“As the industry demands measurement that is trusted, independent and founded on real viewing from real people, we continue to support the MRC guidelines that set the standard for quality, audited measurement,” Karthik Rao, CEO, Audience Measurement at Nielsen, said in a statement. “It’s our daily mission to maintain our methodologies at the highest standard so that our clients can trade with confidence well into the future.”

Why we care. The suspension was a good thing for marketers in many ways. For nearly all of the broadcast era, Nielsen had what was essentially a monopoly on measuring ratings. For much of that time, both TV networks and advertisers complained about the accuracy of the data. Improving the quality of those numbers means brands are less likely to be paying for audience they aren’t getting.

Also, it has opened the door to competitors. NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have all announced they are working with other data providers, including Comscore Inc. and startups such as VideoAmp, iSpot.tv and EDO. More competition means better service.

Dig deeper: Nielsen announces first module for cross-screen audience measurement platform

What happened. The MRC suspended Nielsen’s accreditation in September 2021 for two reasons. First, an investigation by the council found the company undercounted TV viewers during the pandemic because technicians were not able to get into panelists’ homes to fix devices. Second, Nielsen reported a software error had caused it to undercount out-of-home viewership for nearly six months.

Bad timing. The suspension came amidst an ongoing drop in TV viewership which made Nielsen’s ratings less valuable. Since 2011 major network broadcast ratings have dropped more than 80%, according to SpoilerTV. Further, the cord-cutting trend continues apace. The share of Americans who say they watch television via cable or satellite has plunged from 76% in 2015 to 56% in 2021, according to a Pew survey.

The post Nielsen’s national TV ratings gets accreditation back after 19-month suspension appeared first on MarTech.

Why we care. CTV is the fastest growing digital ad channel because of its inventory and adtech precision. Brands can fit a campaign into a budget of any size. They can deliver ads to a few hundred consumers in their target demo, or many millions. That’s all due to the wide range of inventory available, from free ad-supported services up to very premium opportunities on ad-supported streamers like Netflix. 

Marketers also have more ways to find their customers on CTV/OTT by partnering with retail media networks.

Dig deeper: CTV added to Kroger’s retail media business

Higher-quality inventory. New platforms and programming continue to be added to CTV/OTT inventory. Consumers now have thousands of viewing options to choose from, many of them free. Additionally, Netflix entered the adtech game last year, offering new ad opportunities alongside their premium films and series.

All of this has spurred DTC advertisers to dip into CTV/OTT. Forty percent of marketers in the study said higher-quality inventory was a reason to increase their budget for the channel. And 38% said measurement capabilities were another good reason.

First-time advertisers. Of those DTC marketers spending more this year than last, 65% are first-time CTV/OTT advertisers.

Where are the dollars coming from? Sixty-one percent say the budget is reallocated from another channel, like social media, search or mobile apps, while 39% said they increased their total media budget in order to allow for their increase in CTV/OTT spending.

Measurement. Another takeaway from the study is that many DTC marketers are demanding improvements to measurement. Less than half (48%) of respondents said they’re satisfied with their current media partner’s incremental measurement. Nearly as many (47%) said they were satisfied with brand lift measurement. Satisfaction with low-funnel attribution was even lower (44%).

DTC marketers see the opportunity in CTV/OTT, even as they seek better ways to measure the channel’s success.

The post DTC marketers planning to up CTV/OTT spend this year appeared first on MarTech.

The shifting trends in media consumption

Media consumption has altered drastically in the past few years. Streaming services proliferate, while cable subscriptions and satellite customers keep defecting and cutting the cord. The internet has irrevocably shifted the media landscape format with major implications for advertisers. 

Dig deeper: Why we care about connected TV and OTT advertising

What’s the difference between CTV, OTT and linear TV?

The two primary differences here are the device used for streaming and how people watch the content delivered to that device.

CTV vs. OTT 

CTV is delivered on large-screen devices, like the TV in the living room. It’s the biggest screen in the house and connects advertisers with multiple people simultaneously. It is delivered within streamed content through services like Netflix and Disney+. It can also be streamed through smart TVs, Blu-ray players and game consoles like PlayStation and Xbox (there were 1 billion in 2019). 

It provides significantly better targeting capabilities than traditional TV, boosting efficiency and amplifying ROI. It’s also immensely popular, reaching 204.1 million worldwide viewers in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.

OTT is delivered on smaller-screen devices, like tablets and smartphones. It connects advertisers with fewer people and is better suited for developing a 1:1 relationship. Both CTV and OTT can also include video-on-demand (VOD) services. 

Linear TV

Linear TV is “traditional” television programming delivered by satellite or cable, generally only available on larger screens, whether in the living room, den or even a bedroom. 

Programming is consumed linearly — meaning viewers watch episodes as they air and in the order they air. (This doesn’t account for cable/satellite services offering DVR functionality.) Linear TV can offer limited on-demand services, but not in the same way as CTV or OTT.

