Tag: CTV

California, USA – Global adtech company PubMatic has announced the launch of ‘Activate’, an end-to-end supply path optimisation (SPO) solution, which allows buyers to execute non-bidded direct deals on PubMatic’s programmatic platform, accessing premium video and CTV inventory at scale.

Initial launch partners include dentsu, FuboTV, GroupM, Havas, LG, Mars, and Omnicom Media Group Germany, amongst others.

Built leveraging technology from PubMatic’s 2022 acquisition of Martin, ‘Activate’ is fully integrated into PubMatic’s growing software suite, including the PubMatic Sell-Side Platform and Connect.

‘Activate’ represents a new industry paradigm as it is a single layer of technology that directly connects buyers and sellers of digital media. Activate gives buyers more control over their omnichannel video investments by executing deals across PubMatic’s premium CTV and online video inventory in one platform, enabling a seamless transition of their direct business to programmatic private marketplace (PMP) or programmatic guaranteed (PG). 

It is also expected to facilitate the transition of insertion order budgets into the programmatic ecosystem due to the reduction in complexity, time, and cost achieved by the single technology layer approach. As a result, buyers may expect increased ROI and publishers may see increased revenue.

For PubMatic co-founder and CEO, Rajeev Goel, as buyers and sellers of digital seek a more efficient, transparent, and sustainable supply chain, ‘Activate’ extends this successful supply path optimisation strategy, which they pioneered four years ago.

“By seamlessly connecting buyers and content owners via a single layer of technology, we are significantly reducing the hops, discrepancies, data proliferation, opacity, and complexity in the programmatic marketplace. This will result in higher ROI for buyers and increased revenue for publishers, consistent with our mission to fuel the endless potential of internet content creators who rely on advertising as a primary source of revenue,” Goel said.

Sydney, Australia – Tremor International’s Unruly, the omnichannel advertising platform with a specialisation in Connected TV (CTV) and video, has announced its partnership with TCL FFALCON (TCL), the Internet and AI×IoT service platform, to provide advertisers with the opportunity to deliver impactful and relevant ads to receptive audiences across the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Following the integration of the Amobee demand-side platform (DSP) into Tremor International’s end-to-end platform, the partnership between TCL FFALCON and Unruly grants advertisers leveraging Amobee direct access to TCL FFALCON’s ad units on premium CTV/OTT inventory in the TCL Channel, which includes popular entertainment, movies on-demand and live channels. 

“Connected TV has become an integral part of the media landscape across APAC, particularly Australia. The rapid adoption of Broadcast Video-on-Demand (BVOD) and FAST channels is providing more opportunities for advertisers to reach fragmented audiences,” said Adam Hunt, vice president, partnerships and business development at Amobee. 

He added, “Amobee and Unruly’s partnership with TCL FFALCON helps bridge this gap, giving advertisers a unique opportunity to capitalise on this growing trend and deliver highly targeted and impactful campaigns that resonate with their audiences, ultimately driving better business outcomes.”

Kenneth Suh, chief strategy officer at Tremor International, also remarked, “As audiences diversify their viewing habits – and, in some ways, become increasingly difficult to reach – we are pleased to be partnering with TCL FFALCON to help advertisers tap into these viewers at scale.”

Suh further added that the partnership will strengthen the company’s capacity to provide clients with advanced targeting and high-impact creative executions on TV.

“TCL FFALCON is committed to delivering innovative TV solutions to our customers, and that’s exactly what this partnership was built to provide,” said Rebecca Wan, overseas business department leader at TCL FFALCON. 

Wan added, “By leveraging Unruly and Amobee’s technology and offerings, we are now able to bring a more personalised TV experience to viewers while also creating new, more powerful opportunities for leading brands and advertisers. It’s a win-win-win.”

Singapore – Adtech firm PubMatic has appointed Sandro Catanzaro, former head of publisher media strategy at Roku, as the company’s new vice president of product management, CTV, and video. He will be responsible for the product vision and roadmap for the company’s growing CTV and video businesses.

