Publishers and advertisers work with treasure troves of data that require working in the weeds. But sometimes, working too deep can give you tunnel vision and cause people to miss the bigger picture.  

This is especially true when working with diverse audience data. Some miss out on multicultural audiences with massive opportunity and spending power. According to the Nielsen-Univision ROI of Inclusivity Study, experts expect Spanish speakers in the U.S. to grow to over 75 million by 2030 and projected Hispanic buying power in the U.S. to reach $1.9 trillion by the end of 2023. 

Still, some brands are seeing the potential in Spanish-language media. “I’ve seen a major shift in how AVOD is serving Hispanic audiences, with brands growing recognition of the incredible potential within this demographic,” shared Isabel Rafferty Zavala, CEO of Canela Media. 

In fact, EDO just released a study  analyzing every national TV ad that ran on Spanish-language TV and the data shows that ads that run on these channels have been 31% more effective than those on English-language TV. Spanish-language streaming’s growth presents a unique opportunity for publishers to engage a vibrant audience and optimize revenue streams, while allowing advertisers to improve targeting and capitalize on innovative ad technologies. However, it’s crucial to represent these communities authentically.

The Surge in Spanish-Language Streaming

With a large and growing Hispanic population in the U.S. and abroad, streaming platforms are ramping up their offerings of Spanish-language content, creating fertile ground for publishers looking to reach Hispanic audiences through targeted advertising and cutting-edge ad operations.

Key Players and Market Growth:

Televisa-Univision’s ViX+ launched in 2022 after a major merger combining Mexican multimedia company (Televisa) and the largest provider of Spanish-language content in the US (Univision). Starting with an ambitious goal, they offer over 10,000 hours of Spanish-language entertainment, ranging from telenovelas to original productions. 

They now offer ad-supported and subscription-based models with TelevisaUnivision’s flagship streaming service, Vix, amassing 50 million monthly active users, up 70% over last year.

They also acquired a free, ad-supported streaming service — Univision’s PrendeTV — to complement their Univision NOw subscription service. 

Latino-owned Canela Media has capitalized on the surge of Hispanic viewers by offering free, ad-supported content across multiple genres. Reportedly the fastest-growing Hispanic media company in the U.S., the CEO Isabel Rafferty Zavala launched the streaming service to celebrate the U.S. Hispanic community by delivering culturally relevant high-quality entertainment.

“My role has been to push for innovation — whether through our content offerings or the technology we use,” said Zavala. And this is not just lip service. Canela Media offers a wealth of first-party data through Canela Audience Solutions, reaching 76M unique devices. The OTT-first data product accurately identifies Hispanic audiences across English and Spanish content.

Other players:

Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max are all embracing this trend, significantly expanding their Spanish-language libraries to cater to Hispanic viewers and international markets. 

Other players include fuboTV Latino, providing 65 Spanish-language channels, including Zona Fútbol and FOX Deportes. Then there’s Peacock’s Tplus, in partnership with Telemundo, offering telenovelas, news, and sports. Comcast’s NOW TV Latino provides over 25 live Spanish-language channels featuring a mix of movies, shows, sports, and news for diverse viewing preferences. 

Crafting Culturally Resonant Campaigns in a Multilingual Market

The rise of Spanish-language streaming opens new doors for publishers and advertisers. With bilingual and bicultural audiences, they can leverage advanced technologies to create practical and dynamic ad experiences explicitly tailored to Hispanic demographics.

Programmatic Advertising: Programmatic solutions allow for precise audience targeting based on language preferences, cultural nuances, and consumption habits to deliver highly relevant messaging to  maximize engagement.

For instance, Macarta used Amazon’s Spanish Language Targeting Program for geo-targeting Spanish-speaking consumers and delivering tailored messaging to increase traffic and sales. 

Dynamic Ad Insertion:  Spanish-language streaming platforms leverage real-time dynamic ad insertion to seamlessly integrate ads into content. Advertisers can adjust creative messaging based on viewer data, location, or even cultural events. By delivering ads at the perfect moment, this technology enhances viewer experience while boosting ad effectiveness. 

With Akta’s Cloud Video Platform, TelevisaUnivision’s ViX streaming service leverages DAI, replacing broadcast ads with digital ads on their streaming platform, according to Michael Cerda, CPO for Streaming at TelevisaUnivision.

Cross-Platform Campaigns: Advertisers can also explore cross-platform advertising strategies ensuring  consistent messaging by tying campaigns across ViX+, Canela, Pantaya, and mainstream services like Netflix and HBO Max to amplify reach.

Unlocking Revenue Potential Through Targeted, Authentic Engagement

Maximizing revenue in the Spanish-language streaming segment requires deeply understanding Hispanic audiences, who show strong loyalty to platforms offering authentic, culturally relevant content.

To capitalize on this, publishers should focus on audience segmentation by developing detailed viewer profiles based on region, language preferences (Spanish, English, or bilingual), and content consumption habits. 

“Targeted, personalized, culturally relevant ads will only increase in importance as time goes on. Audience data can help advertisers understand where their target audiences are consuming content and learn behavioral insights about them,” according to App Science.

AVOD platforms, such as Canela, offer a clear path to monetizing content through targeted ads, while SVOD caters to audiences willing to pay for premium, ad-free experiences. Hybrid models, like TelevisaUnivision, offer a combination of ad-supported and ad-free tiers and are also gaining traction, providing publishers with diverse revenue streams.

As EDO outlined in their study, Spanish-language TV’s impact is even greater when combined with a highly engaging streaming environment. For instance, auto brands advertising on TelevisaUnivision’s streaming service ViX were 29% more effective than Convergent TV.

