The Golden Age… of Complexity: Reducing Friction in the TV Advertising Ecosystem

The flipside for all of us working in the industry is that this New TV landscape has massively increased the complexity for both advertisers and media companies Enabling brand marketers to plan and execute a single buy to reach their target audience across all screens with proof of performance in a consistent and scalable manner is simple in concept but highly complex in realityBehind the scenes the industry is grappling with a combination of technical operational business model and measurement challenges that are only becoming more acute as convergence accelerates between linear TV and digital video on one axis and directsold and programmatic on the other Navigating this convergence successfully means combining the best attributes of linear television reach quality transparency and engagement with the best of digital data addressability attribution and ease of buying amp8212 and by doing so realize new value for the industryFor media companies the path forward isn39t easy It means pivoting to new business models while in parallel maximizing the value of the core legacy business And simultaneously it means navigating the challenges of convergence not just within a company39s own walls but also in collaboration with peers and traditional competitors across the industry If brand marketers can execute in a consistent way with the major tech platforms the expectation is that they should be able to do the same across television However hard the path forward the vision of quottelevision as a platformquot should be viewed as a strategic imperative if the industry is going to successfully grow share relative to those looking to disrupt itAlthough we39re still in the early stages of what will be a multiyear transformation the good news is the industry is making progress From FreeWheel39s vantage point this progress is centered on addressing three core pillars that set the foundation for brand marketers looking for quality scale sophisticated campaign targeting and simplicity of executionScale When watching content viewers move between screens and distribution platforms as they see fit these details don39t matter to them But this viewing fragmentation has led to inventory fragmentation and as a result increased complexity in the ability to aggregate quality scale To help combat this we must make holistic management of digital video settopbox video on demand STB VOD and linear television seamless This means the ability to plan deliver optimize and report consistently and efficiently across a single pool of inventory Although this will be a multiyear journey milestones are being achieved each day FreeWheel for instance is helping to build the connective tissue between linear and digital systems which includes the foundational work we are doing with NBCUniversal and others to unify ad buying and start to deliver on the vision of marrying the best of digital and linearSophistication The application of data to plan optimize and report on campaigns is enabling the industry to offer solutions at each stage of the consumer purchase funnel versus television39s traditional role at the top of the funnel Buyers are increasingly able to partner with media companies down the funnel amp8212 from executing against broad demobased segments to audiencebased segments and increasingly to addressable audiences at the household level As an example on the linear TV front programmers are leveraging MVPD settopbox data for more intelligent audiencebased planning optimization and attribution reportingMoreover initiatives such as On Addressability are helping to bring householdlevel addressability to linear TV as well as drive collaboration with partners across the industry that recognize the need for consistency of standards and operating protocols necessary to enable scale In a similar vein of collaboration OpenAP is improving the simplicity and scale of audience executions across both linear and digital video for major programmers including Fox Viacom and NBCUSimplicity Solving for the challenges associated with inventory fragmentation and enabling sophisticated audiencebased executions set a solid foundation In parallel however we need to simplify the ability to buy and sell at scale This means everything from creating more direct connections between core supplyside and demandside advertising software both linear and digital to improving workflow automation and the use of software to make it easier for new advertisers amp8212 for example directtoconsumer brands amp8212 to reach their audience on televisionInitiatives such as the enhancements within the Strata platform amp8212 announced earlier this year to bring additional automation to local TV advertisers and broadcasters amp8212 and Comcast Spotlight39s launch of a selfserve platform for local advertisers are good examples within our company of progress on this front If buying and selling across screens is hard buyers will default to where it39s easier The digital platform companies have excelled here TV must do the sameAdvancements in solving for the three pillars of scale sophistication and simplicity are helping to chart a course toward the full convergence of TV and digital video But solving for the other convergent path amp8212 that of direct and programmatically sold inventory amp8212 is essential to removing another source of friction the technology and workflow silos that exist between sales channelsOur sellside clients recognize the opportunity to maximize yield by enabling their directsold business to compete with demand executed through programmatic pipes all while ensuring the necessary controls transparency and televisionlevel compliance This means unifying decisioning between directsold and programmatic natively in the ad server solving not only for digital video executions but also setting the technology foundation for linear in the future We are already seeing positive results on unified ad management including our work with AampampE among other pilot clients and remain focused on programmatic solutions that solve for the unique nature of premium videoOur mission since day one has been enabling unified advertising management across all screens and all sales channels It39s still our mission today As an industry we are collectively solving hard problems that have not existed before While we sit at a crossroads we have a genuine opportunity to create a healthy balanced video ecosystem that benefits all constituentsThe path ahead is not easy but we need to keep moving forward We need to focus on rapid iterative progress amp8212 versus perfection amp8212 and deeper industry collaboration making the platform of television scaled sophisticated and simple to buyClick the social buttons 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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The Golden Age… of Complexity: Reducing Friction in the TV Advertising Ecosystem

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James Rooke

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The Golden Age… of Complexity: Reducing Friction in the TV Advertising Ecosystem

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