SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico\u2014To understand how to make addressable television advertising easier to execute, one needs to first agree on the definition of what exactly \u201caddressable\u201d is, according to DISH Media\u2019s Kevin Arrix. His explanation led to a broader discussion of addressable and third-party measurement during a fireside chat with consultant Howard Shimmel during Beet Retreat 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe view it as a deterministic match between two first-party data sets,\u201d Arrix, who is SVP of DISH Media, said of the addressable designation.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that is really important because there\u2019s a lot of faux addressable out in the marketplace that is disguised as data-driven linear, and I think it\u2019s really important for the marketplace to understand what is true addressable and what is not.\u201d<\/p>\n For their part, DISH and sister entity Sling TV<\/a> aren\u2019t looking to \u201ccreate automated tools or platforms per se\u201d but rather see things from a predominantly supply side partner point of view, according to Arrix.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing that we\u2019re trying to do to make it easier for the market is combine our full addressable footprint of DISH with Sling,\u201d Arrix said. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to break it apart and say this is linear addressable and this is OTT addressable.\u201d<\/p>\n One year ago this month, DISH partnered with Comscore to launch a cross platform\/screen solution encompassing inventory on both DISH and Sling.<\/p>\n Shimmel<\/a>, formerly of Turner Broadcasting and now President of Janus Strategy and Insights, assumed that over time Sling will become more of the companies\u2019 distribution footprint than DISH \u201cdue to natural things going on with consumers. Is that a good thing for your ad capabilities?\u201d<\/p>\n Arrix drew distinction between DISH trying to maintain its pay-TV subscriber base and ongoing set-top box migration, since about 70% of DISH\u2019s boxes are addressable. \u201cWhile the overall DISH subscriber base, TBD what happens there, the addressable footprint of DISH will continue to grow,\u201d said Arrix<\/a>.<\/p>\n Asked about Comscore\u2019s role, Arrix said the company provides third-party measurement of addressable impressions that are unified in a single report. \u201cIt\u2019s not this set of impressions because they\u2019re coming from a set-top box is measured this way and this set of impressions I measured this way. They\u2019re connected in with the technology that\u2019s actually driving addressable on our side, which is Invidi, and they\u2019re able to deliver one pool of addressable impressions.\u201d<\/p>\n As for third-party measurement in general, Arrix said, \u201cWe advocate for and partner with any third-party measurement company and we believe that it really is up to the demand side, marketers and agencies, to determine which measurement they want to go with.\u201d<\/p>\n