OTT ad spend is expected to hit $5 billion by 2020, but it’s also adding another platform to an already fragmented landscape. As TV and the need for cross-screen and OTT campaigns become more prevalent, clients must find partners that can execute traditionally and programmatically.
This is what TV advertising solutions company MadHive set out to do with their recent partnership with Smart TV viewing data provider Inscape. MadHive has paired their AI programmatic advertising platform with Inscape’s glass level TV viewing data from more than 11 million Smart TVs to sell linear advertising alongside data enriched OTT inventory. More importantly, the partnership will help brands easily plan, target, measure and optimize cross-platform, linear and OTT campaigns in real-time in a way not done before.
“OTT allows advertisers to leverage the precision targeting of digital on the TV screen, but at the same time it’s also contributing yet another platform to an already fragmented media landscape,” said Adam Helfgott, CEO at MadHive. “This partnership enables advertisers to holistically analyze cross-screen, linear and OTT campaigns, while calibrating audiences to drive real business outcomes.”
Currently, MadHive is powering linear to OTT reach extension, targeting, and fraud detection in nearly all (95%+) of the DMAs across the United States. This gives local broadcasters the ability to offer addressable advertising and allows national and local brands to reach local markets.
“Advertisers are increasingly looking to take advantage of optimized OTT ad buys, especially using local broadcaster inventory,” said Jodie McAfee, SVP of Sales and Marketing at Inscape. “This deal brings optimized cross-platform advertising to all local TV markets in the U.S., regardless of what service provider a home uses to bring OTT into the home.”
MadHive is also integrated across TEGNA Premion’s 125+ local OTT networks, to generate better targeting for advertisers and cryptographic proof for buy-side transactions. “OTT not only has the capacity to extend an advertiser’s reach, but working with MadHive we are able to measure a campaign’s impact on select business outcomes,” said Jim Wilson, President of Premion.
Cross-platform solutions like this are going to play an essential role in the future of advertising. Local advertisers, by their very nature, must be more sophisticated, as they work to deliver business outcomes. National brands can now also leverage similar targeting strategies to either execute a national buy or heavy up in local markets.
With people consuming content on more and more screens, the industry needs to develop solutions that look at these platforms holistically in order to effectively optimize advertisers’ media dollars. And this partnership enabling advertisers to strategically plan campaigns across linear and OTT, is a great first step in driving the idea of cross-platform cohesion, and they’re doing it in a way no others are.