FreeWheel Reflections On 2021 Upfront/NewFront Inflections

quotThe big transformation is all about how consumers watch content via your distribution platformsquot declared Kevin Arrix senior vice president at DISH Media That fastgrowing distribution platform of choice Arrix and five other executive representatives of the advertising and TV programming universes connected for this roundtable concurred is connected TV products and the programming services they bring viewers The inflection point Advertisers and agencies are ready to hike how much money they allocate to connected TV devices and servicesNo question that39s the takeaway Geoff Wolinetz FreeWheel39s senior vice president and head of supply revenue holds off moderating the event quotLinear is still large of course and we39ll never understate the vastness of thatquot he said quotHowever it39s clear that consumers are shifting their behavior to connected TV The dollars are going to flow to where the consumers are What publishers are doing to make themselves more competitive is beginning to offer their content in bundles across multiple platforms Their advertisers should be able to take greater advantage of those multiple platformsquotFreeWheel Comcast39s advanced advertising technology and marketplace operation presented this roundtable the week following the parade of 2021 Digital Content NewFronts which was also the week before the annual Upfront presentations from the likes of Comcastowned NBCUniversal Fox Disney and WarnerMedia now on course to leave current parent ATampampT and merge with Discovery Incamp160Also participating inamp160this roundtable were Matterkind Addressable Innovation Vice President Larene Mantel Mindshare managing director and investment business lead Matt Dinerstein AMC Networks Advanced Advertising Senior Vice President Evan Adlman Horizon Media Advanced Video Senior Vice President Alex Stone and Brendan Garrone vice president of programming partnerships at NBCUniversalWolinetz picked up a second major takeaway on the matter of programmatic ad sales a topic addressed near the end of the roundtable quotProgrammatic advertising is going to be a bigger part of this Upfront than it has been in past yearsquot he said quotAdvertisers are looking as they have been for a long time to continue to reinforce the need for transparency and shift to internet protocoldriven platforms like connected TVquotFor that programmatic environment to happen Stone suggested guarantees on audience delivery must become standard procedure quotI39m very hopeful we39ll see more guaranteestyle dealsquot he said quotThis world is evolving so quicklyquotMantel isn39t clear that the environment is fully aligned within the advertising industry quotThe P word is a swear word as far as we39re concernedquot she insisted quotYou need to look at things more holistically It39s important to keep a bettertogether mentalityquotquotProgrammatic doesn39t have to be a dirty wordquot Wolinetz countered quotAgencies want to make sure they turn programmatic into what it should be which is simply a different way to transactquotAs more programmatic business is conducted with guarantees the process will gain a leap in credibility Wolinetz added quotAutomation of these campaigns is not a bad thingquot he said quotWe want to make sure we39re reducing friction between those transactions to make sure that people can take advantage of these channels in a way that allows them to do what they need to doquotquotWe39re a programmaticfirst organizationquot Adlman noted with a few minutes left in the event quotWe39re all inquotA possible breakout of interactive advertising campaigns for connected TVdistributed programming services at least for the pack of megacontent offerings from Peacock to Paramount was not among the topics discussed at length during the event Wolinetz is bullish that this Upfront season there will be more sponsors and agencies willing quotto dip their toequot in various interactive formats from giving viewers a choice of ads to watch during a given break to ordering goods and services all through their remote or increasingly their voicequotIt all comes back to relevancequot he noted quotHow relevant is the ad and how firsttime attention grabbing is it If somebody can interact with an ad and actually do the whole transaction in the TV ecosystem that39s the benefit of having an IPenabled directtoconsumer platform of your own You control the break you control the format you control the transaction methodology you get your cut across the board and everybody wins including the consumer who will get the fruits of that transaction in the mailbox or at the front doorquotTo watch the full roundtable conversation which is segmented out into the three main topics of investment trends CTV viewership and programmatic please click hereClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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FreeWheel Reflections On 2021 Upfront/NewFront Inflections

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Simon Applebaum

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FreeWheel Reflections On 2021 Upfront/NewFront Inflections

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