In his new role, Catanzaro will lead a team of seasoned product managers to further develop and execute product plans, ensuring that the company continues to drive innovation for an increasingly sophisticated and diverse CTV and video market.

During his stint at Roku, he led the company’s product team by providing automated solutions for publishers, including self-service header bidding. Previously, he was the founder and chief innovation officer at software company DataXu, which was acquired by Roku. Prior to his tenure at DataXu, Catanzaro was a consultant at Bain & Company.

Speaking of his new role, Catanzaro said, “PubMatic has a legacy of industry-first innovation and technology that puts us in prime position as leaders in CTV and video. I look forward to working with our incredible engineering and product teams, along with our global customers, to deliver solutions that are meaningful and rewarding for publishers, advertisers, and consumers.”

Meanwhile, Nishant Khatri, SVP of product management at PubMatic, commented, “We are thrilled to have an esteemed product innovator like Sandro join PubMatic. With his guidance, we will build on our leadership position in the high-growth video and CTV formats, and enhance the value we bring our global publisher and advertiser customers across the open internet.”

PubMatic recently announced the promotion of APAC marketing director Emily Yri to the role of vice president of international marketing.

Sydney, Australia – Independent omnichannel sell-side advertising platform Magnite has announced the launch of its singular supply side platform (SSP) Magnite Streaming, which combines technology from the Magnite CTV and SpotX platforms.

Magnite Streaming empowers media owners to maximise the value of their assets holistically across live and VOD inventory, CTV and OTT environments, and addressable linear, while gaining insights to more efficiently and effectively drive their businesses. 

Some of its CTV and OTT clients include Nine, TVNZ, Emtek Digital and Samsung Ads. Magnite Streaming also provides advertisers with unparalleled access to CTV and OTT inventory, audience targeting capabilities and real-time reporting.

The SSP’s features include comprehensive seller deal management capabilities to monetise all types of long-form video content, inventory curation tools purpose-built for video such as advanced podding, frequency capping and reserved/upfront inventory management, and multi-faceted audience activation features including seller defined audiences, third-party data integrations, and secure data matching, amongst others.

Juliette Stead, head of JAPAC at Magnite, commented, “Magnite’s combined expertise across all digital video formats makes us the strongest omnichannel technology provider for premium publishers to count on. Our experienced team is able to effectively address the diverse opportunities and challenges that arise in video advertising, having executed many exciting streaming video campaigns in partnership with leading broadcasters and streaming publishers throughout JAPAC, such as Nine, TVNZ, Emtek Digital and Samsung Ads.” 

She added, “Through Magnite Streaming, we’re reinforcing our commitment to address the unique needs of our clients and helping set them up for long term success to propel the progression of ad-supported CTV and OTT.”

The recent SSP launch comes after the recent news of Magnite’s global, two-year expanded partnership with Disney Advertising.

Sydney, Australia – Omnichannel advertising platform Kargo has acquired connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) platform VideoByte, as part of the former’s mission to deliver differentiated interactions to audiences through various platforms.

With the partnership, VideoByte will be adding innovative CTV advertising technology to broaden Kargo’s offerings to its brand partners and their audiences.

VideoByte will likewise be providing Kargo with access to a large and growing footprint across the television ecosystem and new advertising products to be launched in the next few months to drive immediate innovation to Kargo’s current customers.

“We are thrilled to join the Kargo team and are in lock-step with their mission to develop uniquely differentiated ad experiences that grab attention and drive performance for publishers and brands alike,” said David Naffis, CEO at VideoByte.

He also added that Kargo’s growth, scale, and reputation as market innovator will help accelerate VideoByte’s go-to-market as it continues to push innovating new CTV formats.

Moreover, Naffis will also be joining Kargo as its general manager of CTV.