According to Zavala, Canela Media owes its AVOD  success “to focusing its monetization strategies by connecting brands with content that reflects the values, diversity, and interests of our community, ensuring that advertising feels both organic and impactful.” 

Additionally, partnering with Hispanic-focused brands presents another lucrative opportunity. For instance, TelevisaUnivision’s partnered with United Airlines’ Kinective Media to integrate ViX streaming content into in-flight entertainment. The collaboration merged data assets, enhancing Kinective’s platform for targeted advertising, allowing TelevisaUnivision to drive ViX subscriptions and deliver ads to Spanish-speaking travelers.

Tapping Into Cultural Relevance for Lasting Impact

As the surge in Spanish-language streaming continues, publishers and advertisers have a unique opportunity to deepen their connection with a dynamic and growing audience. By embracing cultural relevance, leveraging innovative technologies, and fostering authentic partnerships, they can unlock new revenue streams while serving the diverse needs of Hispanic viewers. Success lies in understanding the nuances of diverse demographics, respecting cultural values, and delivering personalized experiences.

The post What the Surge in Spanish-Language Streaming Means for Advertisers and Publishers appeared first on AdMonsters.

Rumors are swirling that The Trade Desk (TTD) is quietly working on a smart TV operating system. If true, this bold move could shake up the CTV market.

According to a scoop from Lowpass TTD  has been secretly assembling a team, including former Roku employees, to develop this OS. They’ve been working on this project since the pandemic, and are said to go live in 2025.

So, what’s the play here? Is this about controlling CTV ad inventory? Absolutely. If this project comes to fruition, it won’t just pit TTD against CTV giants like Roku, Amazon, and Google — it will fundamentally reshape how ads are bought and sold in CTV land.

Owning the Ecosystem: More Than Just Ads

The Trade Desk’s ambitions go way beyond simply building a TV OS. This is about controlling the entire advertising infrastructure — from retail media to CTV to the open web.

It’s no secret, TTD has been digging into the $500 billion retail media pie, building partnerships with Walmart, Target, and Home Depot to leverage their goldmine of first-party data for ad targeting — while going head-to-head with rivals like Criteo and CitrusAds.

If TTD controls the smart TV OS, they won’t just be competing with Roku and Amazon; they’ll own the pipes through which ads flow, transforming themselves into the ultimate gatekeeper.

This move dovetails perfectly with TTD’s other plays. Think about how OpenPath bypasses SSPs to create a direct line between advertisers and publishers. Now imagine OpenPath combined with control of the smart TV OS — TTD wouldn’t just control ad spend, they’d dominate how the entire ecosystem operates.

A Unified Consumer Profile: The Holy Grail of Targeting

Retail media gives TTD an edge, providing crucial data for advertisers in a world where third-party cookies are phasing out.

Combining that data with CTV viewing habits opens a treasure trove of insights about consumers — from what they’re binge-watching to what’s in their shopping carts. For advertisers, that’s the holy grail of targeting. Talk about a 360-degree view of the consumer journey.

According to AdAge, TTD’s smart TV OS project is also about safeguarding data. With data signals like third-party cookies and mobile identifiers diminishing, this OS would allow the ad tech giant to create a data-rich environment, integrated with their Unified ID 2.0 identity solution.

This move is about more than just controlling ad delivery — it’s a way for TTD to hedge against future restrictions on data collection. By owning the OS, TTD would have deeper access to first-party data, including key signals like hardware addresses and IPs, making ad targeting and measurement much easier.

The Real Power Play: Controlling the Pipes

TTD’s smart TV OS could become the new middleman for CTV advertising, deciding who gets access to ad inventory and who doesn’t. By providing better-revenue-sharing deals and more flexibility for hardware manufacturers than their competitors, TTD could easily entice them to adopt their system. This could also mean attracting publishers who are frustrated with the rigid terms of existing platforms.

What makes this move even more powerful is the potential to bake Unified ID 2.0 right into the fabric of the OS<. With privacy regulations tightening, controlling the OS would position the ad tech behemoth to offer the granular targeting advertisers crave — without relying on third-party platforms like Roku or Amazon.

For Publishers: Is This a Goldmine or a Trap?

But things could get tricky for publishers. On one hand, TTD’s OS could offer more transparency and control, streamlining the process of accessing high-value inventory. TTD’s Top 100 Premium Publishers List already hints at the company’s desire to curate who is considered “premium” in ad land. If this OS follows that pattern, publishers could find themselves inside a new lucrative ecosystem — or left out in the cold.

If TTD can cut out the middlemen by building their own OS, they can offer publishers better revenue splits while controlling the data that flows through the system. This would also give them a massive competitive advantage.

The potential downside? With TTD controlling the data and distribution, the ad-buying process would be streamlined. But it could also increase publisher reliance on TTD’s ecosystem — a double-edged sword if there ever was one.

The Challenges Ahead: Not So Fast

TTD’s ambitions are grand, but their road ahead isn’t paved smoothly. The company faces stiff competition< from established players like Roku, Google, and Amazon, all of whom currently dominate the CTV market. Convincing TV manufacturers to adopt a new OS is no easy task, especially when TTD would be relatively new to this space.

Additionally, TTD’s reliance on Android AOSP (the same open-source foundation that Amazon’s Fire TV OS uses) could create conflicts with Google. In the past, Google has clashed with companies using forked versions of Android, and TTD could find itself caught in similar struggles. Technical hurdles aside, TTD has to convince consumers to adopt their platform — a significant challenge given the dominance of today’s streaming kingpins.

