TV upfronts are no longer just glitzy dog and pony shows featuring exclusive programming slates and flashy celebrity appearances.
Now, the onus is on broadcasters to fight for their place in an advertiser’s media mix by offering more of what buyers want – better ad targeting and proof of performance – in an effort to outshine their competition.
As part of NBCUniversal’s pitch this year, for example, it’s touting that it built Peacock with advertising features baked in, rather than retrofitting it to support an AVOD model, said Alison Levin, NBCU’s president of advertising and partnerships. (For comparison, Prime Video, Netflix and Disney+ eschewed advertising to start. They’ve all since launched ad-supported tiers.)
Still, having a mature product on the market isn’t enough to guarantee ad budgets. NBCU must also demonstrate progress in meeting a marketer’s most pressing needs. At the top of their wish list? Advanced audiences and better attribution, Levin said.
Levin spoke with AdExchanger.
AdExchanger: What is the biggest ask you’re getting from media buyers?
ALISON LEVIN: Clients have told us loud and clear that they want to move away from age and gender demos to more strategic audiences.
Using advanced audiences as opposed to just demos significantly increases reach for the audience targets that advertisers actually want to reach, which drives outcomes like search activity. Agencies also don’t want to wait weeks for media mix modeling reports to know how their campaigns performed.
But a key component of more advanced audience targeting is having as much reach and scale as possible.
Speaking of reach, how important is linear for NBCU?
Streaming doesn’t drive nearly the same daily reach as linear and streaming combined, which is why we pitch both to advertisers as a combined portfolio. We’re still seeing our ratings increase on linear programming, a good indicator that there’s still a real audience there.
How much are buyers using alternative video currencies to transact on advanced audiences?
This quarter, we’ve seen the highest percentage of alt currency adoption to date, and it’s still growing.
But we also believe we need to prove those results with measurement and attribution. It’s hard to make the case for alt currencies without proof of performance to back it up. That’s why we’ve been partnering with outcomes-based measurement providers, such as EDO and Kochava.
How does NBCU juggle the needs of both viewers and advertisers?
A better ad experience for viewers equals more ad revenue. Period.
We prioritize having a low ad load, including within individual commercial breaks. Peacock has no more than three ads per pod. Consumers are more receptive to minimal ad loads, and creating restrictions on ad avails can also benefit advertisers. Competitive separation at the pod level helps boost brand awareness, for example, which increases a brand’s return on ad spend.
Innovative ad units such as pause ads also play an important role in keeping the perceived ad volume low without sacrificing performance. We’ve found that, on average, a 15- or 30-second spot paired with a less disruptive ad like a pause ad can result in three times the lift in brand awareness compared with traditional commercials alone.
What about shoppable TV units?
It’s still early days for shoppable TV because monetizing it requires a change in consumer behavior. Viewers are starting to become accustomed to using their TV remotes for more than just pressing play.
The opportunity lies in making shoppable ad units feel as endemic as possible.
But consumers don’t necessarily have to buy something the second they see a shoppable ad for that ad to drive real business results. Oftentimes, people buy something they see on TV several hours or even days later.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
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