Opinions

Research by Witbe found that as many as 30% of viewing sessions on some FAST channels encounter a QoE issue with the ads shown, which could result in ad payments withheld or lost viewers. The solution is test automation and proactive monitoring, starting with verification of what the viewer actually experiences at home via an app, device or network. Once problems are identified, work can begin on improvements. Metrics include whether or not an ad plays, audio loudness, ad video quality vs content, duration of ad, the ratio of ads to slates in each ad pod, if slates feature any motion, etc. FAST advertising QoE monitoring will impact viewer satisfaction, viewing times and ad revenues.

Digital disruption of the record industry was turned from existential threat into growth opportunity when labels embraced new consumption models. There are lessons for television, which can increase reach if it seeks viewers where they are, rather than creating walled gardens that people must come to. BARB’s ‘fit for TV’ definition should be supported because it lets media owners widen their distribution, by working with more platform partners, while still acknowledging that the programming is ‘TV’ – characterised by trust, high production standards, viewer attention, regulatory alignment, editorial oversight and an absence of fraud. ‘Fit for TV’ is more inclusive of old and new. TV and advertiser opportunities will be maximised when we encourage the natural flow of consumption and free ourselves from measurement siloes.

Counting media rights, sponsorship and ticket sales, the UK women’s sports market represents only 5% of the total national sports market. Despite promising momentum, there is a long way to go when commercialising these sports. Tennis provides evidence that women’s sponsorship revenue can equal men’s, and this article explores what more broadcasters can do to drive audiences for women’s sport and so unlock its latent commercial potential. Five strategies are outlined, including giving prominence to women’s sport and supporting women athletes as brands.

With streamed video consumption growing exponentially, this article explores the technologies that underpin efforts to make video streaming more sustainable. It asks whether the TV industry really needs to deliver 4K quality video to smartphones, for example. It suggests content providers could use ISP networks instead of their own, and considers greater use of edge caching, multicast ABR, elastic and dynamic CDNs, and open caching (with interoperable caching removing the need for multiple third-party CDN caches inside ISP networks).

Compared to CTV, planning and measuring on TV is now a slow and inexact process that has got stuck in its own unique silo. Many advertisers want to plan TV the same way as digital, with the benefits of programmatic, linking TV with other channels. This article argues that connected TV has begun to make it possible to bridge the TV/digital divide and that CTV will very soon become an integrated channel in the omnichannel digital media landscape.

The sheer volume of user-generated content has outpaced the tech that advertisers use to understand context and therefore protect their brand as well as maximise media impact. Solutions that rely on text like video titles, tags and keywords, may not be wholly relevant or accurate, which also makes it harder for creators to monetise their work. Machine learning, however, tackles the challenge of rapidly reviewing UGC. A good solution needs instant frame-by-frame analysis of video, images, audio, text and metadata. We need industry alignment on what makes a good brand safety and suitability score, and convenient packaging and distribution of actionable data for advertisers.

IP and device graph matching underpin many CTV measurement solutions but are preventing CTV from achieving its full advertising potential. Among the weaknesses of this approach is the inability to show that the person who bought a product is the same one who saw an ad. Single-source panels are a better approach, supporting direct attribution of actions to exposure, enabling accurate and deterministic measurement of CTV advertising for the first time. Single-source panels also provide a holistic view of consumer behaviour that shows where CTV advertising fits into the customer journey-to-purchase.

In the European Marketers Survey from AudienceXpress (FreeWheel’s premium video sales house), nine-in-ten respondents across five European countries said they plan to boost their budgets for AVOD and FAST over the next year. Of these, around half expect this spend to be redirected from digital budgets including online video, social, and display advertising. This is just one of many survey findings revealed here, where the author also outlines three myths that need busting, including the idea that traditional programmatic solutions will help TV and premium video unlock full data-driven capabilities.

CTV is regarded as the next frontier of digital advertising, but one barrier to growth is the way it noticeably lags behind other media channels in delivering the performance insights advertisers are increasingly demanding. This inability to prove return on ad spend by effectively gauging consumer reactions on viewing an ad makes it tough for marketers to justify long-term budget allocation to Connected TV. CTV is therefore approaching a pivotal moment. If it integrates technology that enables measurement and attribution, it can provide marketers with better returns than ever before, with evidence of this. If advertisers cannot engage in people-based marketing on CTV with the same precision as other channels, brands are likely to prioritise those other channels.

For marketers, CTV offers increasing insights and access to more varied and niche audiences at scale, but to optimise campaigns and audience targeting they need a holistic view across multiple channels. Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) – when used in conjunction with traditional TV measurements – can overcome audience fragmentation and empower marketers to make smart, data-driven advertising decisions. It helps marketers to better understand the incrementality of their ad campaign, justify investment in new channels and support an experimental or staged approach to redistributing spend from linear into CTV.