Linear TV is taking a programmatic turn.
Charter’s full linear footprint is going programmatic, the result of a partnership announced Wednesday between Spectrum Reach, the ad sales division of Charter, and supply-side platform Beachfront.
Spectrum’s move is part of a trend of programming distributors setting their sights on addressable. Last week, Dish released a new way to package linear and streaming inventory programmatically.
Until now, Spectrum had prioritized making its streaming inventory programmatic before taking on the task of automating the buying and selling of linear impressions.
But focusing on streaming and not linear meant Spectrum could only count cross-platform reach and frequency for direct deals, because linear wasn’t part of the programmatic mix yet, said Rob Klippel, SVP of advanced advertising products and strategy at Spectrum Reach.
Adding linear to programmatic sales allows for cross-screen reporting and leads to better results, he said.
Spectrum will only gradually transition to addressable, however, with plans to support linear addressable audience-first buying in 2024.
Although Spectrum delivers linear ads on a one-to-one addressable basis through direct deals, it’s starting with one-to-many distribution for programmatic buys.
But if there’s a promise of better results, why not just go straight for programmatic addressable? The answer has to do with scale.
Sprucing up linear
Because programmatic linear is new for Spectrum, it wanted to “start simple” and make sure its new offering hit broader scale before going addressable, Klippel said.
Plus, one-to-many delivery is a quicker way to reach more people, which is what TV has always been known for, after all.
Spectrum’s plan is to deliver programmatic linear ads on an impression basis, just not a targeted impression basis (yet), Klippel explained.
For example, an advertiser trying to reach sports fans can buy against specific sports channels, such as ESPN, and get back impression-based reporting to compare reach across both linear and streaming channels.
Spectrum’s programmatic linear capability will initially emulate traditional TV buying more than streaming, because targeting will be based on networks rather than audiences.
Using data-driven linear, advertisers can determine which networks rank highly with their target audience segments (and which ones don’t) and buy spots programmatically against only the networks they want.
It makes sense to start with a data-driven linear approach when making linear inventory programmatic for the first time, because it builds reach more quickly than addressable, which can limit scale through overly precise targeting.
Order up
Execution aside, getting Charter’s linear inventory ready for programmatic bidding was a two-year development project.
The industry has been hyping programmatic TV for a while, but getting it to work from a technical standpoint is a “monstrous initiative,” said Chris Maccaro, CEO of Beachfront.
During the testing process, for example, applying unique ad insertion for linear spots can cause some technical hiccups, such as latency or buffering while trying to deliver a specific creative in real time.
Spectrum also had to update to the latest RTB specs to make sure it could deliver linear ads on an impression basis in real time, which requires splitting linear ad pods into individual ad tags in time for each ad break, Klippel said.
Charter inventory will be available through private marketplaces and programmatic guaranteed deals within Beachfront. At launch, advertisers can access Charter’s inventory through a particular demand-side platform that Beachfront works with (although it declined to share which one).
A select group of clients (also not disclosed) will have access to the offering first before Spectrum makes it publicly available next year. Between now and then, Spectrum will expand the offering to other DSPs.
