Tag: Nexxen

Singapore – Global unified adtech platform Nexxen has recently announced the appointment of Gretchen Johnson as chief people officer.

In her new role, Johnson will lead Nexxen’s human resources and talent acquisition teams, focusing on culture and employee development to ensure the company continues to hire and retain best-in-class talent.

Prior to her appointment, Johnson served as chief people officer at Siprocal, a gaming distribution, monetization and engagement platform. She also holds prior experience in the advertising technology sphere, as senior vice president, human resources director at Aegis Media, acquired by Dentsu; and vice president and group director of talent management at Digitas, the integrated marketing services brand within Publicis Groupe.

Speaking on her own appointment, Johnson said, “This is an exciting time to join Nexxen, with its customer-centric culture where both talent and innovation thrive. I look forward to working closely with the teams here to ensure these values are elevated through strategic HR initiatives.”

Meanwhile, Ofer Druker, chief executive officer at Nexxen, commented, “We are thrilled to welcome Gretchen Johnson to our team. The breadth and depth of her knowledge in orchestrating high-value human resources initiatives will enable us to align our people and organisation with our commercial strategy and execution.”

“Nexxen is the sum of our most valuable assets – our people – and through culture and employee development, Gretchen will help usher our organisation into a new stage of growth,” he added.

The APAC landscape is experiencing a creativity crunch. While customers increasingly demand hyper-personalised experiences across a growing range of digital channels, brands find themselves falling short. Only a quarter (25%) rate themselves as “good” at creating and delivering content, a recent report by Adobe finds.

Marketing is one of the most creative professions in the business landscape. So this disconnect is not attributable to any deficiency in talent. Instead, creativity – the very life force of innovation – is constrained by the relentless demands placed on their schedules. As Harvard Business Review research demonstrates, when creativity is under the gun, it usually fizzles.

Is time up on creativity?

Marketers are juggling several campaigns at any given moment. They’re crunching numbers, forecasting, managing stakeholders and preparing presentations — all of which leave very little wiggle room for creativity to blossom. No wonder two in five (41%) APAC marketers cite lack of time to be creative as a barrier to delivering excellent customer experiences.

It’s not the only barrier though. The fear of the unknown also hinders marketers from taking creative risks. It’s safer to stick with the tried-and-true standard route to success. While this aversion to the unknown may provide a sense of security, it can also stifle innovation and limit the ability to captivate audiences with fresh and imaginative campaigns.

Even more, it opens brands up to being leapfrogged by their competitors. In an era where trends evolve swiftly and consumer preferences constantly shift, staying ahead requires a dynamic and flexible approach. Brands must quickly adapt their campaigns to ensure their messaging speaks directly and compassionately to the customers they’re targeting. 

Overcoming creative roadblocks with data-driven insights

We’re seeing a landscape where consumers increasingly embrace customised ads and anticipate tailored experiences. That means, there’s a transformative opportunity for marketers to capitalise on data-driven insights. While Gartner suggests a potential reassessment of personalisation efforts by 2025, we see this as a pivotal moment to reshape strategies and amplify creative impact.

Considerable effort is invested in leveraging data to define and reach target audiences. However, the true potential lies in applying this data-driven approach to creative endeavours. Research underscores that robust creative elements can contribute up to 89 per cent to the success of an ad.

So rather than adhering to a one-size-fits-all approach, brands can harness the power of data to craft compelling and relevant stories for every individual within their target audience. By seamlessly aligning creative content with data-driven insights, they can ensure a personalised and engaging experience for each user, steering clear of potential roadblocks and charting a course toward unprecedented success.

Data-driven, in-stream video ads, for example, offer brands a powerful way to monetise their content while providing viewers with more personalised and engaging experiences. By leveraging data analytics and segmentation, publishers can optimise ad targeting and create a win-win situation for both publishers and advertisers.

5 Benefits of data-driven, in-stream video ads for publishers and advertisers

  • Higher Engagement: Personalised ads are more likely to capture viewers’ attention and lead to higher interaction rates.
  • Improved Ad Relevance: Viewers are more likely to find the ad content relevant to their interests, which can result in higher conversion rates.
  • Enhanced User Experience: Data-driven ads can create a seamless and less intrusive ad experience, leading to increased viewer satisfaction.
  • Increased Revenue: More engaging and relevant ads can both command higher advertising rates and potentially boost publishers’ revenue.
  • Better Insights: The data collected from user interactions and behaviour can provide valuable insights for future ad campaigns and content creation.
  • Improved Brand Metrics: Personalised ads have been shown to positively impact brand metrics, such as ‘Brand Recall, Brand Favorability, Active Attention, Purchase Intent and Intent to Find Out More’, offering a comprehensive enhancement to overall brand performance.

