/p>\n
Late last year, the company added<\/a> Google’s Luis Manrique as product VP after raising<\/a> a $21.4m series B investment.<\/p>\n