The bears are circling traditional TV. With a continual digital migration, traditional TV ad spending entered last year\u00a0entered what is forecast<\/a> to be three years of downturn.<\/p>\n By most definitions, that is a recession.<\/p>\n But Mike Baker thinks it doesn’t have to be this way. The CEO of ad-tech firm dataxu thinks digital and linear TV can combine to make something greater than the sum of their parts.<\/p>\n “I was a little-bit surprised how people were a little bit off on linear TV,” Baker said, describing the chat at our recent Beet Retreat industry event. “There was a lot of consternation about the viewership, about the ad effectiveness and whatnot.<\/p>\n “We’re definitely feeling some of the frustration, I think, in the middle of the upfront, with some of the viewership and the ad fatigue, if you like, on linear TV.”<\/p>\n But linear TV doesn’t have to stay linear, and ad buys don’t have to be so one-dimensional. These days, partners like dataXu are helping broadcast operators offer advertisers the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n “We have a product called One View, which we’ve used for the connected TV to take digital audiences and translate them into TV,” Baker adds.<\/p>\n “Now what we’re doing is really looking analytically at the linear TV to explain to linear TV buyers how connected TV can increment the reach.”<\/p>\n