Nexxen Creative Studio offers full services for testing and optimising creative ad campaigns before they’re even launched thanks to its unique four-step method: test, learn, optimise, launch. Let’s take a closer look:

  • TEST your asset against your identified audiences with Nexxen’s proprietary tools
  • LEARN how audiences respond to your creative and receive actionable recommendations across all metrics
  • OPTIMISE your asset to be most engaging to audiences and add functionality to drive media goals
  • LAUNCH the optimised assets to match your media plan and increase ROI

Setting the bar higher with data-driven insights

With Nexxen Creative Studio, creative decisions are no longer guided solely by intuition but are empowered by data-driven insights. Our clients, spanning diverse industries, are witnessing remarkable outcomes:

  • A prominent image-sharing and social media service has experienced a staggering 244% increase in Click-Through Rate (CTR) and a notable 59% improvement in consideration. This transformation is attributed to the application of creative insights, customised optimisations and audience-driven strategies.
  • An app-based gaming company has achieved a remarkable 53% reduction in the cost per install by leveraging Nexxen’s creative services to fine-tune creatives specifically for CTV screens.
  • An iconic outdoor apparel company has realised a significant 38% enhancement in attention compared to its standard assets. This accomplishment is a result of employing Nexxen’s creative insights to inform and guide the optimisation process.

Delivering next-gen creative capabilities

Data-driven, in-stream video ads not only offer publishers a robust tool for monetisation but also pave the way for viewers to experience advertising that is both engaging and tailored to their preferences. This convergence of creativity and data signifies a new era in advertising – one where insights drive narratives and personalisation is the key to resonating with audiences in an ever-evolving landscape.

This article is written by Killian Menigot, Senior Production Manager, Tokyo, Nexxen Studios.

The insight is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series under What’s NEXT 2024. What’s NEXT 2024 is a multi-platform industry initiative which features marketing and industry leaders in APAC sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year.

At the intersection of technological innovation and evolving consumer behaviours, 2024 is set to be a dynamic year marked by transformative trends that will shape the retail media and advertising landscape.  From free ad streaming TV’s (FAST) exponential growth to the impact of AI in advertising, Let’s take a look at some strategic shifts poised to define the year ahead in an interview with experts from Nexxen. 

 “FAST” growth

For Tanja Williams, director of client success at Nexxen, as media consumptions continue to evolve we expect to see the momentum of connected TV (CTV) viewership continue. 

“Advertisers will spend more time and resources understanding what their audiences are watching in this fragmented space. We will see increased investment in CTV advertising, especially in the free (and ad-funded) services as the economic situation forces people to evaluate their expenditures and the Hollywood strikes affect new programming being produced,” she says.

She added, “Free Ad streaming TV (FAST) services will continue to grow exponentially as users see the benefits in niche channels, as well as their savings. We expect that these services will also evolve in 2024, engaging users and keeping them coming back. Advertisers will see the benefits by leveraging programmatic and data-driven targeting and converged insights.”

AI to significantly impact the scope of advertising in 2024

Meanwhile, Jay Kim, director of analytics and platform solutions for APAC at Nexxen said that AI will have significant impacts on the scope of advertising in 2024. “But we should specifically focus on AI Modelling, which we’ll be utilising quite heavily next year across our VIDAA ACR data activation and measurement,” he explains. He identifies three key AI trends impacting retail media:

  • Personalisation at Scale: AI algorithms excel at processing large data sets to identify patterns and preferences among consumers. By 2024, these algorithms will have become more sophisticated, allowing for even more granular and personalised advertising experiences without manual segmentation.
  • Predictive Analytics: AI’s predictive capabilities are expected to improve, allowing businesses to anticipate consumer needs and trends more accurately. Advertisers could leverage these insights to target users with the right message at the right time, potentially even before the consumer has fully recognised their own needs.
  • Predictive analysis and AI data modelling are advanced techniques that leverage statistical algorithms and machine learning to identify the likelihood of future outcomes based on historical data. They are critical in various sectors, including digital advertising, where they can forecast trends, user behaviour and the impact of different advertising strategies. 

