SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico\u2014There\u2019s lots of predictions about where television and premium video are headed. Then again, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that are actually already happening, probably more in some ways than a wider industry lens might understand,\u201d says VideoAmp\u2019s Jay Prasad.<\/p>\n
This is why Prasad reflects on this year\u2019s Retreat<\/a> in this interview as \u201ca small and purposely put together group like this where there\u2019s a lot of people who are working together or thinking about working together and able to share ideas.\u201d He says he prefers learning from \u201cpower panel sessions\u201d than typical one-hour conference sessions \u201cwith everyone repeating themselves on a panel. It doesn\u2019t happen here.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from Puerto Rico\u2019s natural beauty, Prasad notes the Retreat location in the context of the devastation that Hurricane Maria caused in the fall of 2017 and the ongoing rebuilding. One element<\/a> of the Retreat was dedicated to raising awareness of the short- and long-term impacts on residents and the marketing world.<\/p>\n \u201cIt definitely seemed like Andy and the team here really wanted to make sure that we understood that and there was a connection to it,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you put that all together, I thought it was a really special few days.\u201d<\/p>\n The time was shared with \u201cso many partners across the ecosystem and clients that we\u2019re working with. Maybe two years ago I would have looked across the room and said it would be great to be doing this with that company, trying to connect this supply source with this data so that this advertiser can execute. And now it\u2019s actually kind of happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Prasad describes \u201ca really busy last two years\u201d in which VideoAmp has been assembling its marketing investment platform, which encompasses data-driven, cross-screen planning and measurement, activation and programmatic. This year, the company acquired TV-data processing provider IronGrid Data Services, which when combined with a partnership with Inscape formed the basis for the new Data & Emerging Products Division, as Variety reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSo next is going to be taking all of these pieces of technology and solutions and making sure they\u2019re optimizing to work together so that one piece of our system, like the measurement system, is actually informing how you should be planning,\u201d says Prasad.<\/p>\n He clarifies that it\u2019s not planning to determine a particular dollar spend for a particular medium \u201cbut actually event-level forecasting. Which means that we\u2019re also going to be more tightly working with big media companies and suppliers and supply side technology to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n