What are the benefits of CTV advertising

It’s more cost-effective than traditional options. CTV advertising ad impressions increased by 31% quarter over quarter in Q4 2020, according to Conviva’s State of Streaming report. 

Dig deeper: 4 tips to get the most out of CTV advertising

It provides powerful targeting capabilities, improved engagement, increased reach and access to detailed campaign metrics to inform future advertising decisions. While cookies are going away, IP targeting is here to stay. Mobile phones can also be targeted; users often project video from their phones to a bigger screen.

It also offers:

• Cost savings via programmatic buying,
• High-quality delivery of visual ads. 
• Enhanced opportunities for interactive campaigns.
• Performance measurement and optimization. 
• Easy integration with new platforms.

Setting up a CTV campaign: A step-by-step process

Leveraging the benefits connected TV advertising offers isn’t rocket science, but it requires specific steps.

Step 1: Understand your target audience

CTV advertising lets you connect with almost any segment and helps you broaden your reach. Remember that these ads are usually displayed on the largest screen in the home, which often means presenting your campaigns to multiple people — parents and their children, for instance. So, in addition to understanding your target audience, you should consider how others will receive your ads within the viewing group. 

Step 2: Define your goals 

What do we want viewers to do after seeing the ad? Should they:

• Purchase a product or service?
• Learn more about your offering?
• Connect with your brand elsewhere?

How will that action funnel viewers toward the next touchpoint? What is the next touchpoint after that? 

Successful CTV campaigns start with a plan based on clearly defined goals that matter to your success.

Step 3: Choose your platforms

The CTV ad marketplace works across streaming platforms. However, you’ll need to choose your platforms with care. Each one has a slightly different audience composition and membership numbers. 

For instance, now that Netflix is showing ads on lower cost subscriptions, it offers a large and vert diverse audience. Apple TV, on the other hand, has a much smaller audience base, which is less diverse because it doesn’t have the same breadth of content as Netflix. Ask yourself a few questions here:

What type of content does my audience gravitate toward?

Netflix has something for everyone, but what about platforms like Discovery+? HBO Max could be well worth your time and money, but what about IMDB or Tubi? With the proliferation of streamers, advertisers must dig deep and do their due diligence on each potential platform to make informed decisions.

How does the platform handle ads?

Each streamer seems to take a different path here. For example, Hulu places ads strategically throughout streamed content. Peacock has a different viewership strategy and puts all the ads at the very beginning. Consequently, ad placement/timing affects audience retention. The real-time auctions can be slightly different, provider to provider. Each platform’s definition of video completion rate might differ.

Based on your answers to these two questions, you can move on to the next step: creating effective video campaigns.

At my agency, we also like to use keywords for targeting. This helps us find buyer intent signals which are great identifiers of penetration opportunities in the marketplace. Doing so gives more relevance to the personas we pursue and complement other targeting layered in to create the most responsive campaign possible.

Step 4: Create effective video campaigns

You’re putting an ad in a place where premium content is broadcast. Your content has to match that quality. Today’s sophisticated audiences expect company-produced content to be polished and professional. That means doing more than using high-end equipment and working with the right individuals from ideation through production and delivery. 

Various ad formats will be essential to help capture different types of screen sizes but making a storytelling video that’s “ready for primetime” is probably your biggest hurdle.

How to measure CTV effectiveness 

Some of the primary KPIs to include in your dashboard are:

Reach

Reach shows how many people have seen your ad and helps you understand visibility and campaign exposure. To determine this, divide the number of unique viewers by the total number of viewers. Your reach is also tethered to inventory (i.e., how big of a stake you buy in any one package).

Impressions

This is the number of times your ad has been viewed overall and does not account for unique viewers. It can help you determine how often to show your ad and understand overall exposure. Determining impressions is simple — add up the number of times the ad has been shown.

Viewability

Viewability refers to whether a viewer saw the ad. This factors into campaign success because if the ad is displayed but not seen, it cannot build awareness or create conversions. Viewability is determined by dividing the number of viewable impressions by the total number of impressions.

ROI

Calculating return on investment can be tough, but it’s important for determining the overall success of your CTV ad campaign. You can track viewer conversion rate or track brand awareness or purchase intent.

Completion rate/viewer engagement

Completion rate speaks to viewer engagement and it’s just a measure of how many people watched your ad all the way through. A high completion rate may indicate that people are engaged with your ad. However, some platforms don’t broadcast skippable ads, which can skew your results. With some pre-roll, you can sometimes match YouTube’s policy and not pay if someone skips before five seconds.

Frequency

If your ad is shown to the same people too many times within a short time, it can lead to fatigue. However, it can also be a good tactic for building brand awareness. Shoot for balance here and use a measurement tool that tracks the number of times each viewer has seen your ad.

Conversion rate

Conversion is the Holy Grail of all advertising, not just connected TV advertising. It’s also one of the most critical metrics for determining campaign success. Make sure to define what counts as a “conversion” before your campaign goes live, whether that’s a website visit, purchase or something else.