“Furthermore, attention measurement in digital advertising is a critical aspect of understanding the effectiveness of ads,” he says. “By 2024, the methods and technologies to measure attention are likely to have advanced significantly, incorporating more sophisticated data analytics, biometric measures and AI-driven insights.”

Location-based targeting for retail media

According to Andrew Dixon, vice president of sales for APAC at Nexxen, several key trends are shaping the future of location targeting for retail media.

“As location-targeting technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative and effective ways to reach consumers with relevant advertising. Nexxen Locate helps brands to drive sales by using geo and hyper-local targeting,” he explains.

Below is an example of how Nexxen’s location targeting is being used in retail media:

  • Omnichannel targeting: Location targeting is becoming increasingly integrated with other marketing channels, such as social media and email marketing. This allows brands to create seamless and personalised experiences for their customers across all channels.
  • Increased use of first-party data: Retailers are collecting more and more data about their customers, including their purchase history, location data, and browsing behaviour. This data can be used to target ads with greater precision and relevance.
  • Use of AI: AI is being used to develop more sophisticated location-targeting algorithms that can identify patterns and trends in data. This can help brands target their ads more effectively and reach a wider audience.
  • Geofencing combined with contextual targeting: This powerhouse duo not only refines the precision of advertising but also creates a dynamic interplay between location and consumer context. By seamlessly merging real-time adaptability, hyper-local engagement and insightful foot traffic analytics, a geofencing strategy ensures that each interaction is not just targeted but tailored to the nuanced preferences and behaviours of its audience. It’s more than advertising; it’s about creating personalised, memorable experiences that resonate with customers wherever they are.

Interoperable identity solution 

Janice Chan, director and vice president of platform and client services for APAC at Nexxen reveals ehile the deprecation of third-party cookies is a tired topic, it will remain a significant talking point in the coming year. 

“Google has outlined its plans to migrate 1 per cent of Chrome users to the Privacy Sandbox, disabling the third-party cookies for this segment starting early 2024. The full deprecation is scheduled to conclude in the latter half of 2024, marking a pivotal moment for the industry,” she explains.

“However, thanks to Google extending the cookie deadline multiple times since early 2022, the majority of market players have developed more integrated identity solutions over the past few years, reducing their reliance on third-party cookies.”

In 2024, Chan anticipates there will also be stronger asks in the market for higher interoperability between different identity solutions, on both the demand and supply sides, to enable more seamless audience planning, activation and measurement across different mediums. 

“However, there is still a long way to go for a truly interoperable identity ecosystem, especially with the rise of CTV and walled gardens. As identity solutions gain more traction, advertisers will start demanding a more interoperable identity solution to understand, share, activate and measure audiences in a unified approach, helping to unlock the full benefits of cross-channel advertising,” she adds. 

“Apart from enriching and advancing the use of first-party activation via identity partners, contextual targeting will stay as one of the most popular tactics for brands to engage with audiences on the right content at the right time. Contextual targeting also has a lower activation barrier since it doesn’t rely on cookies and can deliver strong performance with cost efficiency.”

Growing reliance on ACR 

For Josif Zanich, managing director for JAPAC at Nexxen, as 2024 approaches, Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) is poised to become a pivotal tool across the dynamic Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

“ The scarcity of ACR data at scale has made it challenging for brands to truly understand how users interact with their Smart TVs and associated apps. However, ACR technology steps in as a catalyst, providing a wealth of insights that were previously elusive,” he says.

“Furthermore, by leveraging its sophisticated content recognition capabilities, ACR not only bridges the data gap but also adds valuable colour and depth to planning, buying and analysis at scale. As we move forward, we anticipate a growing reliance on ACR in the APAC region, not as a replacement but as a complementary tool that enriches the planning and buying processes.”

The ad server evolution in CTV and BVOD environments

Lastly, Adam Hunt, vice president of partnerships and business development for JAPAC at Nexxen reveals as the gap between streaming and linear audiences closes, publishers are placing increased importance on ensuring their tech stacks are set up to perform with the inevitable demands of a streaming-first future. 

