CTV scales. But does it perform? Matthew Koontz started his career at Arnold Worldwide before moving on to lead ad product teams at Hulu, Snapchat, Microsoft and Xandr (before the two merged) and WideOrbit. Koontz joined tvScientific in June, and he spoke with AdExchanger about why CTV is a “sweet spot” for performance marketers.
Box office star power and spending is pouring into household devices, writes Ashwin Navin, co-founder and CEO at Samba TV. Audiences are experiencing subscription fatigue and turning to cheaper ad-supported models, and even Netflix appears to finally be cracking and embracing this option to grow revenue.
In mid-July, Netflix announced a partnership with Microsoft, selecting the tech giant for its new advertising and sales agency. Odd, right? The obvious choice was Google, especially with the push for cookieless data. But there’s more than meets the eye to this partnership. Clearly, there’s something in it for both players, writes Humphrey Ho, managing director of Hyperlink Digital’s Americas business.
The success and value of an AVOD platform depends on more than just the size and growth of the audience. How much time they spend streaming also matters. And as the AVOD landscape becomes more competitive, platforms like Netflix will need to focus on user experience to keep viewers watching, writes Joel Cox, co-founder and SVP of strategy and innovation at Strategus.
Fiverr is a site that matchmakes freelancers with companies looking to meet immediate, one-off business needs. But now that remote work appears here to stay, Fiverr realized it needed new messaging to get large businesses to hire freelancers on a longer-term basis, said Matt Clunan, Fiverr’s global head of brand and digital. And Fiverr decided TV is the best way to branch out.
The marketing funnel is ever-changing, and cookie deprecation isn’t making things any easier. Advertisers have two choices, writes Tom Wolfe, SVP of business development at Viant: Collaborate with industry partners on the front edge of next-generation data solutions, or cling to the past and hope for the best.
FAST channels are a good way to channel (pun intended) more viewers into VOD content libraries. Without sign-ins, payment or the burden of deciding what to watch, FAST channels have a lower barrier of entry, and ideally, viewers who find something new they like on FAST will continue watching the series more regularly in VOD.
“On TV & Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is by Matt Sattel, VP of global brand partnerships at OpenX. Brands today often look at CTV inventory through two different lenses. Either it’s premium, walled-garden inventory that’s negotiated and purchased via upfronts and NewFronts – or […]
Advertisers new to CTV often approach streaming buys the same way they approach linear: By focusing on large-scale inventory from only the biggest providers instead of focusing on their audience. This strategy tends to overlook the unique advantages CTV offers, writes Marrika Zapiler, director of advanced TV at Marketing Architects.
During the pandemic, global streaming consumption accelerated exponentially. But expansive growth comes with expansive problems, including an unprecedented volume of late or failed campaigns. It’s time to shine a light on exactly what happens when someone misses a deadline – and why it’s so risky, writes Jason Trout, global chief digital officer at Peach.
Arlo’s first order of business as a standalone company was to pour money into performance marketing to drum up sales, which is what it did for nearly three years. But there was a problem: A lack of brand familiarity. So Arlo launched its first-ever brand campaign on TV, including linear and streaming, with digital and social also in the mix.
Streaming is attracting more and more of TV ad spend. And yet, measurement still hasn’t caught up. But traditional panel-based measurement is far from the only culprit – issues with ad fraud, viewability and audience identification are more prevalent on streaming. That’s why TV measurement needs to be a fusion solution, says Jon Watts, managing director of the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM).
Flexibility to innovate is part of the reason Netflix teamed up with Microsoft – but the potential of the match goes beyond ads. With studio costs for original content soaring and subscribers willing to drop subscriptions based on the attractiveness of a content library, a marriage with the owner of Xbox offers scope for diversification far beyond ad dollars, writes Joseph Lospalluto, US country manager of ShowHeroes Group.
Fireside’s platform allows creators to distribute content across a range of media channels, including social media, CTV and podcasts, and monetize it how they see fit. Fireside recently partnered with influencer management firm Slash Management to create Slash Studios, a Fireside network dedicated to content that brings audiences behind the scenes of talent management and social media star making.
In the digital age, we’re often reminded about how far we’ve come from our prehistoric internet past. A similar shift is happening in traditional advertising and the way consumers build relationships with brands, writes Christian Dankl, co-founder of Precise TV. Today, advertisers have much more insight into specific, data-driven relationships between brands and consumers.
