In 2011, physical records accounted for $8.3bn of global revenue, a big drop from $24.1bn in 1999. But when streaming services were launched, the record industry collectively decided to go all-in and embrace digital change. The subsequent diversified content delivery and revenue streams brought revenue back up to $26.2bn in 2022 with an onward upward trajectory. (RIAA data)

The record industry’s embrace of digital also helped it gain deeper understanding into how audiences consume and engage with (not just buy) artist content, helping it better serve the consumer. Vevo’s network of distribution was created as a result, learning not to resist, but to lean into consumer behaviour, delivering content at their request, how they want to watch.

The fall and then recovery of the record industry, caused by digital disruption, has many transferable learnings for the evolving TV landscape right now and gives an indication of what is still to come.

Be where your audience is

Today, the battle isn’t stealing content in this scenario – it’s a fight for attention. Too often media entities adopt the stance of creating a walled garden the consumer must come to, but it disrupts natural flow of consumption, especially in a post-pandemic world flooded with high-quality content services and multiple options for over-saturated consumers. Content awareness, ease of discovery, and ease of consumption win when content is not exclusive and judged as a ‘must have’.

Enders Analysis paints a very stark prospect for 2027 where only 12% of 16-24s’ video time will be spent watching traditional broadcaster content, with the majority of the rest of their time spent with SVOD or YouTube. Not cultivating a relationship on the platforms that these consumers predominantly spend time on is surely a massive oversight.

While the broadcasters have begun to adapt, taking note of BARB and Ofcom reports, Channel 4 has taken the leap to lean into pure behaviour by distributing via YouTube – where they see incremental audiences for their content. This builds a relationship that would otherwise be absent and delivers content to them through the path of least resistance.

Reluctance to distribute everywhere is understandable

Vevo distributes freely because the language of music is borderless, therefore it benefits from economies of scale. Local broadcasters can’t export their content in quite the same way, but it seems counter-productive to not have a local presence in the environments that audiences are more frequently using. If producers of quality content boldly lean into pure behaviour in this way, they will benefit from increased programming reach, but some key principles must be followed to remove risk, as not all content is the same.

It’s the source of the content that counts

Anyone with a camera phone can make a monetisable video, talented or not, but broadcasters have strength in all the legacy points we would expect: trust, quality, high production standards, attention, regulation, editorial oversight, absence of fraud, etc. This must continue to be a strength in our industry and the cornerstone of TV screen campaigns.

Simultaneously, the net by which we define TV has got to widen (no one would doubt Netflix was TV, for instance), while still providing guarantees for viewers and advertisers alike. For example, a Channel 4 show, regardless of how it got onto a screen (via Channel 4 Streaming or C4 YouTube channel), still upholds expectations and values around quality. From an advertiser perspective, we create more legitimate TV opportunities, to reflect the modern consumer, whilst mitigating the challenges of audience fragmentation, inflation and reduced scale.

To ensure this happens, premium content still needs to be rewarded accordingly, otherwise it can’t be made, or quality will suffer in a vicious cycle. We all know it is costly to make good content. It is critical that the industry and premium content makers collaborate to define, safeguard and ring-fence quality content providers.

Industry agreed measurement is key to breaking down the TV siloes

BARB are forging a path forward on this, with ‘fit for TV content’ allowing for a more inclusive TV definition, where publishers new and old can co-exist within TV measurement. The industry needs to support initiatives like this, from publishers to buyers to tech collaborators. If we can independently define TV, based on the source of the content meeting defined standards, then the shackles are off. Studios and broadcasters alike can define their reach of viewers based on natural consumption, and advertisers can be sure of guaranteeing large scale reach in environments where they know what content their advert appears around.

Maximising premium quality

In a time where anyone can watch anything, it is ever more important to be sure that we are maximising the opportunity with high-quality, safe content and attentive environments. This is not to belittle the longer tail of a video campaign; there are different campaigns with different functions. They absolutely work together like they always have.

We can still achieve those amazing, brand building, mass-reach campaigns that uphold everything we expect from a TV screen campaign, but we need to lay down principles. This frees up those content providers that live by traditional, high-quality production values to lean into the viewer and not be stuck rigidly to certain measurement siloes. Importantly, by doing so, it creates a healthier, bigger TV opportunity for advertisers to reach their key audiences.