A note on metrics

It’s not always as simple as “video clicks” because CTV ads will likely produce more view-through than first-time click-through conversions. Remember, we’re at the top of the funnel! Give your audience time to absorb and catch up with your brand across all your placements. 

Dig deeper: How CTV can deliver market research for B2B marketers

View-throughs take place as late as 30-60 days for some consumer products and services. This means the content worked, but they weren’t ready to take action when the video played. Meanwhile, we’ve gotten 3-5% CTR on mobile devices streaming a very high-end TV spot we produced.

Your advertising metrics can create audience segments and guide your campaign’s performance. This also allows for clear attribution and precision since you will have tons of data to sort through. The more organized you are upfront, the better.

Moving your advertising game forward with CTV

CTV advertising looks to continue as more and more people shift away from cable and satellite to streaming platforms. However, not all platforms are created equal. 

Advertisers should dig deep to determine which streamers best suit their connected TV efforts. They should then create evocative ad campaigns based on actionable, meaningful goals supported by KPIs to measure progress and success. 

The post How to set up and measure CTV ad campaigns appeared first on MarTech.

The rise of streaming services and the proliferation of smart TVs are leading more people to cut the cord and turn to CTV. This switch leads to many advantages, including the ability to target specific demographics. 

The benefits of CTV advertising

With data from streaming services and smart TVs, advertisers can create highly targeted campaigns that reach the right audience based on content and timing. 

As we know, this level of precision is not possible with traditional TV advertising, which relies on wide-ranging demographic groups and broad-stroke targeting.

Another key advantage is the ability to measure campaign effectiveness. With traditional TV advertising, tracking how many people actually saw an ad and whether it impacted purchasing behavior is challenging at best. 

Conversely, CTV technology tracks:

• How many people saw an ad.
• How long they watched it.
• Whether they engaged with it. 

This level of engagement and overall measurement is essential for optimizing campaigns and maximizing return on ad spend.

Dig deeper: How CTV can deliver market research for B2B marketers

CTV brings unique advertising opportunities

The shift we’re seeing in viewing habits has seismic implications for the advertising industry. As of late 2022: 

• Netflix alone has eclipsed 200 million subscribers worldwide. 
• Disney+ now touts more than 152 million subscribers worldwide.
• Domestic-only provider Hulu still has 46 million subscribers.

This rise of CTV reach has also led streaming services to develop new ad formats better suited to the environment.

Interactive ads, for example, allow viewers to engage with the content and learn more about a product or service. These dynamic ad formats are proving to be more effective than traditional linear ads across both measurable engagement and conversion.

The larger reach is also translating into an overall increase in ad spend. Some marketers are shifting budgets away from the iOS and social placements where scale is becoming sparser and re-investing in CTV advertising. 

Right now, CTV advertising is projected to increase by over 14% in 2023, according to the IAB. What that all rolls up to is a CTV ad spend that will likely exceed $26 billion in 2023 and $31 billion in 2024.

So, how is this shift in ad spend to being justified? 

Brands and marketers are seeing that CTV offers unique advertising opportunities including:

Audience targeting

CTV is built on data that allows marketers to build or target specific audiences based on many more factors than other forms of TV advertising, including location, language, content and consumption.

Eyes on ads

Because streaming providers don’t often allow for ad skipping, this equates to a much better ad completion rate, ensuring that all ad content is seen by the targeted audience.

Identity and data insights

Because CTV devices are stitched into home networks, marketers can build anonymized insights based on IP address and other device IDs. As such, identity signals can be aggregated into audience insights for even deeper segmentation and traffic monitoring (i.e., which ads led to a website visit).

The overriding goal is to get more eyeballs on both content and ads. With that, many streaming providers aim to provide subscribers the option to switch from the current subscription model to a “no-cost but fully ad-supported” streaming experience. 

Netflix and Disney+ plan to introduce a fully ad-supported option for their subscribers. While the specifics are still sparse, 64% of CTV viewers polled say they would prefer to watch ads than pay for more content, according to a DeepIntent survey. 

That said, Netflix is entering this area cautiously until they can ensure they won’t lose subscribers accustomed to commercial-free viewing. 

Dig deeper: Brands are betting heavily on CTV advertising

How to get the most out of CTV advertising

Whether the model stays subscription-based or ad-supported (or something in-between), we must continue to adapt to take full advantage of CTV targeting’s benefits. 

With the right strategies and partnerships, we can create data-driven targeted ads to find new customers, build more robust and longer-lasting relationships with existing clients and ultimately drive more brand awareness and sales. 

For marketers looking to get the most out of CTV advertising in 2023, here are four tips to remember.

1. Target fraud-free and premium inventory

Until now, TV advertising offers minimal controls in the open exchanges to monitor where and within what content your ad is shown, leading to a slew of brand safety issues. 

With CTV targeting, you can work within CTV aggregators, allowing them to only show your ads in and around brand-safe inventory and to an audience with a higher propensity to engage and convert.