Television does drive sales lift, although the impact usually isn’t immediate. Broadcasters have been trying to change that for a long time. Until recently, however, the reality of shoppable TV has lagged far behind the idea. Publishers are busy exploring interactive TV ad formats, from QR codes to clickable overlays – but are advertisers buying in?
Most marketers agree that digital and social are performance channels, whereas they’re less convinced that performance marketing works on CTV because it’s a less interactive, lean-back experience. But CTV is a lot more like digital than many marketers think, said Jason Fairchild, CEO of TV performance marketing platform tvScientific. “CTV is like digital in that you don’t have to guess at what works – you know.”
Open auctions appear to democratize and simplify CTV ad buying because they let marketers define parameters for viewers or inventory, enabling them to place ads quickly and cheaply across the ad-supported streaming services. But there’s a better way – open auctions are risky, and the emphasis is placed on price and meeting broad criteria, writes Ruby Resendez, director of digital solutions at Stirista.
Netflix is planning to introduce an ad-supported model to attract new viewers, and chances are it will embrace programmatic advertising, too. Without the portfolio of strategic partners that NBC and Disney have, Netflix will need to catch up somehow. Programmatic is one enticing option for doing so, writes Nicole Scaglione, global VP, OTT and CTV business, at PubMatic.
CTV presents an exciting opportunity for the midmarket and emerging brands and agencies – if they can leave some of the common misconceptions behind, writes Michael Wolk, senior director of business development at Goodway Group. Unlike traditional TV advertising, when the technology and data are used correctly, CTV is closing the gap between large and small brands.
Why wouldn’t DSPs want to secure the best possible access to OTT inventory through programmatic while accessing the impression commitments and set pricing provided by direct deals? If DSPs want to compete with more traditional advertising platforms, they will need to do just that, writes Doug Huntington, CEO of FatTail.
Ad-supported video on demand is growing relentlessly. But fact is, TV audiences still consume live linear content – they just want to be able to watch it on their own terms, said Matt Hill, head of Fire device monetization at Amazon. Live TV made up 21% of the 154 million hours people spent watching content on a Fire TV device in February alone.
Large format advertising is here to stay. But what if you could link the TV screens in hotels with connected TV (CTV) through programmatic? Much of Marriott’s continued growth will stem from the hotel group’s debut of its very own ad network, writes Humphrey Ho, managing director of Hylink Digital’s Americas business.
The emergence of the streaming era has led to a transformative shift in M&A activity in media and entertainment. Streaming platforms are about to look vastly different as consolidation continues, giving rise to new monetization models and measurement tactics, writes Matt Papa, SVP of business and corporate development at Captify.
Everyone is getting into streaming. Even ad networks are launching their own streaming networks. In May, Columbia-based company Adsmovil, which started life in 2012 as a mobile ad network helping US brands connect with Hispanic audiences, announced plans to launch an ad-supported streaming service called Nuestra.tv.
Advertisers often feel torn between linear and connected TV. They wonder which channel will give them the best ROI. But rather than choosing one or the other, an increasing number of brands are adopting a TV 360 approach, writes Maria Mryasova, director of product at DCMN. This not only means blending linear and CTV advertising to best reach their target audiences, but also integrating their TV efforts effectively across their marketing funnel.
Transparency in audience measurement and ad sale pricing and has grown over time. But The need for greater transparency around the cacophony of growing advanced TV offerings is glaring, writes John Link, VP of sales at AdImpact. Compared to the linear TV market, digital ad transactions remain more opaque because the nature of the medium calls for more advanced targeting with more granular data.
A rare trifecta of factors influencing the marketplace today — political tension, a war in Europe, a continuing pandemic and high inflation — means this year’s midterms will be a bumpy ride, writes George Leon, Chief Strategy Officer at Hawthorne Advertising. Buyers who need to drive action around time-specific events will need to maintain a presence during the midterms, and they’ll have to plan on paying more to place inventory that receives lower response rates.
Historically, the technology used to deliver TV programming and advertising to viewers has evolved much faster than the ability to measure it. Now that ads don’t travel with their programming the way they did in the old days of legacy linear, the key to efficiency in cross-platform TV advertising will be measuring ads and content separately, writes Vijoy Gopalakrishnan, Chief Research Officer at iSpot.
Marketing typically depends on the thoughtful and strategic allocation of limited financial resources. Creative matters, but putting money behind the channels that will truly drive growth is the key to success, writes Cory Davis, VP of media and madtech at Infutor – which is why marketers will have to continue testing, learning and adjusting to new channels as they grow their businesses.