Vevo represents the music labels, and offers a VOD catalogue of 800,000 titles as well as FAST channels, with its content available through multiple platforms including Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Apple, Amazon and also Pay TV platforms like Sky Q. Vevo on YouTube accounts for a large part of the reach for the music-focused programmer. McGurn describes Vevo as a ‘high reach, low frequency’ solution for advertisers, with that characteristic largely a result of how people watch music videos.

“This is what advertisers come to us for: reach extension with moderate frequency,” he declares. “What is interesting about campaigns on Vevo, from advertisers across consumer electronics to film and auto insurance, is that no matter what you buy from us, we deliver the audience, but frequency never reaches above three. That speaks to the diversity of the video offer. For one advertiser, we had to narrow the reach to dial-up the frequency they wanted, but I think it is a better challenge to increase frequency than deal with too much frequency.”

Vevo has rapidly expanded its FAST channel offering and viewers can now find up to 15 of these linear (ad supported) streamed channels on a typical connected TV platform. This is a lean-back, curated experience and because the channels are genre-based (spanning Pop to Hip-Hop, Country and Latino, for example) or decade-based (e.g., ‘80s or ‘90s) advertisers can reach largely different groups of people via each channel. “There is massive incrementality – as much as 95% incrementality,” reveals McGurn, drawing on research that Vevo presented at the IAB NewFronts in New York.

For consumers, FAST is about removing the decisions needed every four minutes on what to watch next, McGurn says. “It is too much work to constantly choose, and with the curated channels you have passive playback and if you don’t like what is on one channel, you can go to another. We can still keep them [the viewer] on the Vevo network. For us, it is also fun. We like being a curator and that is what the music industry expects from us – we are supposed to be promoters of new music and fandom.”

Asked if Vevo would like to be more than an app on Pay TV/MVPD platforms, in the way that direct-to-consumer streamers like Disney and Netflix are being deeply integrated into the home screen content promotions today, McGurn would only say that “we know our content will be popular wherever it sits, but it is not for us to decide how it should be promoted.” He did admit interest in Vevo appearing within broadcaster streaming (BVOD) services, as some broadcasters start to include third-party content. Vevo is not found in any primary BVOD services yet, “but I would see us as a great content addition in that environment.”

Another part of the Vevo ‘pitch’ to advertisers this year is its increasing understanding of context, down to the detail of what appears within scenes in music videos. This is then used to better match advertising to content. The company already offered mood-based advertising (since February 2021, when advertisers could start buying against moods like ‘heartfelt’ or ‘empowering’, for example). Most recently the company added the ability to match advertising creative to the ‘creative’ look-and-feel of a music video.

Colours, and even the beat of music, can be matched to ads. One illustration shown privately used a music beat and colour-feel that fed exceptionally well into an ad for an electric car. This is better seen than explained, but McGurn gives an example that is easy to imagine: you have an ad creative that is half-human and half-animated, and it might match well against the famous Aha video for Take on Me.

With the help of an AI tech partner, Vevo has also processed its entire music catalogue to find every example where a music video contains a brand representation, whether a coke bottle or a Cadillac car. This has been used to create a targeting package where brands can advertise against the content that contains these images. This is part of a second-by-second analysis of each video to uncover and then label elements of interest, whether logos, items or themes. Advertising packages can also be created for videos tagged with the same keywords – and the example given is ‘beach’ and ‘party’ to create a ‘beach party’ viewing hour, with brand sponsorship available.

McGurn admits the AI-enabled video intelligence does not foretell a tectonic shift in the advertising industry – but it does match advertiser desires for advertising UX innovation. He observes that Vevo can invest in this kind of innovation because its content is evergreen. Sweet Child O’ Mine (Guns N’ Roses) received approximately 200 million views across the Vevo network last year, as one illustration of his point.

“You could not do this with television shows because everyone watches them and then they’re done, albeit with some later binge viewing. With music videos, we know the viewing and the ad revenues will be the same in ten years’ time, using the same insights.”

Globally, Vevo has more than 80 linear FAST channels via more than 30 distribution partners. The company says that it is extending its capabilities in order to work with more distributor and advertising partners – especially those in the FAST space – as it expands on CTV worldwide.

Natalie Gabathuler-Scully, Senior Vice President, Global Revenue and Distribution Operations, Vevo, says: “Amagi’s cloud-based infrastructure enhances our ubiquity and bolsters our flexibility as we navigate growth, and helps us meet global CTV content delivery and ad tech requirements to ensure we maximize our revenue potential.”

