Going For the Gold: Equating The Video Ad Value

To be sure thereamp8217s no consensus on what constitutes a magical mix Some remain heavily in the linear camp relying on the power of legacy structures and the promise of mass reach others are more robustly embracing the targetability and data clarity of CTV But as advertisers weigh factors including audience segmentation reach precision and frequency of exposure itamp8217s become clear some combination of the two is necessary in todayamp8217s new era of television consumptionamp8220Advertisers really need to look at the whole audience especially as weamp8217re seeing the shift towards combining linear TV and CTV buys with over half of CTV budgets now managed by hybrid or integrated teamsamp8221 says Peter Jones head of sales at Premion amp8220If you39re leaving CTV out you39re essentially shortchanging your media plan and missing a huge part of your audience Integrating CTV as part of a complete TV strategy is key to reaching and engaging todayamp8217s diverse viewersquotEven the most strident fencesitters sat up in August when NBCUniversal unleashed its integrated strategy for the summer Olympic Games in Paris and shared its winning resultsGold medal stats included an average total audience of 306 million broadcast viewers in afternoon and primetime viewing according to Nielsen a leap of 82 percent over the previous summer Olympics in Tokyo On the streaming side NBCU reported 235 billion minutes of coverage were streamed most of them on Peacock representing a 40 percent jump over all prior summer and winter Olympics combined since the advent of streaming On any given day of the 17day Games 41 million viewers streamed NBC Sports coverage either via Peacock or the NBC Sports app according to the companyamp8220NBC did an excellent job of leveraging all their assetsamp8221 says Becky Meyer Senior Vice President National Sales at Gray Television amp8220Theyamp8217ve been able to build the case for how dollars work really well togetheramp8212both streaming on Peacock and their linear pieceamp8221Setting ExpectationsWith case studies proving out around tentpole and big sporting events advertisers are getting comfortable with the idea of a blended offering Most however are still very much in the education phase as they activate custom campaigns and use learnings to help determine next steps sorting through results that often are not applestoapples comparisons Take for example gauging reach and frequency On the linear side reach is a projection based on an audiencecentric model On the streaming side with its onetoone dynamic brands know they are hitting X number of households with X amount of messagesAmong other considerations are whether linear and connected television activations will yield different results for new brands vs established brands andor new offerings vs legacy offerings Some executives compare weighing the options to buying in the Upfront and then scatter market where brands need to determine their baseline amp8220musthavesamp8221 and then fill in the rest taking into account the balance of wanting to serve a particular audience and wanting to be adjacent to a particular program and on a specific networkTracy Chavez Executive Vice President at Publicis Groupe says when working with clients on local ad sales foremost in her mind is amp8220the shift from linear into more CTV and making clients feel comfortable with a larger percentage than they have historically placed If youamp8217re sitting at the 20 to 30 percent share of audience delivery then you probably should be exploring increasing And thatamp8217s a jump for some clients Different clients have various experiences in the space and are still discovering the value in CTVamp8221 she saysClients also are working through the mindset shift away from knowing exactly when and where theyamp8217ll see their ads in the linear environment she notes amp8220That whole mentality of 39If I donamp8217t see it is it happening39 still exists Many clients arenamp8217t comfortable with the fact that they may not see their streaming ad They may not see it because we may be using FAST channels they may not subscribe to itamp8217s just a matter of getting them comfortable not having the same level of transparency they are accustomed toamp8230 Stepping out of their comfort zone with a companyamp8217s budget might be a scary thingamp8221Those clients that have begun to make the shift to CTV she says amp8220want to use all the bells and whistles So a product like PMX Lift which we have created and prefer is really exciting for our clients because they feel like now they can get into a position where they can still combine linear and CTV while extending reach by deduplicating inventory and not overserve the same people time and time again In linear TV it can seem like we live with the 8020 rule of audience delivery and weamp8217re expanding that out to where more people see the adsamp8221Market Still MaturingCrystalizing the goals of a given