2. Measurement and attribution

The data and identity-driven backbone of CTV advertising allow for:

• Directly matching sales data with ad exposure data.
• Getting deeper insights on the impact of CTV ads viewed on the path to purchase and overall campaign success.

3. Enriched viewership data

With CTV devices connected to IP addresses and other device IDs in the household, you can overlay viewership data with offline and online data.

This lets you better analyze household make-up and create ad creative and messaging tailored to specific audiences.  

4. Revamping ad formats

With ad completion rates so high for CTV ad formats, marketers can get creative.

Consider campaigns incorporating short but interconnected ads that can be shown throughout the program. Such narrative-style ad campaigns can tell a story across multiple commercial breaks within one show or series.

Get ahead with CTV advertising

While we don’t know how CTV advertising will evolve over the next year or two, it’s clear that this format will be a significant area of growth for brands and marketers.

CTV advertising is set to become an increasingly critical part of the overall advertising landscape for many years to come.

The post 4 tips to get the most out of CTV advertising appeared first on MarTech.

Brands advertising around the game this year are adapting to changes in media consumption and shopping with new digital partnerships and campaign strategies.

Streaming and CTV advertising continue to climb

CTV and traditional linear advertising will be in close competition for ad dollars. Digital agency Adtaxi projects that the number of streaming viewers will surpass those watching the Super Bowl on broadcast and cable.

“It looks like it could be neck and neck, and of those paying attention to Super Bowl content, it looks like more will do so via streaming than broadcast or cable,” said Adtaxi Director of Research, Murry Woronoff.

The advantage that brands and agencies gain by using CTV advertising is the ability to control their ad dollars while still hitting the right demos. Instead of paying millions for a single Super Bowl ad, marketers can place ads on CTV and zero in on specific segments of any size.

“With Apple+ streaming services entering the live sports sphere, and Google getting the rights for NFL Sunday Ticket to distribute on their YouTube TV product, we could see more NFL fans switch to streaming services down the line,” said Laura Connell, consumer trends manager for consumer insights and analytics company GWI. “With price leading the list of streaming concerns, platforms like YouTube or Twitch have an unmatchable competitive advantage — their basic offerings are free, and are more likely to retain engagement, despite the current financial climate.

Dig deeper: How brands lined up on CTV for the 2022 FIFA World Cup

Cross-screen viewing behaviors

“Brands don’t have to spend $7 million on a 30-second TV spot that will likely be forgotten in a few days,” said consultant Brittany Hodak. “The best payoffs are when brands create experiences around the Super Bowl in a way that lets them be a part of the conversation while still connecting with fans in an authentic way. The ROI of a targeted PR​ or experience ​play that strongly connects with a subset of your audience will outweigh that of an expensive commercial that broadly speaks to millions.”

The reality is that regardless of whether viewers are watching the game on streaming or broadcast on their primary screen, over half of adults expect to follow the Super Bowl on a second digital screen, Adtaxi found. This figure, 52%, is up from 46% last year. Also, 36% of those the agency surveyed said they’ll be on social media while watching the game, and 15% will be following along on a sporting website.

“With social networks quickly becoming the leading source of information for consumers, brands have an opportunity to maximize real-time engagement on social media this Super Bowl, rather than just commercial breaks,” said Connell.

GWI’s research suggests that the segment of NFL fans who use social while watching games could be as high as 50%.

Finding shoppers before and during the Big Game

There’s a chance that fans who follow sports on multiple screens are shopping on one of them. To connect with shoppers, Michelob ULTRA partnered with Instacart for a first-of-its-kind co-marketing initiative around the Super Bowl.

“Together, we’re leveraging all of Instacart’s and Michelob ULTRA’s marketing channels — from linear TV, to our app and Marketplace, to social media, and CRM — to reach the widest possible audience,” said Instacart CMO Laura Jones. “The campaign reflects a meaningful partnership between the two brands — we’re powering Michelob ULTRA’s TV commercials with a QR code, we’ve also launched our game day essentials Pop-Up in our app and Marketplace, and we led the creative execution for our co-branded imagery. Additionally, in partnership with PepsiCo, the Michelob ULTRA page on Instacart features game day staples that pair well with ULTRA like Tostitos and classic Frito Lay chips.”

Jones added, “There’s really no other cultural moment each year like the Super Bowl that commands such strong consumer attention across the US. For us, a pre-Super Bowl, co-marketing campaign with Michelob ULTRA makes a ton of sense because historically we’ve seen that consumers start shopping for their game day party staples in the weeks leading up to the big game.”

Streamer Roku also partnered with DoorDash to offer streaming viewers membership into the local commerce company’s loyalty program, DashPass.

For the first year of the partnership, Roku will also be the exclusive adtech marketplace solution for DoorDash’s U.S. restaurants and grocers who buy shoppable click-to-order ads that run on Roku.

