Last Thursday, Melbourne woke up to smell the coffee with PubMatic’s networking breakfast, which focused on future-proofing broadcast investments.
Taking place at magnificent The Promenade Docklands, the event offered some serious food for thought with an expert panel of broadcasting and buying buffs who shed a whole lot of light on how to keep things sunny side up across BVOD and Linear, not least as we move into a future rife with economic uncertainty.
Host Dylan Robinson (ANZ country manager for PubMatic) was joined by speakers Luke Smith (head of programmatic sales and audiences at Seven West Media) and Daniella Kenney (head of digital partnerships at Dentsu).
Robinson commented, “For me, it sounds like this sort of evolution is going on.”
In a (very brief!) summary, that evolution revolves around…
1. There’s growth happening within BVOD, but linear isn’t being cannibalised.
“Do clients think of BVOD as a linear TV extension?” is the question Robinson opened with.
Kenney said for her, smaller agencies and clients BVOD “is their way of being able to access that big screen in the living room where traditionally they wouldn’t have been able to afford linear TV.”
Smith agreed saying, “BVOD is lowering the barriers to entry for more brands to come in and to be able to experience this premium environment and to be reaching audiences in new and different ways.
“They couldn’t afford the first in-play break in the AFL Grand Final on the last Saturday of September. Not every brand can afford that. But they might be able to afford 50,000 impressions in the stream of the AFL Grand Final.”
Ultimately however, Smith said that at Seven, “We believe in total TV, we believe in convergence, we absolutely want to be able to bring those those two areas together.”
For example, their OzTAM data has showed that during The Commonwealth Games, for people 18 to 39, BVOD delivered 23 per cent incremental audience on top of broadcast. Further, they found that by taking 30 to 40 per cent of the broadcast budget, and applying it to BVOD, a 20 per cent improvement in your cost per reach could be delivered.
2. Measurement is complex and needs to be sifted out – refined and defined in terms of who to use, how to use it.
Investing in correct data was one of the cruxes of this observation.
Smith insists that “we need to, as an industry come together and go, who has got the best idea over who these audiences are within BVOD… as opposed to using five different providers who are all saying different things.”
Smith explained Seven’s use of OzTAM for their measurement which is “a combination of panel panel based data, looking at data running through all the routers of households, and also the across the OzTAM ID as well.”
Put simply, the output of which is “is to be able to say, okay, who’s watching on broadcast? Who is watching on BVOD?” said Smith.
For Kenney their team has evolving to adapt to the changing BVOD/Linear landscape at Dentsu. “We’ve now got a head of screens within amplify which we didn’t have before,” he said. They utilise a “screens planning tool” to help work out “the best (channel) mix of what they should be doing to reach the audience who are looking at that the frequency that they are after.”
3. There are new players coming in.
With players like Netflix and Disney Plus Kenney states:
“Consumers have so many ways of being entertained now,” notes Kenney. For them whether it’s live streaming, linear TV on Demand, or watching AVOD with the likes of Netflix or Disney Plus, to them “it’s still going to be quality content that they’re watching with advertising within it.”
From Kenney’s perspective the next hurdle is: “how are we going to bring this whole ecosystem in?” She continues: “What we’re doing is looking at how we can evolve our platform further to be able to help with the trading and the buying side.” That means putting BVOD with linear across all networks (not just Seven, or 10 Play or SBS) together.
Smith sees the additional competition as “an opportunity to increase the size and importance of the market.”
“You know, there’s a generation of kids that are growing up at the moment that don’t want ads and don’t see them. And that’s a good and a bad thing because it presents a new opportunity for how our how we can potentially create a product for that.”
4. Levelling the playing field from a compliance perspective.
With reforms like the California Privacy Act, we’re all aware how important compliance is and continues to be for our industry.
At Dentsu Kenney said, “We have now launched an identity and audience solution, which basically means that we can then bring in our clients data if they would like to bring that in.”
Smith added, “At Seven, it comes down to privacy, compliance and choice.” It’s about giving audiences choice, not forcing them to log in, and equipping them with the legitimate ability to opt out.
But what that does mean is that data matching and a “clean room” has become really important, which takes time to set up. Smith recalled one client that took 12 months to set up due to compliance and regulations within the organisation.
As the industry evolves such investments, in time, in resources, across BVOD and Linear, measurement to compliance will be necessary to prepare for the future.
Which is where providers like PubMatic make a great difference when it comes to ROI. Their MO? “Maximis(ing) customer value by delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future.”
Find out more by visiting PubMatic’s website here.
