by Ciaran O'Kane on 28th Dec 2015 in TRADERTALK

Earlier this year, at ATS New York a panel of experts from the online video advertising field discussed the current state of the market and what the future holds. The discussion covered topics such as the need for publishers to adapt in order to stay relevant; how marketers no longer need to decide between mass-reach and niche-targeting and why data is not necessarily driving value for publishers.

The panel was:

- Irfon Watkins, CEO, Coull
- Richard Sobel, SVP AOD Solutions, VivaKi
- Denise Colella, SVP, advanced advertising products and strategy, NBCUniversal

We know that consumer behaviour is changing, people spend more time than ever consuming video content on mobile devices; we also know that consumer behaviour drives advertising spend.

Today, we’re seeing major video publishers invest in technology and content platforms to help them make the move from linear distribution to on demand.

However, it’s a two way street on which publishers and brands need to cooperate. There has to be a commitment of understanding both parties’ objectives.

A common misconception is that if you want reach – you buy TV and if you want to buy highly targeted audiences – you buy digital. The panel were in agreement that data can offer TV buyers everything it offers digital buyers and that there is no reason marketers and ad tech vendors should not be planning for programmatic delivery of ads in the linear space.

Media planners will face challenges when programmatic targeting is an option throughout the funnel. The problem is that as you get further into the funnel, key performance indicators (KPIs) become more specific which allows programmatic to be efficient. Further up the funnel, KPIs are less specific; making it harder for marketers to prove the efficiency of programmatic buys.

Trust is an issue when it comes to data. Many in the industry have been burnt by bad data practices. Data suppliers have sold data they do not own, old data has been sold as fresh and in the most extreme cases fake data has been created and sold.

However, in order to increase the efficacy of advertiser campaigns, the industry needs to find a way to bring data together to help advertisers reach niche audiences at scale and move past legacy concerns.

Programmatic is not something that is set up in a vacuum and forgotten about.
If the data is premium and worthwhile it is worth paying for. Campaign optimisation should not be about reducing spend; the objective should be to improve performance.

Watch this episode of TraderTalk TV to hear the full discussion.

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