campaign can help illuminate the best path For KPIdriven efforts streaming offers a solid solution For broader branding campaigns linear activation can enable a brand to stretch its messaging across a wider poolamp8220With linear and digital campaigns youamp8217re hitting different parts of the funnel and depending on the brand and the product youamp8217ve got to be everywhere all the time Thereamp8217s so much noise you have to break throughamp8221 Meyer notes amp8220Does the funnel look different with unified campaigns Thatamp8217s my pitchamp8221A big part of the puzzle is that the advertising realm in the connected television market is a work very much in progress and there is a lack of ad load scale on the largest platforms to carry a nationwide campaign much less one where a brand is trying to dive into a specific DMA according to industry observersHopes were high when Netflix launched its ad tier in November 2022 but nearly two years later many note the needle has not really moved with only 22 million viewers subscribing to the tier according to HarrisX data Amazon Prime rolled out its ad model in January 2024 and as one executive shares if the ad load doesnamp8217t shift the industry is going to be having the same circular conversation12 months from nowamp8220I think itamp8217s been a noneventamp8221 says Meyer of Netflixamp8217s adsupported tier amp8220With 20 million thereamp8217s just not enough scale Youamp8217ve almost got to look at establishing partnerships that are going to give you scale to bring to the marketplace and that can be done more easily in the digital space because there are too many rules with linearamp8221United We StandOne trend thatamp8217s helping drive forward the value of combined linear and CTV campaigns is more unified buying across both realms at all levels This progression means both less siloamp8217d thinking and executingquotWe39re seeing a growing shift toward integrated buying across linear TV and digital and our study with Advertiser Perceptions confirms it amp8212over 56 percent of CTVOTT budgets are now managed by hybrid or integrated teamsamp8221 says Premionamp8217s Jones amp8220KPIdriven campaigns tend to perform better on streaming while brand awareness efforts often favor traditional TV spots Even as we move toward audiencebased buys in CTV weamp8217re finding that some advertisers remain focused on securing ad placements in specific showsquotAlso driving excitement for bringing CTV into the mix is its ability to deliver campaign results more quickly and at a more granular level that enables marketers toamp160amp160track whether people are clicking scanning or engaging in real timeChavez notes clients amp8220want results faster and quicker and I think CTV gives them some of those answers with much more granular data depending on how you set it up In some cases I do think there is less patience as linear begins to erode and then convincing them that it39s still needed that linear television houses 50 percent of the viewership You can39t just throw that out The best use cases we have seen are a combination of linear and CTV where one supports the other deduplicated to extend reachamp8221CTV is also amp8220opening up incredible opportunities for dynamic creativeamp8221 says Jones amp8220We39re just at the beginning but as engagement with ads grows we39ll see a lot more interactive elementsamp8212whether it39s a QR code a 39click here39 option with your remote or other calltoaction overlays Advertisers now have more creative options to make their spots interactive from sequential messaging to personalized content The more inventive we get with ad engagement the more impactful these campaigns will bequotMeyer concurs noting whereas it used to be more difficult to get digital video spend the script is flipping although amp8220thereamp8217s still a long way to goamp8221 in true unification amp8220Itamp8217s all very custom at this point Thereamp8217s no generic recipe for a media mix whether you are automotive or QSR The book is being written now but itamp8217s hard to put the story together when it hasnamp8217t played out We need to think about what we want it to be from a sales perspective and put the two sides together because we all need to get on the same pageamp8221Author Media Ad Sales Council MASC founded by Mark Gorman CEO Matrix Solutions and Brenda Hetrick President Matrix Solutions and consisting of members Becky Meyer Senior Vice President National Sales Gray Television Peter Jones Head of Local Sales Premion Joe Lampert Practice Lead OmniMedia Solutions Group Michael Barbetta Senior Director Revenue ampamp Strategy EW Scripps Al Lustgarten Media Industry Consultant and former Senior Vice President Technology Hearst Television Michael Spiesman Vice President Sales ampamp Marketing Allen Media Broadcasting Debbie Presser Vice President National Sales Nexstar Media Group and Jennifer Donohue Senior Vice President Local Disney 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