Dig deeper: How Roku boosts advertiser experience

Digital shoppers courted by Rakuten

Since a lot of digital shoppers will be watching the Super Bowl, ecommerce brand Rakuten is taking the opportunity to boost brand awareness with a nostalgic campaign featuring 90s star Alicia Silverstone.

“The goal of the campaign is to show consumers how easy it is to save with Rakuten while shopping all their favorite brands,” said Vicki McRae, SVP of brand, creative and communications at Rakuten.

She added, “Last year we had a Super Bowl ad that was a big brand awareness play. We saw great success with that ad, seeing a four-point increase in brand awareness. This year we’re building on that momentum, while still benefiting from the brand awareness that comes with the Super Bowl, and we’re taking it a layer deeper. We want to explain to shoppers what is that we do, and how we can help them save.

Rakuten’s approach this year is to “span across multiple pieces of content before and after the Big Game for sustained storytelling and reach,” said Michael Knott, Rakuten’s senior director, brand media.

The content includes the 30-second game day spot, a 60-second extended cut on YouTube, and a 15-second retargeting ad that will air after the Super Bowl. The campaign will be extended through other digital ads on paid social, display, paid search and affiliate partners, as well as through email and Rakuten-owned social channels, running throughout Q1.

“There is a lot of noise during the Super Bowl and brands will fight for attention in the weeks leading up to, and during, the game,” said Matt Conlin, Chief Customer Officer at performance marketing company Fluent. “It’s what you do after the game that matters. Leverage the brand equity gained during the Super Bowl to your benefit in the weeks that follow to re-engage consumers and drive conversions.”

The post How Michelob ULTRA, PepsiCo and Rakuten are approaching the Super Bowl this year appeared first on MarTech.

“We believe connected TV advertising is undervalued, and there’s so much that digital, data-driven marketers can do with connected TV advertising that goes beyond the scope of any other ad channel,” said Hooman Javidan-Nejad, director of performance marketing for CTV advertising platform MNTN, at The MarTech Conference.

Why we care. Hit shows on streaming services get the credit for the CTV surge. But within these mass audiences there is data for targeting and segmentation. B2B marketers ahead of the curve have also experimented with streaming for delivering on-demand video content to prospects. 

Serving prospects ads on ad-supported Netflix, or managing your own video programming like a kind of B2B Netflix, is a much different experience than traditional whitepapers that recognize professionals’ changing media consumption and self-serve research habits.

CTV data. “Data-driven marketing has picked up in the last decade because the nature of all those digital channels are enabling you, and empowering you, to have access to the data and to act on it,” said Javidan-Nejad. “This is something that we never had for a TV — [traditional linear] TV advertising has always had limited or no reporting.”

Because of CTV’s digital infrastructure, ad campaigns on that channel have performance and measurement data that can be used as a market research tool.

“The beauty of approaching connected TV just like another digital channel is that you can apply the same targeting criteria you are applying today on LinkedIn, or on Facebook,” he added. “The insights that you’re getting from connected TV advertising can be applied to all the other channels, or the insights that you’re getting from the creative can be applied into the other channels.”

Dig deeper: Bringing your ABM strategy to CTV

Finding audiences on CTV. When advertising on CTV, B2B marketers should execute multiple campaigns, or target different audiences with a single campaign.

For example, a B2B marketer could run one campaign based on job titles, and another one based on firmographic criteria. You could also launch a retargeting campaign, based on first-party data acquired from those who have visited your website and shared their info.

“For each of these audiences, you will get audience segment reporting,” Javidan-Nejad explained. “So you will be able to see which of these audiences have performed better, which of these audiences had a better verified visit rate, and all the other metrics [to discover] which audiences are performing better. And then you can take those audience insights and apply them to the other channels.”

Matched audiences. B2B marketers can also use existing customers and prospects from their CRM and match them with a CTV adtech partner, in order to deliver CTV ads to those prospects when they’re watching streaming TV.

“This is the same audience that you’re using across all the other paid social channels,” said Javidan-Nejad. “The insights and learnings that you get from CTV can be extended and implemented across the other channels.”

Testing creative. Before committing a large budget on a robust TV campaign, B2B marketers can test different kinds of creative on CTV to determine what messages and visual cues stick with customers and prospects.

While every digital ad channel has its own sweet spot for what works in video ads, some of these insights about what works best on CTV can be applied to other channels.

“We are all familiar with A/B testing,” Javidan-Nejad said. “As digital marketers, we always try to leverage this feature or functionality across all the other digital channels. Now you’re able to do that for your TV advertising.”

Register for The MarTech Conference here.

The post How CTV can deliver market research for B2B marketers appeared first on MarTech.

“The issue with addressability is that once cookies go away, and with the loss of identifiers, about 80% of the addressable market will become unknown audiences which is why there is a need for privacy-centric consent and a better consent-value exchange,” said Jeffrey Bustos, VP, measurement, addressability and data at the IAB.

