CANNES \u2013 At gatherings like the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, audience segmentation strategies have been been front and center for the past few years. \u201cI think now that a lot of learning discussions have come out we\u2019ve come back to if you do that type of targeting, what are you going to say to these unique groups,\u201d says MediaLink Managing Partner Matt Spiegel.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now we\u2019re talking about what\u2019s the right messaging format, how do you tell interesting stories,\u201d Spiegel adds in this interview with Beet.TV at the recently concluded Cannes Lions 2018.<\/p>\n
Such discourse generates lots of discussion about, among other things, interesting new ad formats, the role of engagement ads in television, more precise micro segmentation and ad sequencing.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another side to the coin that is a rapidly changing television landscape, according to Spiegel. \u201cThe business of television is certainly dealing with figuring out how to equal itself as a platform at scale, much like you\u2019d see from Google and Facebook. In many ways, television today already drives more scale, but for marketers they want to figure out how can I buy against many audiences in one simple way.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lot of what was talked about at Cannes<\/a> is how the business of television is \u201cevolving to do that, and how are the various traditional competitors playing enough together to enable that. I think that\u2019s a good hot topic as well,\u201d says Spiegel.<\/p>\n On the subject of ad loads, keep all eyes on consumers, because \u201cmillions and millions\u201d have voted that they prefer an ad-free experience.<\/p>\n \u201cThe dichotomy from ad-free on hand to the traditional broadcast model on the other, which is as much as twenty percent out of an hour of content is commercials, is the other extreme. I think that choice for consumers is pretty easy.\u201d<\/p>\n So there\u2019s little doubt that the \u201cecosystem of media companies\u201d understand that they need to shorten formats, create new ad experiences and rethink how they make the exchange between content and advertising. What will the impact be on media company revenue?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s fully solved. I don\u2019t think anyone would tell you on the sales side that they have that question fully answered. But I think they realize they\u2019re going to have to experiment,” Spiegel<\/a> says.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd maybe there might be some short-term up and down pain, but I think there\u2019s also the reality that marketers are willing to potentially pay more for things when they have less clutter and they\u2019re more engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n Proving paying more is worth it falls to measurement, particularly when it comes to marketers\u2019 procurement teams.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to bring procurement departments along to make sure it\u2019s not only about cheaper, it is actually about more effective,\u201d Spiegel says. \u201cThese things are alright and I think we\u2019re going to get there, but I think as you point out we\u2019re in for probably some years of some bumpiness as those revenue shifts kind of shake out.\u201d<\/p>\n