Harry Kargman, CEO and founder at Kargo, also commented on the acquisition, “Acquiring VideoByte is a clear next step in our growth and evolution. Kargo has been expanding across multiple screens and the Connected TV experience is calling for this kind of ad format innovation and disruption that Kargo has brought to the mobile screen.”

According to Kargman, VideoByte also shares Kargo’s mission and vision to create unique and performant ad creatives through its platforms. 

“With VideoByte, we will bring an amazing Kargo experience to Televisions everywhere and change the landscape with new capabilities while driving massive value and success for both brands and publishers,” Kargman concluded. 

Founded in 2020, VideoByte already has a presence in CTV and OTT with integrations across major media companies including Viacom, Tegna, and LG, amongst others.

Prior to VideoByte, Kargo also previously acquired cloud-based video technology SaaS company Ziggeo to beef up its video offering capabilities.

Sydney, Australia – Finecast, GroupM’s addressable TV business, has partnered with Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) to make connected TV (CTV) advertising better, and help advertisers reach bigger audiences through BVOD campaigns.

The partnership, which is done also with Xandr, will utilise the strength of ‘Header Bidding’ technology on CTV campaigns, representing a positive shift in the access capabilities for addressable TV, whilst maintaining the benefits of buying flexibility.

The ‘Header Bidding’ technology has long been a part of the digital media ecosystem creating a fairer and more competitive programmatic marketplace for publishers. This provides increased access to inventory for buyers and greater transparency and visibility of available inventory for marketers. By allowing advance bidding on inventory from multiple ad exchanges simultaneously, header bidding reduces the inefficiencies of a sequential waterfall approach.

John Miskelly, APAC investment director at GroupM, said, “This is an exciting development in the connected TV/OTT video space where we can harness the agility and addressability of programmatic and have access to the best inventory. The broadcasters are doing a great job as TV transforms, and SBS and Finecast are demonstrating true best practice for access and innovation in the CTV ecosystem.”

Meanwhile, Lee Callagher, national digital operations and technology manager at SBS, commented, “Being able to prioritise both direct and programmatic demand whilst maintaining our premium ad experience is important for SBS’ future commercial strategy. Working with Finecast to successfully bring ‘Header Bidding’ to connected TV enables greater scale and reach for advertisers in BVOD.”

New York, USA – Media measurement and analytics company Comscore and adtech Tremor International have announced a partnership to deliver expanded programmatic CTV audience engagement, which will enable advertisers to reach relevant audiences and publishers to maximise yield on their digital advertising inventory.

Through the partnership, Comscore’s next generation cookie-free ‘Predictive Audiences’ are now available for activation across Tremor International’s end-to-end platform, which encompasses the Tremor Video DSP and the Unruly SSP.

Both clients of Comscore and Tremor International will be able to leverage cookie-free pre-bid audience targeting across desktop, mobile and CTV. Advertisers within the platform will be able to reach granular behavioural audiences based on video-level contextual signals, particularly within CTV environments. 

“As the leading solution in-market for creating a crosswalk between deterministic audience behaviours and privacy-forward contextual signals, Comscore’s Predictive Audiences drive next-level campaign performance for advertisers on Tremor International’s platform,” Tremor International said in a press statement.

Lee Blickstein, vice president for activation solutions at Comscore, said, “We are excited to partner with Tremor International to advance the CTV industry with more effective programmatic advertising. Traditionally, advertisers had to choose between high performing audience targeting tactics and future-proof solutions. Now with Tremor International, we are breaking down this barrier and taking a big step forward in what advertisers can expect from their CTV campaign performance.”

Meanwhile, Jessica La Rosa, VP of partnerships and data operations at Tremor International, commented, “As marketers introduce CTV into their mix, Tremor International is thinking about how we can introduce strong solutions at the outset, so our buyers can build and learn from compelling, relevant ad campaigns for the long-term.”

She added, “We are excited to partner with Comscore on this offering, as it provides a contextual-based solution to the standard third-party audience targeting, which is today powered by cookie IDs and MAIDs. Advertisers get the advantages of the same type of precise and granular audience reach, in a solution that works globally, and in a privacy-compliant manner, across all platforms, especially CTV.”

