Video engagement advertising pioneer true[X] is looking to leverage the utility of voice-activated assistants and the power of live programming as it rolls out the next generation of attention-based video capabilities. \u201cEngagement advertising is just the beginning,\u201d says Pooja Midha, who recently joined true[X] as President.<\/p>\n

At last week\u2019s Beet Retreat in the City<\/a>, Midha\u2014whose background includes ABC, Viacom and Dow Jones\u2014was one of the featured speakers along with Ashley J. Swartz, CEO of Furious Corp.<\/a> In this one-on-one interview, Swartz asks about the utility of voice assistants in what she terms the \u201cstraddling of platforms and experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Midha, it comes down to \u201cbreaking down that third wall. You want to bring someone into your ad creative. That\u2019s when you really get to create that emotional connection that makes the difference between a product and a brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the rise of in-home, voice-activated assistants and other ways consumers can talk to digital devices like laptops and mobile phones, Midha explains how the technology can induce viewer participation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you can say, \u2018turn off the lights.\u2019 And the lights are going to turn off in the scene that you\u2019re watching. You could say, \u2018turn on the TV,\u2019 and the TV inside the scene you\u2019re watching of a living room is going to turn on and play your show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Swartz whether engagement with interactive ads is a generational thing, Midha says it\u2019s all about the most appropriate creative. Her view is supported by the more than 10,000 engagement ads true[X]<\/a> has executed in virtually every category \u201cand pretty much every advertiser KPI we can think of.\u201d<\/p>\n

true[X] will be rolling out a new set of what Midha terms \u201cengagement blueprints\u201d based on \u201creally strong database insights and learnings. So that\u2019s how we see ourselves scaling.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the company having proven the efficacy of engagement ads in on-demand programming, she sees a huge opportunity in live programs like sports events and awards shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing captures people like live. What hasn\u2019t evolved is the fact that we are streaming so many of these events and great moments on digital platforms and taking advantage of none of the capabilities that these digital platforms offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

One aspect of human behavior while watching live events is to pause the content. \u201cWhen they come back, we give them the opportunity, if they\u2019ve been gone long enough, we say \u2018would you like to engage for thirty seconds or do you want to just pick up where you were?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

If a viewer decides to engage for 30 seconds, they can skip the next commercial break and catch up in real time to where other viewers are with the game or program. \u201cWe have done a little bit of testing in terms of focus grouping the concept, we\u2019ve built a live demo, we got really strong feedback,\u201d says Midha, adding, \u201cI just love the idea of not accepting live for what it is and saying, \u2018this is already an amazing experience, let\u2019s make it better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

This video was produced at the Beet Retreat in City & Town Hall<\/a> on June 6, 2018 in New York City. The event and video series are presented by LiveRamp, TiVo, true[X] and 605. For more videos from the series, please visit this page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Video engagement advertising pioneer true[X] is looking to leverage the utility of voice-activated assistants and the power of live programming as it rolls out the next generation of attention-based video capabilities. \u201cEngagement advertising is just the beginning,\u201d says Pooja Midha, who recently joined true[X] as President. At last week\u2019s Beet Retreat in the City, Midha\u2014whose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":53218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[]},"categories":[7289,7299],"tags":[4342,4506,5088,5092,5143,5883,6730,7263,7265,7294,3839],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}