The Bigger Picture: TTD’s Long Game

Ultimately, TTD’s play for a smart TV OS is a bold move to integrate retail media, CTV, and open web advertising into one seamless ecosystem.

For advertisers, the appeal is clear — seamless, cross-platform targeting powered by first-party data from multiple sources allowing them to track and target consumers across every screen. This could redefine targeting as we know it.

For publishers, the opportunity to tap into TTD’s unified infrastructure could mean more revenue, but it also comes with risking over-reliance.

One thing’s for sure: The Trade Desk isn’t just building a smart TV OS — they’re building the future of digital advertising, one pipeline at a time. With each move, TTD is tightening its grip on the ad supply chain, positioning itself as the essential middleman for advertisers, publishers, and consumers.

The post Is The Trade Desk Building a Smart TV OS? Here’s What This Could Mean For the Advertising Ecosystem appeared first on AdMonsters.

In an exclusive Q&A, Michael Scott, Vice President, Head of Ad Sales, Revenue and Operations – North America at Samsung Ads, and Takashi Nakano, Senior Director of Business Development and Content Acquisitions at Samsung TV Plus, share insights into the groundbreaking AI advancements shaping the future of advertising at Samsung. From the expansion of their Smart Outcomes suite to the introduction of Smart Acquisition solutions, Samsung is setting new standards in ad performance and audience engagement.

These new AI-powered tools not only bridge campaigns across CTV and mobile but also optimize efficiency and deliver superior outcomes for advertisers. As Samsung continues to push the boundaries of innovation, discover how they leverage AI and machine learning to drive conversion, enhance targeting, and offer unparalleled advertising solutions.

Yakira Young: Both Michael Scott and Cathy Oh highlighted the role of AI in enhancing advertising solutions at Samsung. Can you share more about the recent innovations in AI technology and its integration into Samsung Ads advertising platforms? Can you explain how these AI tools work and the specific advantages they offer advertisers?

Michael Scott: At Samsung, we envision a future where intelligent, interconnected experiences enrich our lives, which is why we’re prioritizing AI as it is the cornerstone of our innovation.

Samsung Ads is expanding its suite of AI-powered performance solutions, Smart Outcomes, with new solutions. These new offerings come on the heels of the successful launch of Samsung Smart Audiences, combining the scale of Samsung’s ecosystem with the power of AI and machine learning to drive conversion. SMART Outcomes starts with your desired objective, be it app downloads, engagement, retention or purchase attribution and dynamically optimizes inventory to deliver your desired outcome.

Our new Smart Acquisition solution is designed to drive new user acquisition to the destination of your choice, be it mobile, web or on the TV.  Launched initially for our streaming app advertisers, Samsung Smart Acquisition has delivered exceptional results in driving new app subscriptions on Samsung TVs. This solution is now scaled for your brand whether you are a pizza company, a DTC brand, or streaming media company. For example, if you are an advertiser with a mobile app looking to acquire new users or increase engagement, Smart Acquisitions leverages Samsung’s unique Smart TV real estate paired with our unique AI capabilities to acquire new users specifically for your mobile app. Through our partnerships with top MMPS, advertisers can also prove more ROI by measuring return on ad spend through our partnerships.

For advertisers, Samsung Ads’ AI-powered solutions help you improve efficiency, achieve outcomes across the entire sales funnel and ultimately make your media strategy smarter over time.

YY: Can you provide more details on the newly introduced Smart Acquisition and CTV to Mobile solutions? How do these innovations help advertisers bridge their campaigns across CTV and mobile and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of advertising campaigns?

MS: We know that as audiences fragment across platforms and devices, advertisers are facing the challenge of both missed reach and duplicated reach. Smart Acquisition helps solve for that by addressing fragmentation for advertisers aiming to reach their best audiences with greater efficiency – especially where they are most receptive and responsive. Not only does this optimize engagement and ROI, but it also streamlines performance monitoring and campaign refinement.

YY: Travis Scott Howe mentioned “Optimal Reach” for sharper audience targeting. How does this tool utilize Samsung’s proprietary data to improve advertising reach and effectiveness?

MS: Optimal Reach provides insights across linear and streaming to identify gaps in reach, unexposed audiences, and target “missed audiences’ at scale using machine learning through a single source solution that leverages a myriad of proprietary Samsung Adsdata signals, such as data from our proprietary viewer panel, TV & You, linear and in-app ACR data and more. Leveraging billions of data points across screens in-home, in hand, and on-the-go, our extensive proprietary dataset integrated into our machine learning engine stands unrivaled.

Lynne d Johnson: A swath of Samsung’s audiences are being categorized as Super Influencers. Who are those Super Influencers and why is that such a coveted audience for advertisers?

MS: According to a recent Advertising Research Foundation survey of over 50,000 people, Samsung’s audience has more spending power with a higher income than other OEM users – and they care about checking their financial standing on a regular basis. They are what the study calls “super influencers” when it comes to tech, electronics and video games.

These super influencers are loyal, well-educated, family-oriented (more likely to have children in the home), and are likely to use flight and hotel reward programs for travel. They are also actively engaged and, though they are busy, they make up for it by being more likely to shop and order food delivery online.

LdJ: Can you talk about how purchase attribution and engagement attribution help to dynamically optimize inventory to deliver advertisers desired outcomes? I think you guys call it Smart Outcomes, right?

