Data has become the rocket fuel behind video advertising and an audience-based buying future – helping advertisers boost targeting for higher ROIs, while allowing content providers to propel the value of their inventory and transact more fluidly.

At our recent 9th annual Video Ad Summit, a panel including Natalie Gabathuler-Scully (SVP, Revenue Operations, Vevo), Ben Maughan (VP, Business Development, Product, and Client Services, Advanced Media and Advertising, TiVo), George Musi (EVP of Marketing Sciences, Citi, Publicis OneTeam) and Dan Punt (Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting) as moderator, dug into the above topics and much more.

In particular, the panelists explored what’s involved in investing in a data strategy, the complexity of audience targeting models (and who does this modeling work), the incremental value of data when used appropriately and key challenges including many proprietary anonymous ID spaces that aren’t interoperable.

Data tends to be an overused word in the video ad business, but the panel demystified where data’s value really lies.