Our lives have transitioned online, powering a digital revolution. Connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) has overtaken the linear TV experience, moving past video-on-demand (VOD) to everyday programming, movies, live streams, and so much more. An Integral Ad Science (IAS) study found that CTV has become mainstream in key APAC markets; 7 in 10 consumers in Indonesia have access to a CTV device, and a whopping 92% of consumers increased their consumption of streaming content during COVID-19. 

Meanwhile, nearly 9 in 10 people stream content on CTV devices in Australia, and the story is similar in other markets. SpotX research earlier this year found that 68.5% of consumers regularly watch OTT in APAC, predominantly through mobile devices. In more developed markets like Japan, Singapore, and Australia, CTV is also gaining popularity.

Most viewers seek free or low-cost, ad-supported video-on-demand services as they feel the increased strain on their wallets. According to the IAS report, 84% of OTT viewers in Indonesia are willing to see ads in exchange for free streaming content over a paid ad-free service.

Programmatic opportunity in OTT and CTV

Traditionally, TV and OTT ad buys happened separately; however, advertisers increasingly consider them together, indicating an increasing trend of all TV transactions digitally. The efficiencies of programmatic buying and the opportunities to apply data to reach specific audience segments are huge benefits, accelerating the shift of traditional TV budgets to digital channels, especially when it comes to CTV and OTT inventory.

According to eMarketer, CTV programmatic video ad spend in the US is expected to exceed $6.73b in 2021 — accounting for 58.9% of US CTV video ad spend. The majority will be a private marketplace (PMP) and programmatic guaranteed deals, with rates often negotiated upfront. In APAC, many publishers predict more robust growth in CTV spending than their US peers, with a 34% rise in ad spend over the next 12 months compared with 20% for the US. The industry is working on advances in technology to allow a greater degree of addressability in CTV and more sophisticated decisioning for programmatic guaranteed buys across all video channels. 

As programmatic OTT opportunities grow, streaming content creators and services will look to optimise yield while preserving a TV-like viewer experience. Programmatic technology is evolving to meet these complex needs of advertisers and publishers, and OTT header bidding has emerged as a powerful solution.

Safeguarding CTV inventory 

Video content presents an immense opportunity for publishers and advertisers to maximise reach and revenue. However, with the proliferation of SSPs in the market, publishers can find it challenging to manage multiple integrations and optimise yield. 

The demand for CTV advertising is growing exponentially, fueled by increased targeting options, measurement, and transparency as part of programmatic buying. This will continue to open doors for advertisers to reach expansive audiences more efficiently and engagingly. Yet, CTV measurement is still evolving. Partnering with a trusted digital media quality provider can greatly help brands and publishers navigate this changing landscape. This will enhance advertisers’ confidence in OTT and CTV advertising while increasing opportunities for publishers.

Measurement will fuel the future of CTV advertising

During the pandemic, Connected TV (CTV) became the go-to video source for millions of homebound viewers. eMarketer estimates that advertisers will invest over USD$14.4b (£10.8bn) into CTV this year, growing to surpass USD$24.7bn (£18.5bn) by 2024. According to IAS’ Streaming Wars CTV study, CTV has become mainstream in Indonesia and Australia, with the majority of consumers having access to it and a whopping majority of respondents preferring the AVOD model and willing to see ads in exchange for free streaming video. CTV also remained the most viewable format overall, reaching 93.2% in H1 2021 according to our media quality report.

CTV, while still nascent in the region, offers a great advantage for marketers, combining the scale and attention achieved via traditional TV with the precision of digital. Across APAC, CTV viewers are watching for longer periods of time and choosing longer videos. Viewers are also watching a variety of content – from sports and travel to cooking and more.

