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  • Media Buyers: Ditch the Whitelist

    In today’s programmatic video buying landscape, the ‘whitelist’ rules.  The whitelist is god and the blacklist is a demi-god.  Media planners and data analysts run daily reports to figure out which sites and apps are worthy; spreadsheets get passed around, emails fly back and forth between buyers and sellers, specifying and clarifying which sites are to be the ‘chosen ones’ this week…and then media buyers start praying that everything works as planned.  On the flip side, media sellers send the new or revised list up the operations chain of command for implementation, hoping for the best.  Same drill next day.  “Please add these 15 sites to the whitelist; please remove these 5 sites, they are not performing….” It’s a revolving door of analysis, communications, adjustments, and praying.

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  • Beyond One Room, One Couch, One Screen

    Ad environments used to be easy to understand: a couch in a living room, positioned around a single screen. But today’s digital environment is more like five couches in front of 25 screens. It is now more important than ever to understand those environments and increase the likelihood of reaching the right person at the right time, in the right environment.

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  • Come to Stream Con NYC

    Stream Con NYC is the new home for business around digital content on the East Coast.  The Industry Summit is where you will engage with online influencers from YouTube & Vine, thought leaders and decision makers of brands, advertising, broadcasting, licensing, and publishing.  This is the perfect opportunity to develop new avenues of business or to put the finishing touches on a business deal that has been months in the making!

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  • Why Audience Aggregation Will Alter the Video Landscape Forever

    In the hierarchy of important metrics for video publishers, GRPs reign supreme, followed by impressions. From an advertiser perspective, using these two metrics makes it hard to compare performance across these two similar channels. Many large media companies are also grappling with how to reconcile GRPs and impressions, particularly when they try to build cross-channel media plans for their advertiser partners.  

    The biggest problem with GRPs and impressions is that they encourage spending on volume instead of value. While everyone knows that a brand wants to reach a desired audience with a particular frequency, when translated into GRPs or impressions, there are perverse monetary incentives to ignore those guidelines and go for volume instead.

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  • Viewability: Frack That!

    Digital Video Fracking for the Viewability Age

    Since early 2015, digital video media buyers have felt tremendous pressure to deliver “viewable” impressions.  Advertisers want to know, “Was my ad seen or did it at least have the opportunity to be seen?”  There’s a gold rush of VC-backed tech companies clamoring to be the virtual pick and shovel providers for an industry that is hungry for viewability.  With nascent measurement standards in flux and varying technical solutions, the industry is experiencing some turmoil.

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  • YouTube 2020 Predictions - The Preposterous Possibilities

    YouTube in its first decade has both transformed itself and the industry, which conjures the possibilities of what it can be by 2020.  YouTube’s audience, currently one billion global monthly unique views, ranks as a top-tier advertising business that fundamentally changes TV, the entertainment industry, and how brands spend their advertising budgets.  Here are ten predictions how YouTube will dominate the video ecosystem:

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  • The Inevitability of OTT and 5 Ways to Ensure Success

    Watching TV isn’t what it used to be. We have shifted from one screen having a monopoly on our viewing experience, being obligated to watch in a fixed place and at the whim of the operator’s regularly scheduled programming. Now, broadcasters and publishers must reach multiple screens, make content available to any viewer, anywhere, and most notably, whenever they want to watch.

    The rise of OTT isn’t just inevitable - we’ve arrived.

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  • Finding the Needle in the Haystack: A Programmatic TV Primer

    Television is facing a transformational moment in history, as viewers have more choices than ever before. Though still a fundamental pillar of marketing and a nearly $80 billion business, television has been dramatically changed by the rise of viewing devices and streaming options, and advertising buyers and sellers alike are struggling to keep up.

    Based on our own data, as well as third-party data, we present three key findings:

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