“Everyone’s talking about first-party data, and it is very valuable,” he explained, “but most publishers who don’t have sign-on, they have about 3 to 10% of their readership’s first-party data.” First-party data, from the perspective of advertisers who want to reach relevant and audiences, and publishers who want to offer valuable inventory, just isn’t enough.

Why we care. Two years ago, who was talking about data clean rooms? The surge of interest is recent and significant, according to the IAB. DCRs have the potential, at least, to keep brands in touch with their audiences on the open internet; to maintain viability for publishers’ inventories; and to provide sophisticated measurement capabilities.

How data clean rooms can help. DCRs are a type of privacy-enhancing technology that allows data owners (including brands and publishers) to share customer first-party data in a privacy-compliant way. Clean rooms are secure spaces where first-party data from a number of sources can be resolved to the same customer’s profile while that profile remains anonymized.

In other words, a DCR is a kind of Switzerland — a space where a truce is called on competition while first-party data is enriched without compromising privacy.

“The value of a data clean room is that a publisher is able to collaborate with a brand across both their data sources and the brand is able to understand audience behavior,” said Bestos. For example, a brand selling eye-glasses might know nothing about their customers except basic transactional data — and that they wear glasses. Matching profiles with a publisher’s behavioral data provides enrichment.

“If you’re able to understand behavioral context, you’re able to understand what your customers are reading, what they’re interested in, what their hobbies are,” said Bustos. Armed with those insights, a brand has a better idea of what kind of content they want to advertise against.

The publisher does need to have a certain level of first-party data for the matching to take place, even if it doesn’t have a universal requirement for sign-ins like The New York Times. A publisher may be able to match only a small percentage of the eye-glass vendor’s customers, but if they like reading the sports and arts sections, at least that gives some directional guidance as to what audience the vendor should target.

Dig deeper: Why we care about data clean rooms

What counts as good matching? In its “State of Data 2023” report, which focuses almost exclusively on data clean rooms, concern is expressed that DCR efficacy might be threatened by poor match rates. Average match rates hover around 50% (less for some types of DCR).

Bustos is keen to put this into context. “When you are matching data from a cookie perspective, match rates are usually about 70-ish percent,” he said, so 50% isn’t terrible, although there’s room for improvement.

One obstacle is a persistent lack of interoperability between identity solutions — although it does exist; LiveRamp’s RampID is interoperable, for example, with The Trade Desk’s UID2.

Nevertheless, said Bustos, “it’s incredibly difficult for publishers. They have a bunch of identity pixels firing for all these different things. You don’t know which identity provider to use. Definitely a long road ahead to make sure there’s interoperability.”

Maintaining an open internet. If DCRs can contribute to solving the addressability problem they will also contribute to the challenge of keeping the internet open. Walled gardens like Facebook do have rich troves of first-party and behavioral data; brands can access those audiences, but with very limited visibility into them.

“The reason CTV is a really valuable proposition for advertisers is that you are able to identify the user 1:1 which is really powerful,” Bustos said. “Your standard news or editorial publisher doesn’t have that. I mean, the New York Times has moved to that and it’s been incredibly successful for them.” In order to compete with the walled gardens and streaming services, publishers need to offer some degree of addressability — and without relying on cookies.

But DCRs are a heavy lift. Data maturity is an important qualification for getting the most out of a DCR. The IAB report shows that, of the brands evaluating or using DCRs, over 70% have other data-related technologies like CDPs and DMPs.

“If you want a data clean room,” Bustos explained, “there are a lot of other technological solutions you have to have in place before. You need to make sure you have strong data assets.” He also recommends starting out by asking what you want to achieve, not what technology would be nice to have. “The first question is, what do you want to accomplish? You may not need a DCR. ‘I want to do this,’ then see what tools would get you to that.”

Understand also that implementation is going to require talent. “It is a demanding project in terms of the set-up,” said Bustos, “and there’s been significant growth in consulting companies and agencies helping set up these data clean rooms. You do need a lot of people, so it’s more efficient to hire outside help for the set up, and then just have a maintenance crew in-house.”

Underuse of measurement capabilities. One key finding in the IAB’s research is that DCR users are exploiting the audience matching capabilities much more than realizing the potential for measurement and attribution. “You need very strong data scientists and engineers to build advanced models,” Bustos said.

“A lot of brands that look into this say, ‘I want to be able to do a predictive analysis of my high lifetime value customers that are going to buy in the next 90 days.’ Or ‘I want to be able to measure which channels are driving the most incremental lift.’ It’s very complex analyses they want to do; but they don’t really have a reason as to why. What is the point? Understand your outcome and develop a sequential data strategy.”

Trying to understand incremental lift from your marketing can take a long time, he warned. “But you can easily do a reach and frequency and overlap analysis.” That will identify wasted investment in channels and as a by-product suggest where incremental lift is occurring. “There’s a need for companies to know what they want, identify what the outcome is, and then there are steps that are going to get you there. That’s also going to help to prove out ROI.”

