Is Programmatic Buying and Selling Inevitable? - Hank Close

I continue to be struck by the divide between the TV and digital worlds as regards programmatic buying When I think of TV networksamp8217 stance Iamp8217m reminded of those awful high school dances and the brave few moving their feet outnumbered by the queue with their backs against the wall waiting for a better moment that never arrivesIt is clear that marketers are continuing to invest more in new data sets and RTB As video investment gains fluidity across all screens it will pay to be a TV first moverlearner on the dance floor The selleramp8217s objection to this strategy mostly involves a fear of commoditization as well as the changes implied for negotiations reweights systems and backroom management of remaining inventory These are significant considerations although none are unbridgeable given that initial inventories offered would be a tiny percentage of the total soldCable TV ad economics are challenged by maturing budget levers Three of the four drivers in cable ad fortunes are largely maximized amp8211 distribution ratings and commercial load The final of the four amp8211 CPM is constrained by a chunky economy and a healthy supply of rating points across the cable spectrum only a small percentage of which are premium and exclusive as defined by buzz and Nielsen veritiesThe average cable network sells in the vicinity of 200000 equivalized 30amp8217s annually Most sell broad dayparts and discount all but primetime aggressively No leader at any network or group of networks wants to believe these inventories are commoditized though the successful packaging of them doesnamp8217t necessarily suggest otherwise A healthy percentage of directresponse commercials in these nonprime dayparts affirms not only that a new sales channel may be additive but also that nonprime inventory is desirable on a performance basisCPM is the only lever over which sales leaders have any real control Broadcast television on a price metric has an advantage amp8211 they play for different demographic dollars in each defined daypart they sell and on a 24hour basis sell far less inventory And there are only a handful of broadcast nets amp8211 hence scarcity Cable networks have a path to carve out in driving the remaining CPM lever toward parity and that involves competing more exclusively prime vs primeProgrammatic selling represents only one pillar of a strategy to get there New data sets applied to traditionally lowvalue inventories are finding hidden gold in nonprime audiences Historic TV data sets have not been able to identify those values as definitively as we can today and better tomorrow The effect of discovering a longer tail list of lowtouch clients willing to pay for a qualified audience defined by a currency other than a Nielsen demo is tantalizing At the very least it represents an opportunity to learn about an emerging market in which the network still retains the ultimate decisionmaking powerIt begins Step one is to make the decision to move forward and accept programmatic buying and selling as an inevitability Step two is to move your feet in tandem for profitHank Close currently serving as Founder Close ampamp Co LLC is a forwardlooking sales and marketing executive focused on advising both traditional and digital media companies in maximizing top and bottomline performance Mr Close39s experience leading to his current role includes running multiscreen cable and broadcast network advertising sales research and marketing operations He employs a relentless focus on driving revenue growth breakthrough ad models and organizing structurally for efficient success He has broad and recent experience in the emerging media This includes social platform product design and advertising modeling digital video strategy and monetization content brand delineation as well as gotomarket strategies in the mobile secondscreen onground events interactive TV and digital outofhome spaces Hank can be reached at hfccloseandcocomCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Is Programmatic Buying and Selling Inevitable? - Hank Close

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