We expect CTV consumption to grow in 2022 with the discoverability of content on CTV becoming a key focus. AVOD models have increased as video consumption increases, underpinned by the rapid growth of CTV the control and scale provided by programmatic will become even more essential. With the programmatic technology evolving, programmatic will not only facilitate investment into quality impressions but also drive value beyond verification with privacy-compliant, contextual avoidance, and targeting combined with enriched channel-level insights.

This article was written by Laura Quigley, SVP for APAC at IAS.

The article is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series What’s NEXT. This features marketing leaders sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year. The series aims to equip marketers with actionable insights to future-ready their marketing strategies.

If you are a marketing leader and have insights that you’d like to share with regards to the upcoming trends and practices in marketing, please reach out to [email protected] for an opportunity to have your thought-leadership published on the platform.

Singapore – DoubleVerify (DV), the digital media measurement, data, and analytics platform, has launched its ‘Fully On-Screen Targeting Solution’, which enables Connected TV (CTV) advertisers to target inventory from sources that have received DV’s Fully On-Screen Certification.

In 2020, DV launched its Fully On-Screen certification offering, an MRC-accredited post-bid measurement solution. As part of its offering, DV tests and evaluates leading CTV devices and apps to ensure ads are only displayed 100% on-screen and when the TV screen is turned on.

Through the new targeting solution, DV complements its post-bid measurement capabilities with pre-bid targeting, empowering programmatic advertisers to address CTV viewability challenges across the media transaction. This solution is available on Amobee, MediaMath, and Xandr, with more media-buying platform integrations forthcoming.

DV said that advertisers continue to shift budgets to CTV, and the need to understand performance and measurability is increasingly important. However, viewability – a measure of whether or not an ad had a chance to be seen by a user – has generally been assumed by CTV advertisers. 

In a recent test, DV has discovered that one in four top environments continued to play programming content – including recording ad impressions – after the television was turned off. DV has named this issue ‘TV Off’ – when the TV screen itself is in fact turned off but a CTV device or app remains on. 

Jack Smith, DoubleVerify’s chief product officer, shared that CTV commands some of the highest CPMs in digital advertising, which means brands expect that their ads deliver to engaged audiences while the TV set is on.

“DV’s first-to-market solution to target fully on-screen impressions will help CTV advertisers maximise their media investments and drive real business outcomes,” said Smith.

London, United Kingdom – Smartly.io, a global social advertising software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, has announced the acquisition of creative optimization platform Ad-Lib.io. Said acquisition advances Smartly.io’s cross-channel reach from social to now include dynamic creative optimization across programmatic, CTV and the entire Google ecosystem.

In addition, Smartly.io’s SaaS solution for social advertising will now be augmented by Ad-Lib.io’s enterprise suite of creative tools for YouTube, DV360 and Google Ads campaigns. The industry is seeing a growing demand for solutions that bring creative and media closer together across all channels.

Kristo Ovaska, CEO and co-founder at Smartly.io, said that the past two years have proven that creative technology has become the most important lever for driving digital advertising performance.

“Ad-Lib.io is a clear leader in the creative space by innovating on the mission-critical dimensions of workflow, automation, brand governance, personalization and insight. Their knowledge of the Google stack is unmatched in the industry and combining that with Smartly.io’s deep understanding of Facebook and the social stack across creative, media and data allows us to now serve customers across all major digital channels,” Kristo said.

Meanwhile, Oli Marlow-Thomas, founder and president at Ad-Lib.io, commented, “Smartly.io is the preeminent leader in delivering creative and media effectiveness for social. With brand marketers and agencies increasingly uniting their social and programmatic teams into integrated digital creative and media investment teams, this is a natural next step for both companies.”

In addition, Adit Abhyankar, CEO at Ad-Lib.io, added, “These teams are currently using multiple technologies or software partners, but going forward they won’t have to. The Smartly.io and Ad-Lib.io solution will provide the connective tissue to maximize creative effectiveness, media buying and creative intelligence.”

Smartly.io has its Asia-Pacific headquarters located in Singapore, while Ad-Lib.io has a presence in Hong Kong.