At this point in connected TV’s growth, selling streaming and linear ad campaigns separately is what the kids (or Hilary Duff) would call “so yesterday.”
On Thursday, video ad platform Nexxen, which recently changed its name from Tremor International, announced that broadcasters are now using its cross-platform planning tool to simultaneously activate the linear and digital aspects of their campaigns.
A+E Networks and Fox Corp. are actively using the tool, and TelevisaUnivision is planning to start testing the tool.
The cross-platform planning tool launched in April while Nexxen was still in the process of integrating Amobee, the demand-side platform it acquired last year, into its ad tech stack, said Kenneth Suh, Nexxen’s chief strategy officer.
With the integration now complete, clients can “activate the digital components of a campaign plan” as an automatic next step using the planning tool, Suh said.
Previously, broadcaster clients had to use a separate planner for data-driven linear (DDL).
But now the puzzle pieces are coming together for programmers.
For instance, because A+E Networks is in a better position to help advertisers target the right audiences, it’s better able to minimize ad repetition and maximize inventory yield, said Roseann Montenes, the broadcaster’s head of strategic audience solutions, partnerships and alternative currency measurement.
Planning for the future
So, how does all this actually work?
A broadcaster onboards an advertiser’s campaign plan, including target audience and budget, into Nexxen’s planner. Nexxen identifies the optimal mix of inventory across the broadcaster’s linear and digital portfolio to reach as much of the target audience as possible at the desired budget. The advertiser can then buy that inventory through a programmatic guaranteed or private marketplace deal.
The planning tool also has an automatic budget allocation feature that can cap the amount of budget allocated to linear if a buyer wishes to do so.
The ability to execute cross-screen campaigns in one place should enable broadcasters to deliver ads into better-performing placements while minimizing duplicative reach.
Before Nexxen’s planner could support digital activation, broadcasters had to do calculations themselves using external data sets to determine the overlap between linear and digital reach, Montenes said – and it wasn’t always accurate. Limiting the overlap increases yield with higher return on ad spend.
Deduplicated reach is the primary metric A+E is using to determine whether it’s seeing success with the planner, although Montenes declined to share specific numbers.
But there’s another benefit to creating a more direct link between planning and activation: more accurate forecasting for future campaigns.
Having a better understanding of unique viewership between linear and streaming creates a more efficient way to activate TV campaigns regardless of how the content is being consumed, said Darren Sherriff, VP of advertising and technology solutions at Fox Corp.
If more ad budget goes to dayparts or programs delivering higher return on ad spend, broadcasters can charge higher prices for the spots that are performing better. Ad placement decisioning could get as specific as 30-minute time blocks, according to Montenes.
It’s yet another example, she said, that success in TV advertising means breaking down whatever walls remain between linear and streaming.