MS: As marketers are increasingly tasked with accountability and efficiency, Samsung Ads’ outcome-driven solutions are based on advertisers’ most requested business outcomes.

Built on the undeniable scale and proprietary data sets, Smart Outcomes allows Samsung Ads to deliver result-driven campaigns capable of driving a variety of in-demand outcomes tied to key performance indicators (KPIs). These performance-focused solutions pull together planning and optimization tools across Samsung Adsproduct portfolio including pre-campaign insights tool Audience Advisor, AI-driven Smart Audiences, and the Samsung Pixel product amongst others.

YY: Samsung TV Plus is getting major league sports channels thanks to partnerships with MLB, AHL, Formula 1, and others. How do these collaborations align with your broader advertising and content strategy?  How do you plan to attract sports fans and bring them deeper into the funnel?

Takashi Nakano: We remain focused on delivering a premium, seamless viewing experience where users can simply switch on and start watching.

FAST continues to take a hold as viewers’ preferred viewing vehicle, and sports leagues are responding to that demand. In fact, we’ve seen over 60% growth in time spent viewing year over year, showing that Samsung TV Plus, our FAST and AVOD service, is a tremendous engagement vehicle that keeps viewers coming back for more. As the premiere FAST service on Samsung TVs, Samsung TV Plus provides sports leagues with the flexibility they need to deliver their local and national live games, pre-and-post-game coverage, documentaries, and everything in between to engaged sports fans with the tech that is required at scale.

With our all-new, premium sports partnerships, we’re launching exclusive and first-to-FAST offerings that will deliver more of the content fans want, across the most in-demand Sports category. Our new partnerships will bring the MLB, the AHL the Ontario Reign, ONE Championship TV, the PGA TOUR, and Formula 1 to all Samsung device owners with access to extensive free content offerings, and will make some key sporting event, free of cost to all Samsung device owners.

With Samsung TV Plus, we’re continuing to build a vast, unrivaled library of brand safe, quality content that viewers want to watch, with over 2,600 ad-supported channels globally, and nearly 500 national and local channels in the US.

YY: Starting next month, advertisers can sponsor the Samsung News app on Galaxy devices. What does this mean in terms of ad placement and visibility for advertisers? And how will the Olympics feature within news services benefit both users and advertisers?

MS: With roadblocks that include both display and video ads in its top five editorial news sections, advertisers can benefit from prime ad placement for their campaigns, reaching a wider audience base across diverse platforms. Think of the opportunity here – advertisers can reach their specific target audience watching their favorite show on Samsung TV Plus on the big screen, and then re-engage them with a tailored message later in the day when they’re on-the-go on their mobile phones.

Additionally, the Samsung News Galaxy mobile app is set to feature curated, up-to-the-minute Olympic content this summer in partnership with the International Olympic Committee. This new offering comes at a pivotal time where live sports continue to dominate as a major opportunity for reaching new audiences, gaining deeper insights and delivering innovative ad experiences.

The post Samsung Ads Unveils AI Innovations: Elevating Ad Performance and Audience Engagement appeared first on AdMonsters.

Who you partner with for monetizing your video inventory across screens can mean the difference between success and failure for publishers. With your CTV inventory, you want a partner who can also fix issues around brand safety, fraud, frequency, ad pods, and publisher yields. This is especially true when CTV feels more like TV for viewing audiences. 

Take the flourishing partnership between TMB (Trusted Media Brands) and Unruly, a leading CTV and video advertising platform. TMB selected Unruly as one of its preferred SSP partners following TMB’s acquisition last year of Jukin Media, a top streaming and social video company.

Following the acquisition, TMB found itself with more than two billion minutes of video watched per month across its brands like FailArmy, Taste of Home, Family Handyman, Reader’s Digest, People Are Awesome, The Pet Collective, and WeatherSpy, and the company was seeking partners to help it more efficiently monetize its inventory.

We spoke with Mike Richter, Vice President of Global Revenue Operations for CTV and Digital at TMB, to learn more about the importance of working with the right CTV partner, addressing programmatic concerns, and what’s next on the horizon for CTV.

Emily Dalamangas: Trusted Media Brands’ acquisition of Jukin Media last August quadrupled its monthly audience reach. How has this extended reach opened more opportunities for brands looking to advertise on CTV or OTT?

Mike Richter: Jukin Media didn’t have a strong digital offering, and TMB didn’t really have a CTV offering at all. So, the combination of efforts has greatly opened the door for both entities to have more access to users across newer platforms that they’ve never touched on before in a detailed way.

It is exciting to see and to be able to drive growth and investment in new original programming, platforms, app distribution, and possibly new website distribution opportunities. There are tons of ways with the new collective audience to go to market with a very strong value proposition for agencies and buyers worldwide. 

ED: Unruly was selected by Trusted Media Brands as a preferred SSP partner. How does partnering with Unruly fit into Trusted Media Brands’ future plans in the CTV and OTT space?

MR: Across the board, Unruly is a company that TMB likes to partner with. That’s because a strong supply-side partnership not only lets us properly merchandise our inventory but also allows us to be exposed to a multitude of buying angles for CTV and OTT. 

Advertisers need brand safety, and at the same time, we are trying to attract viewers to our video content. We want viewers to stay in the content we’re delivering and if the content doesn’t fit within their values, they will go away from the site. Publishers are constantly focused on the quality of the content from a programming perspective and also on the nature of the ads served. And that quality assurance for both ads and content is key in choosing an SSP partner.

Unruly has proven to be one of those partners that we don’t have to police and can trust with the demand they are sourcing through their sales efforts—unruly hits all the spots. We can be confident in the demand they are trafficking our way as well as how they are representing themselves in the market as a steward of our content inventory. 