Srinivasan KA, co-founder, Amagi, comments: “We are proud to manage the delivery of programming and ads flowing through Vevo’s rapidly growing global CTV footprint,” said. “As their technology partner, Amagi offers Vevo the ability to quickly and cost-effectively create, distribute and monetize content with best-of-breed cloud-based solutions. We look forward to continuing to amplify Vevo’s reach across platforms and geographies as the company scales to new heights of global growth.”

Then, you hear all the reasons why this holy grail is so elusive. You hear the measurement isn’t quite there, or the technology is still far from where it needs to be… but due to viewer behaviour, there are necessary and effective applications that can enhance and complement’ business as usual’ TV campaigns.

Many brands and agencies are striving for elusive perfection in the execution of CTV advertising. They want to run campaigns through one demand side platform. They hope for some universal identification techniques or perfect data matching solution, but it’s just not realistic right now, or in any near future.

CTV is merely an Internet-enabled means by which to watch content, so the content itself doesn’t come from one all-seeing source. Broadcasters, new apps, YouTube, and more are all part of the addressable TV inventory pot that’s bubbling with opportunities for savvy marketers and modern media buyers.

Agile approach or bust

Embracing a more cross-platform approach to TV advertising is how the media industry unlocks the power of addressable TV. Media buyers must be agile to realise the full targeting and performance potential of TV – to be in front of a viewer at their convenience, around quality content and how they want to watch TV.

We need to employ a different approach to what is ultimately a new ‘TV any way consumers want it’ advertising medium. Respect the fact this is TV (ensuring the consideration of content is as above), and then, recognise it can be supercharged by the power of digital. You’ll find there are effective targeting methods that can be employed to pull this world together and make the most of the new capabilities right now.

I’m not advocating for marketers to cut off traditional TV or saying that the medium is the place where every single viewer can receive a perfectly customised and targeted ad every time they flip on the TV. However, brands and agencies striving for the aforementioned perfection must consider every TV endpoint. Before they fully utilise the burgeoning digital side of this medium, they must acknowledge that they are sometimes missing out on opportunities to talk to harder-to-target traditional TV unreachables, which actually still use the TV screen, but through streaming and Internet-based means.

There are highly scientific, strategic ways to employ addressable TV at scale that can make a major difference in a brands’ business today. We just need to get past this idea of what we think CTV should be able to do and examine where it already excels.

CTV may be complicated, but it is also unique

Alas, as many of us are experiencing, even as CTV is growing exponentially, it’s already become quite fragmented and complex. Media companies, TV manufacturers, streaming device makers, as well as legacy programmatic firms are all staking a claim – and many of these contenders have their own ad technology and unique data assets.

CTV is also fundamentally unique when compared to classic TV and digital media. Co-viewing is common, and accelerated through the pandemic. While some viewers are ‘logged in’ or identifiable when streaming their favourite shows, many are not, and others share accounts. Thus, one-to-one targeting is inherently challenging.

Which is why today, we have a range of third-party research firms and technology start-ups scrambling to find new ways of tracking these cross-platform viewing behaviours. Unsurprisingly, no one firm has got it completely figured out, but there are a number that are close and shedding all-important light on the opportunities that exist.

The audiences are there – and so are the tools

While measurement is often cited as a reason to delay moving forward with CTV, here’s one thing that all companies and researchers agree on – audiences are shifting. The numbers are undeniable. Ofcom data shows that only 32% of time spent with video content by 16–34-year-olds in 2021 came from broadcast TV. What’s more, this is down from 50% in 2017, so the momentum of travel has been quite dramatic.

The good news is there is scale in CTV that can help offset this decline in traditional content viewing, as long as marketers appreciate that viewers don’t actually care about the platforms by which they view. Addressable TV only realises its potential when we as an industry buy agnostically. Buyers must monitor the viewing behaviour everywhere, with all the tools at their disposal, and be willing to place ads on the TV screen in front of quality content at the viewers convenience.

Fragmented viewership should dictate buying strategies, not complex buying mechanisms, or a preferred choice of DSP. In almost all instances, being beholden to limited point solutions can become a limiting factor, severely constraining both audience and quality. This means finding ways to pull together broadcasters, new CTV suppliers and other tech platforms, like YouTube, as long as there is due diligence about content standards.

The marketers that move forward with a cross-platform strategy, utilising all the advanced tools at their disposal, will be far ahead of the curve as more targeting options emerge, and even more sophisticated creativity arrives. Developing these muscles and this expertise today will have a huge payoff.