Why BVOD Shines Bright In A Cookieless World

While the crumbling of the cookie has rocked many an ad practice, broadcast video on demand is one channel that is poised to not just survive, but shine, according to EMX Digital country lead Deryck Wills.

Marketers have never been under more pressure than they are today.

Whether it’s juggling multiple campaigns and media channels or getting a handle on big issues such as brand safety and consumer privacy nuances, the job has become increasingly complex.

With such complexity and market fragmentation comes the intense pressure to keep up with the latest innovations, technologies and of course, stay apace with the fast-moving consumer.

The intensity around proving return on investment (ROI) has also ramped up, which has its benefits and disadvantages.

On the one hand, being cautious over ad spend tactics and new media channel dalliances can be seen as a prudent move, on the other hand, such risk-averse behaviour can stifle innovation and inhibit test and learn mentalities.

This brings me to the crossroads where marketers seem to currently be at with broadcast video on demand (BVOD) right now.

Yes, there’s a pool of bold marketers following the eyeballs and investing in BVOD, but many of these are seemingly TV spenders who have opted to slightly split the TV spend pot. Or alternatively, they’ve taken the advice of those proactive and forward-thinking agencies that are urging a shift in ad spend towards BVOD.

According to ThinkTV figures released earlier this year, viewing of commercial BVOD rocketed by 43% to a new record in February, compared to a year earlier.

These ThinkTV numbers are rightly getting marketers excited about what BVOD could do for their brand. When you couple this with some of the cookieless measurement tools that are now becoming available, the future starts looking very bright.

With Apple, Mozilla and Google cracking down on third-party cookie tracking in their browsers, this brings a world of new challenges to an online advertising world that still relies on cookies.

Yes, unique cookies that track your online behaviour are valuable, but they aren’t the be-all and end-all and shouldn’t throw ad targeting tactics into a downward spiral.

While programmatic advertising is undergoing this large-scale change, it’s important to remember that despite the perceived threat, there lies the opportunity to reach deeper into the media channels that are set not to be rocked by the demise of cookies.

Essentially, cookies are only the tip of the data iceberg and its time marketers wised up to that.

This is where I feel BVOD is poised to really step up to the plate and take a bigger slice of the ad spend pie.

There are BVOD tracking methods that are 100 per cent cookieless that do not rely on the data management platform (DMP) solutions that currently pull in such data; it’s just they are only now hitting the market.

As an example, EMX can match data that comes through in the bid request with what already exists within the Engine Insights research panel. Once we match the viewer in their database we can send them a survey to determine campaign performance and report on important metrics like, brand uplift, purchase intent etc. This is a first of its kind and these insights are helping prove the true ROI of marketers BVOD campaigns.

It is early days but results so far from our client beta tests show outstanding results and it’s something marketers should be excited about.

Compared to cookie match rates of around 0.08 per cent, we see around a four per cent match rate using non-cookie matching.

This allows us to generate far higher responses and in return, provide better statistical relevance.

This shift from relying on the cookie serves to prove that with the right test and learn attitude, bold marketers and agencies who are willing to step out of their comfort zone can open themselves up to even better ways of doing things than before.

It just takes a curious mindset, a thirst for education and a desire to want to traverse paths unexplored.

So, the next time you read a story about the doom and gloom of data and privacy shakeups or fear-mongering about negative ramifications of a cookieless world, challenge yourself to think first and foremost about how this could, in fact, be a positive.

BVOD is a glowing case in point. A booming new channel with roots in the traditional, yet the way it can be measured and explored is set to shake up and innovate the TV sector as we know it.

It just takes a different approach and a willingness to dig that bit deeper.

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