ED: It can be challenging for media companies to find the right strategic and creative content partner for their CTV and OTT needs. What criteria should publishers be looking for in a successful partnership?

MR: It’s well-known that most of the video content you see is not built by those channels. It is built by various studios and syndicated because the amount of money it takes to create shows is very expensive. To get any decently supplied CTV or OTT channel off the ground, you need hundreds of hours of content, and it should be a mix of new, syndicated, and older content. At TMB, we’re one of the few FAST channel operators that produce our own original half-hour series, but we wouldn’t attempt to program an entire schedule only with originals. It needs to be a mix.

To get any decently supplied CTV or OTT channel off the ground, you need hundreds of hours of content, and it should be a mix of new, syndicated, and older content.

There is tons of valuable content out there that has been on the shelves for years. Just because it wasn’t made this year doesn’t mean it’s not valuable to a user. I’m constantly re-binging shows that have been off the air for decades, and there is opportunity in content stored inside vaults that are barely being tapped into.

Figure out the semantic nature of the channel you’re programming for and the right experience for the viewer that’s going to keep them engaged. You want the viewer to keep wanting more of the experience to build on the publisher’s revenue generation, which lets the publisher either license or buy syndicated content or create content on its own. It creates more or less a circle of life that we all know within this industry.

ED: According to eMarketer, 70% of CTV is purchased programmatically. But with, with programmatic, ad ops and brands have concerns about brand safety, data privacy, and ad fraud. How are CTV platforms addressing these concerns, and in what areas can they do better?

MR: For those that are truly concerned about brand safety, data privacy, and ad fraud, take a look at who you’re buying from. Is anyone who pops up hawking TV inventory like a cheap watch on the street? You must take ownership of your verification and make sure what you’re buying is accurate. 

At TMB, we focus on ensuring that our content is delivered across platforms we can trust with real viewers and real distribution points. So, we can guarantee an advertiser that if you go through any of our preferred partners, like Unruly, and verify the supply path optimization, there’s nothing to be concerned about, which means doing the homework of your programmatic buys. 

We can do better if we are more open and transparent as an industry. We can address brand concerns about programmatic by taking steps to provide a positive experience for both users and buyers equally; one is not more important than the other. But we must be willing to ask those vetting questions of our partners, and buyers have to be ready to stop using untrustworthy platforms because when you stop giving them the money, they will dry up.

ED: CTV has rapidly evolved with consumer adoption and platform launches. Can this rapid rise be sustained, and what CTV trends do you foresee in the next six months, one year, and beyond?

MR: CTV will continue to evolve as users demand more control in their experience. A few years ago, we went very fast to the diversification of delivery systems, and we’re now circling back to unification. Users who wanted to go a la carte now realize they like a group package. 

When we look at the development of delivery systems for video, we had black and white, color, cable, and satellite TV. CTV is still called CTV because it’s new, but soon it will be called TV. Eventually, there will be no screens; it’ll all be virtual. I know that sounds crazy, but the reality is that’s where we’re heading. For example, glasses are not sustainable, but it may be some sort of implant or lens on the eye. 

All that means is we’ll likely have to change the way we’re buying and consuming content. Right now, we’re going through unification but give it a year or two, and we’ll be going back to diversification because some new way of watching TV will change. We need to keep up with the technology development, the desires of the audiences, and the value for the buyers because, without those elements, none of this will exist.

The post Finding the Right Partner Is Key to CTV Success: A Conversation With TMB’s Mike Richter appeared first on AdMonsters.

Since then, due to the dramatic growth of CTV subscriptions and CTV ad spending within the larger definition of OTT (OTT includes viewing on any device, while CTV is content delivered through Smart TVs), this update will focus on CTV. Innovid defines the differences between OTT and CTV here. Now 53% of video viewing on all devices according to eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence is on CTVs. This will provide an update on CTV growth, a revised roster of CTV players, and what it means for Ad Ops.

Two CTV Business Models: Ads, Subscriptions Both Drive Revenue Growth

Brad Adgate in Forbes provides tracking and forecasts for CTV ad spending that show it is now “The Fastest Growing Video Advertising Platform.” Why? The value of CTV in delivering younger audiences and cord cutters as well as the potential to measure CTV impressions in ways that other digital ad platforms do.

According to eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence, in 2022 the top five subscription services represent nearly three-fourths of total CTV viewing time.

The CTV Advertiser: Ad Spend Trends

Insider Intelligence/EMarketer reports that “CTV ad spending is riding a wave of consumer adoption and platform launches. By 2025, spending will reach $34.49 billion, more than double the 2021 total of $14.44 billion.”

The CTV Consumer: Time Spent Viewing

Several major streaming services saw double-digit growth in viewing time, with Netflix, YouTube and Hulu experiencing increases of 26%, 21%, and 13% year over year, respectively.

Important CTV Developments For Ad Ops to Follow in 2022

There are three major areas of focus, that also offer many question marks when we talk about the continued healthy growth of CTV. People in Ad Ops must keep abreast of the many opportunities and fast-moving changes ahead:

Cross-Platform Measurement/Targeting, Reach/Frequency Management, Viewability, Verifiability & Attribution

Prohaska Consulting declares “Cable is the new landline and CTV is *very* hot (and very complicated)”, but sees movement in audience measurement/targeting from traditional TV HH metrics to more digital-friendly granularity: “This year, a few players debuted solutions designed to bridge the data and measurement gap and speed the migration of media to CTV. Nielsen announced Streaming Signals, a new offering that uses machine learning to identify individual household viewers and serve personalized ads accordingly.”

