Xandr Opens a Community Chest Via Opening Upfront

Venue:  Bryant Park Grill, the popular restaurant for all seasons at the park's southern end.  The main dining room was set aside for the presentation, while attendees enjoyed a pre-presentation breakfast buffet inside a tent to the right of the main entrance.  A hanging triangle collage was placed near the center of the area.  The stage inside the main room was cozy and close to the front row, with a monitor in the center and green shrubbery on both sides.

Presentation:  Addressable commercials -- especially addressable commercials able to run on any video media platform -- are the must way to go when reaching consumers, especially hard-to-reach consumers who don't watch TV often.  That's one key message Xandr Chief Executive Officer Brian Lesser (pictured at top) and his colleagues put forth on stage.  Another: data cultivated from AT&T's overall customer base (mobile, DirecTV, etc.) will be incorporated among campaigns that exceed viewer expectations and lift sales.  "In this golden age of content production, the world needs advertising," Lesser asserted.  "Consumers have three pet peeves -- too many commercials, too many commercials repeating and irrelevant advertising.  We need to be better and more relevant to consumers.  They want [commercials] to meet a need, meet a need on time and evoke an emotion."

News:  The introduction of Community, a curated marketplace of video brands and publishers where, with one buy, advertisers can reach a variety of audiences at scale and in a brand-safe environment.  Individual campaigns will utilize a mix of linear TV and digital services distributed through smart TV sets, TV-connected devices and smartphones.  At the start, several WarnerMedia channels (CNN, TBS, TNT, truTV, Adult Swim) are involved, along with Ellation, Vice, Newsy, Hearst's magazine unit and virtual channel bundles Tubo, Xumo and Philo TV.

Host:  Lesser, Xandr Media President Rick Welday and Senior Vice President and Head of Ad Sales Partnerships Jason Brown (pictured below), split the duties here, and all three were easygoing in their delivery of talking points.  Welday also moderated a brief, closing panel segment with WarnerMedia Ad Sales President Donna Speciale and AT&T Vice President, Media Services and Sponsorships Mark Wright.  "This is a pivotal point in our industry," Speciale declared.  "The old ways of selling ads are out the door."

Star Time: "The biggest celebrities in the room are Donna and Mark," Lesser joked.  That's that.

Data Insights:  More than 40 percent of consumers participating in a new Xandr research study noted they watch 20 hours or more of TV a week. Nineteen percent watch 30 hours-plus a week.  Two-thirds of consumers surveyed here watch both linear TV networks and digital-delivered programming, while 25 percent only watch digital content and 10 percent watch only linear content.  One recent Xandr-coordinated addressable ad drive (for an unidentified client) increased the reach of its intended target audience by 26 percent.

Innovative Opportunities:  Participate in cross-screen addressable commercial initiatives.

Cuisine:  Mix of familiar breakfast favorites and modern dishes.  Best eats: bagels, bacon, sausages, French bread slices with maple syrup and veggie patties.  Worst eat: hash browns that could have used a flavor punch via ketchup.

Key Takeaway: With Community, Xandr wants to generate an extensive addressable ad marketplace that includes activity from non-WarnerMedia content makers and virtual multichannel distributors.  It's a safe bet that whatever ad-supported direction WarnerMedia takes with its direct-to-consumer programming platform in early 2020, this AT&T unit will have a big say in implementation.  Plus, a big say in how interactive ads on that platform will be.

Photos courtesy of Xandr.

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