In the Most Transformational Period in Media History, Ampersand Champions Flexibility

Flexibility is in the DNA of Ampersand It not only serves as an executional arm to buy local and addressable inventory but in the technologically complex world that marries data with TV inventory Ampersand has assumed the role of industry evangelist and trusted consultant to marketers and their agencies The latest insights from The Myers Report 2020 Survey of Advertiser and Agency Executives on the sales teams of over 80 media organizations confirms their position in the marketplace with Ampersand falling in the top 10 media companies whose ad sales teams provide innovative opportunities and resourcesAmpersand39s President Andrew Ward pictured at top could never have imagined just how important that agility and customerfirst focus would be as 2020 began Ward a wellknown and respected leader in Emerging Media circles has been at the forefront of Advanced TV for nearly two decades He began his sales career at NCC spent many years with Comcast and has a wellregarded reputation for bringing a strategic nonhyped methodical approach to marketers entering the world of Advanced TVCOVID19 has accelerated the adoption of addressable strategies Ward first realized to what extent when March Madness abruptly ended It was the 12th of March and I was home watching a Big East basketball game on TV The game stopped at half time and they said 39Ok The game is over Everyone go home I just said quotwowquot That is when the magnitude of it all hit me Just in that moment all sports had stoppedquot Ward and Ampersand kicked into action helping marketers find that lost audience in other places and reexpress those and all other sports dollars thanks to their unique position of having viewership insight derived from almost 40 million household settop boxesWard sees flexibility as table stakes quotWhen I speak with clients now their refrain is 39I don39t know what I am going to be doing three weeks from now let alone three quarters from now39 They are looking for greater flexibility as they explore their TV investmentsThe economic shock from COVID19 has also woken up marketers from their habit of paying more for less each year during the Upfront quotWhat has surprised me over the past three months is the voice of clients finally saying 39I was willing to tolerate higher CPMs in a shrinking ratings world this for many years but I am not so willing to tolerate it anymore39 In today39s environment flexibility isn39t a luxury but a requirement to respond to the tumultuous headlines that we have had across all fronts for the past few months Addressable TV allows marketers to respond quickly and relevantly in their messaging based on which phase of reopening or reclosing that each market finds itself in or any other input from the news cyclequotThe fundamental changes to the marketplace are grounded in data all of which Ampersand has a unique metaview Ward believes that marketers are asking themselves quotHow do we move into a more audiencebased environment in regard to data How do we leverage brand data whether it be our own 1st party data or other data resourcesquotA prerequisite to achieving the answers to the above is less about the mythical common currency and more around common definitionsquotWe are working closely with our data partners to develop common audience definitions For example if we are going to call out luxury auto intenders we need to make sure that definition is consistent across the entirety of our distribution footprint We federate harmonize and unify audience definitions at a campaign planning level so when a Brand activates against a specific audience segment they do so in a unified manner across their investment with usquotAmpersand is working to ensure that backend reporting and reachfrequency management in addition to fullfunnel brand metrics at the audience subsegment level is also uniformWard is supportive of the industry39s On Addressable effort designed to enable national programmer linear inventory with addressable capabilities This strategy also helps the TV ecosystem to protect and potentially claw back ad dollars that have migrated to digital players such as Facebook Google Amazon and others However he cautions that from a programmer39s perspective the addressable business model needs to be considered in light of traditional tv models quotThe current preaddressable model has worked very well for programmers for many years In an addressable model the programmer needs to think of their traditional linear inventory in more of a digital model and the related optimization around inventory yield given the prospect of selling microparts of an ad unit which was previously sold as a whole unit That said we support any efforts that bring richer data better targeting and more accountable measurement to the TV ecosystemquotEven as individual programmers make a portion of their inventory addressable there remains the need to aggregate those networks to scale quotOne of the advantages that Ampersand has is that we sell inventory across over a hundred networks and can aggregate the audience entirelyquotAs advertisers embrace addressable strategies in both TV and digital the ability to measure and control frequency has become one of the top challenges in today39s marketplace As a company owned and aligned with some of the top ISPs in the US Ampersand sits with a view that few others if any can claimquotOne of Ampersand39s unique positions in the marketplaces is leadership in being able to measure unduplicated reach Whether you buy inventory through us or not If a marketer is buying network TV cable and broadcast spot TV cable and broadcast and then addressable or any combination of those we can build models that demonstrate the build of frequency and reach and give you the ability to manage your frequency across all utilized channels Over the coming months we are focusing conversations on cost per incremental reach point managing frequency across screen and deduplicating audiencesquotThe unique confluence of technological maturation data availability and the unfortunate but real catalyst of COVID19 has led to a spotlight shone on Addressable TV Ampersand is leading the way in this market providing their clients with a platform for real time action targeted messaging and a focus on consistent uniform metrics and accountability across the entire TV and digital video ecosystemTo hear more from Andrew Ward President of Ampersand read his blog 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 MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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In the Most Transformational Period in Media History, Ampersand Champions Flexibility

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Jeff Minsky

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In the Most Transformational Period in Media History, Ampersand Champions Flexibility

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