Mitch Oscar, Director, Advanced TV Strategy, USIM, is quoted in the Forbes Adgate article: “Nielsen still is the dominant measurer and reporter of campaign viewership. Hopefully, with the spate of recent announcements … offering solutions for … individual impression delivery versus reliance on panel modeling, …  companies such as 605, Comscore, iSpot.tv, TVSquared, and VideoAmp will glean the support necessary to move from aggrandizement to the heavy lifting – sales lifting that is.”

Brand Safety, Data Privacy, and Fraud Security

Ad Ops will be integral in staying on top of these issues, especially now when 70% of CTV is purchased programmatically (per eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence). According to Comscore, by the latest count, there are at least 130 CTV apps in the market with many more to come. Each needs to be able to address these areas of concern efficiently and with integrity.

Cross-Platform Buying and Dealing with “Walled Gardens”

Advertisers and agencies need more efficacy and brand safety in dealing with buys from multiple DSPs as well as direct sales, as several CTV platforms seek to become walled gardens like Apple, Google, and Facebook. Moving from the GRP-based buying currency of traditional TV to targeted impressions will be important for cross-channel advertiser buys and reporting analytics.

SUMMARY

A February 2022 Update on Streaming Services by Type, Consumer Cost and Role of Ads

The post The Great Migration to CTV and What It Means for Ad Ops — A 2022 Update appeared first on AdMonsters.

It’s nearly impossible to keep up with the growth rate — from newly launched streaming services to record-breaking pandemic-driven viewership to mounting ad spend. But with great expansion also comes myriad questions, expectations, and issues.

How do we solve for fragmentation? How will we accurately target audiences and measure advertising? Will there be more inventory options? The list goes on and on.  As the ecosystem evolves, so does the SSP. Ad tech players positioning themselves for the win, are partnering up and consolidating, providing buyer and seller alike less friction and fewer intermediaries. Let the M&A games begin.

We spoke with Ken Suh, Chief Strategy Officer, Unruly to learn more about the future of CTV/OTT, the power of Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) beyond walled gardens, and of course — as we near the end of the third-party cookie — user privacy.

Raquel Hudson: What should publishers and advertisers expect from ad tech partners as the CTV/OTT space continues to grow?

Ken Suh: It’s no secret that the demand for CTV and OTT on both the consumer and advertiser sides is growing at an incredibly fast pace. This means ad tech partners need to innovate and evolve in a way that ensures they’re not just bridging the gap between linear and digital TV buying, but also providing unique enhancements to the measurement, data, and delivery of that supply.

If you look at what we’re doing at Unruly, you’ll see how quickly we’ve evolved as a company – expanding beyond an SSP to become truly a full end-to-end solution that’s inclusive of unique demand from Tremor Video DSP, an ad management platform built specifically for TV, a proprietary DMP, and a dynamic creative studio, Tr.ly.

The more holistic and advanced the offerings that ad tech partners can provide, the more efficient the results will be in terms of both ad performance and inventory monetization — all members of the ecosystem need to keep this in mind in the coming year.

RH: You mentioned data enhancement, which today also includes Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) data that is kept behind walled gardens. Why is it so important to have access to ACR data beyond the walled gardens?

KS: Because ACR data recognizes content that appears on a smart TV – whether that’s through a streaming app or broadcast – it’s a powerful tool in tying together linear and CTV/OTT advertising, but it has limitations when kept within the walled gardens.

When buyers are forced to go directly to the sources individually to activate that data, they’re faced with inefficiencies in the buying process, in solving for audience duplication, and in connecting the dots between their digital and linear measurement.

But accessing ACR data holistically outside of the walled gardens on the open web means that it can be deduped at scale, enriched through other sources like set-top-boxes, and give buyers comprehensive measurement of their linear and CTV/OTT plans. Only then can they really unlock the full potential of ACR data.

RH: Ad-supported streaming viewership has seen exponential growth in the past two years. What are some trends that you’re seeing outside of the US in the expansion and adoption of ad-supported CTV/OTT?

KS: We’ve certainly seen a boost in adoption, especially in Europe. The IAB reported that 60% of TV viewers in the UK and Italy watch CTV at least once a month. But a key theme we’ve all seen come up time and time again is the increasing concern around user privacy with digital – and CTV/OTT of course falls into that bucket.

We’ve obviously been talking about GDPR and cookie deprecation for a few years now, but consumers are still keen to understand (and control) who’s using their data, and in what ways. They want a personalized advertising experience but want to ensure they control who is accessing their data. That’s why I’d say solutions like opted-in ACR data from smart TVs and those that utilize publisher-direct data, like content-level targeting, are going to boom and thrive in the future.

RH: What is your prediction for CTV/OTT in the next 5 years?

KS: I think the increased demand for inventory here is going to make the landscape even more of a seller’s market, and subsequently, I expect we’ll see further consolidation in the ad tech space.

Both publishers and buyers will likely reduce their list of ad tech partners down to their most trusted partners, and – as I said earlier – those partners will have to innovate and evolve at lightning speed to bring true value to publishers and advertisers.

That’s why we’ve made big moves like acquiring Spearad, an advanced ad management platform, to not just enable publishers to take better control of their inventory, but also reap both the efficiency and monetization benefits from working with a single trusted partner.

Ultimately, I believe the companies that can forge a strong connection between the buy- and sell-sides are the ones that stand to win here. They can provide the most effective, efficient path forward for both parties to transact.