“One of the main areas of focus is ad serving, as the “broadcast quality” experience that BVOD publishers strive for becomes increasingly important to manage effectively with more eyeballs. The ability to monetise these digital audiences through advertising remains a key component for success for all broadcasters, which is expected to grow in importance as streaming audience share continues to shift,” he says.

“Many CTV publishers are choosing to test and onboard secondary ad servers that have been purpose-built with the demands of CTV ad serving at the core of their functionality, best achieving the linear viewing experience for their audiences and maximising programmatic revenue through unified auctions.”

“Unified auctions that allow multiple demand sources to compete simultaneously for the same ad slot, ensure back-to-backs and competitor clashes are avoided, as well as lower page latency, higher inventory yield and increased fill rates. Combined with growing advertiser sentiment towards programmatic and an increase in CTV ad inventory, the role of programmatic is expected to gain a crucial role in monetising CTV and BVOD environments.”

The insight is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series under What’s NEXT 2023-2024. What’s NEXT 2023-2024 is a multi-platform industry initiative which features marketing and industry leaders in APAC sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year.

Singapore – Global unified adtech platform Nexxen has announced that it is expanding the offering of its free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) solutions for advertisers in Asia-Pacific. This will allow clients to run campaigns across this increasingly popular channel, in and beyond the region.

The company is working to ensure advertisers’ campaigns reach their target audiences, no matter the environment through a single destination for CTV inventory – including broadcaster video on demand (BVOD), advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) and FAST channels.

Further, Nexxen is updating its demand-side platform (DSP) to include a new storefront, focused on displaying broadcasters, FAST channels and additional premium publisher inventory. 

The storefront aims to provide brands and agencies with more direct and easier access to premium supply, thus streamlining digital campaigns. It also delivers increased visibility, transparency and control of inventory to publishers and broadcasters, enhancing their monetisation potential. The storefront is set to launch in 2024. 

Adam Hunt, vice president of business development and partnerships for APAC at Nexxen, said, “FAST channels have skyrocketed in popularity worldwide. As they continue to gain traction – particularly in APAC – we want to ensure our partners on both the buy- and sell-sides are empowered to make well-informed decisions regarding their inventory needs and capitalise on the highest yielding opportunities.”

He added, “We believe the storefront will be a welcome solution for agencies, brands and publishers alike, providing all parties with greater visibility and control as they navigate this ever-changing ecosystem.”

New York, USA – Tremor International, the parent company managing the combined demand-side platforms (DSP) Amobee and Tremor Video, the supply-side platform (SSP) Unruly, and the CTV ad server Spearad, has endeavoured into a major rebranding. 

Adopting the new name, Nexxen, the unified branding direction will encompass all of the company’s key business units. Moving forward, products will be called, Nexxen DSP, Nexxen SSP, and Nexxen Ad Server. Furthermore, the latter two – its SSP and Ad Server platforms – will go to market collectively as Nexxen CTRL.

Nexxen bridges the buy- and sell-sides through a single, cohesive video- and CTV-focused platform, that aims to enrich every stage of the campaign lifecycle with advanced and exclusive data, including automatic content recognition (ACR) data. Each pillar of the company’s technology stack is aimed at effectively addressing industry challenges, minimising waste, and maximising media spend and revenue across premium content and scaled targeted audiences. 

Following the integration of Amobee earlier in 2023, brands, agencies, and media companies will be able to leverage Nexxen for discovery, cross-platform planning, activation, measurement and optimisation.

“Nexxen embodies our vision for a robust and flexible horizontal platform that can be tailored specifically to meet our partners’ needs by enabling effective video campaigns across all screens, with a specialisation in CTV. This new chapter is grounded in delivering meaningful value, capitalising on the collective strength of our technology, data and services to work in the ways that are most impactful to brands, agencies and publishers,” said Ofer Druker, CEO of Tremor International. 

“As we look to the future, Nexxen is well-positioned to drive superior outcomes, through advanced audience discovery and planning tools with cross-platform capabilities that ensure incremental reach in converged linear and Connected TV, unique and exclusive data sets including ACR, and powerful, dynamic data-driven creative,” added Druker. 

Moving forward, the company shared that it also intends to change the listed Tremor International Ltd. parent company name to Nexxen International Ltd., subject to a shareholder vote at its upcoming Annual General Meeting.