AT&T's Rick Welday on Addressable TV’s Powerful Present

Itamp8217s a much buzzed about capability of late with a ForresterAssociation of National Advertisers study touting addressable TVamp8217s burgeoning interest to advertisers networks and broadcasters exploring ways they can deliver targeted television and other addressable solutions agencies and rep firms working with advertisers seeking national scale across platformsamp160and companies that offer dataenhanced television solutions running trade advertising comparing themselves with addressableamp160With linear addressable available in approximately 35 million homes andamp160ondemand addressable available in another 30 million in the US ATampampT is an addressable TV provider with one of the largest linear addressable footprints amp160In this interview Welday discusses why and how advertisers are using addressable TVamp160and how his team ensures the campaigns they execute create value for advertisersKathy Newbergeramp160 Weamp8217ve been hearing a lot about addressable and targeted television lately amp160Whatamp8217s changed in the market since DirecTV was one of the first operators with the ability to do true household level addressable TVRick Weldayamp160 Today thereamp8217s a greater understanding and appreciation for what addressable TV really is amp160In the beginning addressable TV was sometimes misunderstood because it had such a broad definition amp160Buyers would ask if we could really place an ad at an individual household levelamp160and of course we canThe actual functionality of what addressable can do is more fully appreciated today than it ever has been amp160Weamp8217re delivering real ROI with the ability to target using hundreds of attributes beyond age and gender amp160Itamp8217s in a brandsafe environment with transparent delivery thirdparty validationamp160and without the concern of fraudAs recentamp160as 1824 months agoamp160we were seeing largely test budgets from agencies and clients who were looking to get creative in their media buyingamp160amp160Today it is the lead discussion for our account executives amp160Clients have moved from testing to amp8220always onamp8221 and running addressable yearround against their target audienceamp160Newbergeramp160 ATampampT is itself one of the nationamp8217s leading advertisersamp160 Do you use addressable TV in your own advertising and are there lessons from it that have informed your work with your clientsWeldayamp160 Yes definitelyamp160 Weamp8217ve spoken about a use case from back when we bought DirecTV amp160We wanted to see what would happen if we advertised our mobile service to DirecTV households that didnamp8217t already have it amp160During a time when we were traditionally running heavy GRPs for our mobile service we went ahead and using the same creative ran an addressable campaign for the service to those householdsamp160and saw an 18 lift in conversion as a resultamp160We were also able to associate millions of mobile devices to DirecTV households that didnamp8217t have our mobile service and when we ran that same campaign using DirecTV and through a thirdparty network reaching those mobile screens we saw a 27 lift in conversionNewbergeramp160 What are those advertisers using addressable to doWelday amp160Advertisers have come to the realization that in a privacycompliant fashion and in a brandsafe manner we can ensure ads are delivered only to the right households that match their targetCrossscreen advertising across linear OTT mobile and online is certainly growing too amp160One of the things that I expect will happen more in the future is creative versioning amp160More brands will say amp8220Now that we have an incredible segmentation capability why would we run the same creative we run across the whole nation against every targeted segmentamp8221 amp160Youamp8217ll start to see people say amp8220Letamp8217s run the creative that is most effective for a certain segmentamp8221Newbergeramp160 Are there categories or verticals using these tactics particularly wellamp160 Welday amp160Today the large majority of advertisers use addressable for mid to bottomofthefunnel initiatives such as selling cars or driving traffic to store locations amp160However addressable can solve a big issue for topofthefunnel advertisers amp160This issue centers on frequency against the same viewers where traditional agegender targeting falls short amp160The technology of addressable allows for frequency capping or targeting just to the lightly exposed TV viewers which extends its reach almost every timeNewbergeramp160 How will the growth of streaming services and vMVPDs change the addressable TV spaceWeldayamp160 We serve a large group of people who find value in our linear TV products like DirecTV amp160We also see a growing population of people who are interested in a premium OTT product like DirecTV NOW amp160TV continues to evolve amp160What I love about OTT and virtual MVPDs is itamp8217s all IP TV so the level of engagement and the leanin experience you can create is not only something consumers enjoy but itamp8217s something that advertisers want to createClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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AT&T's Rick Welday on Addressable TV’s Powerful Present

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Kathy Newberger

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AT&T's Rick Welday on Addressable TV’s Powerful Present

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Kathy Newberger

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