The post The Future of CTV Is End-to-End appeared first on AdMonsters.

From Chrome’s on-again, off-again cookie cutoff to Apple’s privacy updates to mass confusion surrounding developing solid first-party data and identity strategies to the rise of CTV, ad ops and ad tech people proved resilient. Many pubs and ad tech companies were able to rebound after the great ad spend slump, while others found that banding together was the best path forward.

Here in the Best of AdMonsters 2021, we feature 10 best practices, explainers, op-eds, and feature stories that kept our audience clicking and reading all year.

Privacy Sandbox & Universal IDs: Like Oil & Water?

Simon Harris, Director of DPG Media‘s Trade Desk took a deep dive into Google’s Privacy Sandbox: While the technology behind Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposals is complex and constantly evolving, the premise (as we know it today) is simple: move targeting from a third-party cookie to a group (or cohort) of browsers. For much of 2020 these cohort-based approaches appeared to be the future of advertising in Google’s platforms, but in 2021 is that still the case? Read more…

What Are Publisher Cohorts?

David Reischer, Product Manager at Permutive, broke down the differences between publisher cohorts and Google’s FLoC: Losing cross-domain identifiers only strengthens publishers’ first-party data, as a viable option for advertisers to continue reaching consumers. And this first-party data can be made targetable as a cohort, rather than the current model which reaches people with sometimes ‘creepy’ one-to-one hyper-targeted marketing. But what exactly are Publisher Cohorts? Read more…

Facebook Ads & iOS 14: What Can You Do to Overcome Data Loss?

Elliot Gensemer, Senior Director, Account Services at Metric Theory explained how to avoid data loss in Facebook in spite of Apple’s ATT: How do we (marketers and publishers who leverage Facebook ads for content distribution) cope with the erosion of this data that’s been so central to performance management for the better part of the last decade? In the midst of this change, it will be necessary to focus on three core truths:

1. Channel data was never fully comprehensive
2. Savvy digital marketing decision-making does not change
3. Engaging creative and user experience still rule

Read more…

Newsweek Sees Huge CPM Lifts With LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution

AdMonsters Senior Editor, Lynne d Johnson, spoke with Dev Pragad, CEO, Newsweek, about how the publisher is building better relationships with their audience toward the goal of zero-party data exchange, as well as how they’re using LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS)  to drive CPMs. She also spoke with Scott Howe, CEO, LiveRamp, to learn more about ATS, how Newsweek drove a total eCPM as high as 224%, with an average lift of 52% across all web browsers using it, as well as how publishers should evaluate partners to survive and thrive in the cookieless future. Read more…

6 Steps To Make The Cookie Crumble Your Way

Michael Neveu, Director of Data, North America at Media.Monks looks at why the delayed third-party cookie deprecation isn’t a time for vacation: Few advertisers were truly ready for a cookieless web. Like a math test in school, where almost no one is really ready, moving the deprecation of cookies to mid-2023 has been met with an industry-wide sign of relief. Unfortunately, like with the postponed test, this has been followed but the same response we all often had in school; a belief that there is now extra time to waste. But this is a decade-level change. There isn’t actually extra time: now there is enough time. Read more…

Reach and Message Frequency in CTV and OTT Part 2—and What Ad Tech Can Do About It

Industry vet John Osborn assessed the rapid rise of CTV: Now, with the rapid migration of audiences to CTV platforms just as CTV paid and ad-supported channels have exploded on the scene in 2020, both viewers and advertisers are further challenged. Consumers can see the same ad over and over again—or not at all. Advertising buyers encounter powerlessness in managing frequency, creating a mix of overexposure to some and severe under-delivery of ads to large chunks of viewers. Here are some of the latest developments with reach and message frequency in CTV and OTT, as well as some insight into what ad tech could be doing to solve these challenges. Read more…

Crumbling Cookies and a Rotten Apple: A Rock and a Hard Place for Pubs

Tameka Kee, Head of Content Strategy, AdMonsters uncovers the real (regulatory) reasons behind Chrome staving off cutting third-party cookies another year: Google’s shift away from deprecating the 3P cookie is coming in the midst of regulatory battles around whether the company has undue influence over content monetization and distribution on multiple continents. While there’s definitely brand and media agency influence, might the timeline extension be part of a broader, long-term strategy to appease (or, potentially quash) some of the looming antitrust claims? Read more…

Third-party Tracking Got Advertisers Deep Into Debt; Now It’s Time to Repay

Myles Younger, Senior Director, Data Practice, MightyHive on why the time is now for the digital advertising ecosystem to clean up its act: Ad platforms spent the 2010’s rapidly innovating new ways to target, personalize, and measure advertising, largely based on third-party (3P) tracking. Money poured in from advertisers and agencies looking to shed the waste and uncertainty of traditional media and optimize campaigns right down to the user level.

However, during this exuberant period, advertisers, agencies, and tech platforms were unknowingly digging themselves into a debt that will take years to repay. And this debt can’t be settled by signing a check and swapping out for new tech.