Dig deeper: Failure to get the most out of data clean rooms is costing marketers money

The post How data clean rooms might help keep the internet open appeared first on MarTech.

Roku Select and Plus Series TVs range in size from 24-inch to 75-inch-screen models. They are priced between $119 and $999.

All HD offerings feature Roku Voice Remotes, while Plus Series TVs have the enhanced Roku Voice Remote Pros. The screens will also hook up to Roku TV Wireless Soundbar audio accessories.

“Our goal is to continue to create an even better TV experience for everyone,” said Mustafa Ozgen, President, Devices, Roku, in a release. “These Roku-branded TVs will not only complement the current lineup of partner-branded Roku TV models, but also allow us to enable future smart TV innovations. The streaming revolution has only just begun.”

Dig deeper: Why we care about connected TV and OTT

Why we care. Manufacturers like Samsung have broken ahead in the data race by launching their own smart TV operating systems. As soon as a consumer turns on one of those sets, they are in the world of the Samsung TV, the brand’s smart TV operating system.

Roku, an OTT streamer and smart TV OS, has flipped this paradigm with this new line of TVs. Any consumer who buys one of these sets, once they are available this spring, will turn on the screen and be brought into the Roku OS. 

The race to attract viewers into a connected advertising ecosystem begins at the device level. To attract advertisers, Roku has already beefed up their ad services with their OneView buying platform and clean room offering.

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Kim Gilberti, SVP, product management at Nielsen, said there was a huge need for cross-channel, comparable audience measurement. 

“It’s imperative to really understand who you’re reaching, how often you’re reaching them and on what platforms,” Gilberti said in a Zoom call with reporters. “Whether you’re a publisher, whether you’re an advertiser, whether you’re a brand, you really need to be able to understand your audience across all these different sources in a way that’s truly comparable.”

Why we care. Nielsen’s cross-screen measurement platform is critical if the company hopes to regain any of the relevance it had during the broadcast TV era. Software development nearly always takes longer than promised, so it’s foolish to read too much into delays around the launch of the modules for the platform. However, Nielsen is now facing competition from other audience measurement providers for the first time. Any delay gives those companies more time to establish themselves and sign key industry clients.

Dig deeper: Roku’s OneView launches Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings for streaming advertisers

What it does. Nielsen ONE Ads lets advertisers track deduped audience reach and frequency counts, including a percentage of target audience reach, across screens by campaign based on Nielsen’s panel data and its ID resolution system. 

Last year Nielsen introduced the Nielsen ONE Content module, aimed at providing an aggregate view of campaign performance across devices. That module is still in alpha, but the company says it is expected to be available later this year. 

She said that when Nielsen ONE — the company’s cross-screen measurement platform — is fully operational, it should “allow advertisers and publishers to plan and to transact on a single set of metrics across linear and digital. And those metrics are reliable, independent and standardized across the industry and across all of those different platforms.” 

The platform was originally announced in December 2020. At the time it was expected to combine “big data” from set-top boxes and smart TVs with panels of Nielsen households. Last summer, Nielsen said the system wasn’t ready for commercial use. The company also postponed an audit of the system by the Media Rating Council. 

Dig deeper: Is Nielsen’s prime time over? Purchase renews questions about products and long-term value

The MRC suspended accreditation of Nielsen’s linear TV ratings in 2021. That accreditation has yet to be restored. Last year the company was purchased by private-equity investors for $16 billion and lost a number of senior executives.

The post Nielsen announces first module for cross-screen audience measurement platform appeared first on MarTech.

Digital media channels continue to deliver more viewing options to TV watchers through on-demand streaming and live broadcasts. At the same time, the explosion of ad-supported connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) services gives advertisers more options in delivering ads to consumers.

That’s the big story in digital media, and not a wild prediction that momentum will grow in 2023. But how will marketers ride this wave? What factors will motivate viewers to watch ads on streaming?

The new year will bring answers to these big questions and others. Below are our predictions for digital media and other adtech trends.

Premium streamers provide the inventory, price hikes increase the audience for ads

Price hikes on streaming services will continue to motivate consumers to accept ads in the new year. The ad-free tier on Disney+ got bumped up to $11 when they introduced the ad-supported tier at the end of 2022. The ad-free Netflix option is less than half the price of its $20 “Premium” plan. Netflix is also expected to crack down on password-sharing soon, so more customers overall will have to pay to play. Ads will allow them to pay less.

Prime Video’s takeover of Thursday Night Football, and free-ad-supported (FAST) app Tubi’s recent World Cup presentation lay the groundwork for more live sports and events being watched by cord-cutters. (The World Cup Final was streamed by 3 million viewers in the U.S. alone, across all available platforms.) 

For advertisers, the combination of sports and ad-supported Disney-owned and Netflix series means more premium inventory attracting big audiences in the year to come.

Real-time ads and cross-channel amplification

Viewing behavior will continue to change. Advertisers and their adtech partners will have to adapt in the new year.

In 2022, CTV overtook mobile for global ad impressions. Users stream different kinds of content on mobile devices than when they’re streaming longform programming. They could be streaming on a smart TV while consuming even more content on their phone, especially when watching live events.

“We can expect to see a proliferation of technologies that enable brands to more efficiently connect with their audiences who are tuned in to live spaces,” said Oz Etzioni, CEO and founder of creative optimization company Clinch. “On the backend (activation), this means new and innovative ways to feed ‘live event’ data into the creative. Think real-time information tied to sporting events, gaming, shopping and more, and across different channels — CTV, social, even certain DOOH (digital out-of-home) environments.”

Advertisers will experiment with new ad formats, as well as how they support CTV campaigns on other platforms.

“We can expect household entertainment names to continue launching streaming platforms as they aim to increase their subscriber base, stay relevant, and offer lower price points,” said Laura Connell, consumer trends manager for audience research company GWI. “With video-social platforms like Twitch, YouTube and TikTok in the mix, different formats will also need to work together to complement one another.”

First-party data refining CTV campaigns, a greater demand for measurement

As budgets transition from traditional linear TV to CTV campaigns, first-party data will become more crucial to justify the spend and measure results.

“Data will be king,” said Lynette Kaylor, SVP of advertising sales for FuboTV. “As budgets tighten, advertisers will need to become more efficient with their buys and have smart data strategies. Efficiencies come from reducing waste and increasing targeted media buys. For example, investing in the audiences that are most inclined to buy your product or service instead of mass reach.”

She added, “There will be a greater need for transparent attribution and measurement to show the value of audience-based buys.”

“There are far more eyes on measurement particularly as the bigger advertisers like P&G have put the pressure on for greater transparency and accountability to performance,” said Michele Madaris, media director of full-service agency Boathouse. “Every partner right now is selling their ‘unique measurement’ application and touting their connections and partnerships with industry leaders to get to a more consistent and reliable methodology. It feels like an industry-wide effort to enhance measurement, so I think 2023 will show improvements that will help advertisers tie to outcomes.”

More traction for out-of-home on social and out in the world

The out-of-home (OOH) space has seen a rapid change, both in the digital transformation of digital out-of-home (DOOH) and the expansion of programmatic DOOH. As more out-of-home ads get plugged into omnichannel campaigns, momentum will continue in 2023.

“As digital burnout saturates society and consumers continue to experience the world IRL, brands will increasingly explore OOH opportunities as a means to reach and engage consumers,” said Anna Bager, President and CEO of Out of Home Advertising Association of America. “Recent OAAA-Harris Poll research found that consumers on TikTok, Instagram, etc. are regularly seeing OOH advertising creative in photos across their feeds. In addition, OOH is viewed as an advertising opportunity for brands that enhances consumer experience while they are traveling along their hyper-connected journeys.”

She added, “Marketers have a massive opportunity at hand to not only tell their brand stories, but surround people with it, delighting and surprising them which in turn, encourages consumers to follow brands across channels. Creating those special moments by connecting in the IRL environment is one of the key values that OOH brings to advertisers and it will continue to drive growth at a substantial rate.”

Universal standards for adtech carbon emissions

Brands and their adtech partners are looking for ways to reduce the energy and carbon emissions associated with the digital ad supply chain. In 2023, adtech will step up to meet this demand from advertisers.

“Over the next year, I think we’ll see the development of universal standards for best practices that can reduce the carbon footprint by making ad inventory with low emissions,” said Matt Kendall, CTO for adblock revenue recovery company Blockthrough. “Which group will lead the charge? Could be IAB Tech Lab or others.”

“Changes in adtech tend to initiate from the economic power of the buy-side and then get pushed through the ecosystem,” said Curt Larson, Chief Product Officer at omnichannel ad exchange Sharethrough. “This is what we’re seeing with the green movement — buyers increasingly instituting green initiatives and mandates. These mandates are effectively another aspect of buyers’ SPO (supply path optimization) strategies. In the past, buyers have looked at things like take rates and discounts, directness, quality, performance, or fraud when they evaluate supply paths. They will now add to the list the carbon load of any given supply path.”

More brands will address Gen Z as co-creators

Brands won’t stop advertising to Gen Z consumers in 2023. But the smarter brands will approach this group in a more collaborative way.

“Gen Z is impacting not only culture but every industry at speed and scale through their digital behavior — but brands should no longer look at them just as consumers,” said Kaeya Majmundar, founder and CEO of Swaypay, a platform that compensates shoppers for TikTok-ing their purchases. “They should look at Gen Z as co-creators. Gen Z doesn’t live on your ecommerce site — it’s not where their sense of community and individuality is being formed. You have to actively seek them out and include them not for selling, but for sharing and co-creating.”

As a result, there will be a “radical decentralization of brand control” as more of the brand narrative gets handed over to customers.

“In 2023, continuously adding value to developing the Gen Z audience will be key — and they must be rewarded for the value they create,” said Majmundar.

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