Finding ways to manage the complexity of digital advertising without 3P tracking is putting urgent emphasis on people and process over tech, resetting the tech/agency/client relationship, and generally acting as a forcing function for the industry to clean up long-ignored problems. Read more…

Publishers Navigate the Weight of Heavy Ad Intervention (HAI)

Rob Beeler, Founder & CEO, Beeler.Tech and AdMonsters Advisory Board Chairman wrote about the impact of heavy ads on load times, as well as Google Chrome’s move to block these heavy ads: Conversations about the impact of heavy ads on load times and the end-user experience are nothing new to the digital publishing industry. Still, many in the business were caught off guard in Fall 2020 when Google Chrome launched Heavy Ad Intervention (HAI) to identify and block ads from the Chrome (versions 85+) browsers that they deemed “heavy.” Read more…

The Ad Ops Guide to Outsourcing

Melissa Chapman,Founder of Part Two Consulting and Collaborator at Beeler.Tech, in collaboration with Pilar Prassas, Global Head of Revenue Operations, Thomson Reuters, and Brittany Warren, Associate Director, Client Services – SMB, SiriusXM put together a comprehensive best practices guide to outsourcing for ad ops: The topic of outsourcing gets added to the agenda as either a breakout or workshop session and is always well attended. We cover all the bases, and as people share their experiences we also identify the potential benefits of outsourcing like enabling your staff to focus on higher-value activities, extending your team’s capabilities and support hours, supporting peaks in your business, benefitting from an outsourcing partners’ breadth of knowledge across tools and processes, and most importantly, lowering costs. Read the guide…

The post The Best of AdMonsters 2021 appeared first on AdMonsters.

Our aim, with The Wrapper, is to summarize exciting news items that catch our eyes and link them to wider developments in digital media and advertising. And we also point you in the direction of great podcasts and compelling industry voices to follow on social media.

A lot of exciting happenings went down in 2021, from failed FLoC trials to increasing ad spend shifts to digital after a tumultuous 202o to the big tech crackdown to Apple’s many privacy updates upending how mobile pubs monetize their apps and we tried to catch it all.

Here’s a look back at the Top 12 Wrapper issues of 2021.

Guess Who’s Back? Advertising Spend Makes A Comeback

2020 was a tumultuous year for publishers, but signs that we’re rebounding couldn’t be more clear. For instance, just take a look at this U.S. Ad Market Tracker, a collaboration between MediaPost and Standard Media Index based on total ad spending by the major agency holding companies.

You’ll note a steady growth over a period of four months, starting in August, that came after a precipitous decline in ad spend starting in March fueled by the impact of Coronavirus. Overall, digital has been the major media catalyst for growth, expanding 29.3% in November.

Also in this issue: The New York Times Weathered COVID With First-Party Data; 2021, Say Hello to Email; Ding Dong, Adobe Flash is Dead

66% of Marketers Say Audience Beats Context, Pubs Disagree

Lotame’s new report, Beyond the Cookie: The Future of Advertising for Marketers & Publishers, reveals that, while 66% of marketers don’t think contextual targeting is enough to replace audience targeting, 69% of pubs believe context will win in a post-cookie space. It also notes that just 38% of pubs are searching for a solution to the end of third-party tracking, and 16% are using more contextual/intent data while looking for a more permanent solution.

Also in this issue: Virginia Gets Closer to Passing Consumer Privacy Reg; Facebook Fudges Numbers; TTD Hands Over Control of UID 2.0 to Prebid; Maryland Passed a Tax on Digital Advertising

We’re Not Ready for the Cookiepocalypse

While 67% of data leaders report that their organizations are prepared for the impending loss of third-party cookies and identifiers, a staggering percentage of the industry is concerned about future limitations for targeting (45%), as well as for ad campaign measurement (41%), according to a new report from the IAB. Those numbers reek of bewilderment. No? Then why, oh why, is the industry still spending inordinate amounts of cash on third-party data?

Also in this issue: Is Your CMS Killing Your ROI?; Disney, Discovery, and ViacomCBS are Building Their Own Ad Tech; YouTube Unveiled Plans to Tap Into the Rise of CTV

Core Web Vitals Delayed; Browsers Say No to FLoC

If Google’s new Core Web Vitals benchmarks for the “page experience” became the standard for how sites get ranked in search today — most sites wouldn’t rank highly at all. At least that’s according to analysis from SearchMetrics (reg wall), which parsed over 2 million webpages and found that only 4% of them got “good” scores across all three of the Core Web Vitals. (Interestingly enough, Google’s own YouTube didn’t score well at all).

And: While FLoC testing has commenced on Chrome, other browsers—Edge, Safari, and Firefox—are pushing back on Google’s cookie replacement. The triad of browsers joins the Brave Browser, which knocked the Big G’s cookie alternative for not really being a privacy solution last week. Vivaldi also won’t be participating in the FLoC trials, and DuckDuck Go has released an extension to block FLoC.

Also in this issue: Ad Spend Coming Back Strong; Ad Tech CTV Alliance; Cookie Death Will Compound Ad Tech Issues; Contextual Raises Another Round

PulsePoint Grab Gives Internet Brands In-House Programmatic Pipes

Two quick thoughts came to mind when we saw the news that Internet Brands was acquiring health-focused ad tech platform PulsePoint. First: Internet Brands wants to bring programmatic capabilities in-house. Second: Is Internet Brands, with its 250 million monthly uniques, and a variety of advertising offerings, now the 800-pound digital media gorilla when it comes to health content?

Also in this issue: Apple Vs. Everybody: The Saga Continues; There’s Gold in Them Thar Connected Devices; The Duopoly Continues to Dominate, Even in the Midst of the Pandemic; OpenID Comes to Linear TV to Target Audiences and Measure Campaigns Across Screens

Will IP Address Signals Disappear Next?

Third-party cookies are near death, there’s more unknown than known about UIDs (Universal IDs) and FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), and now, IP addresses are soon to be a targeting method of the past.

Also in this issue: The Audio Boom Continues; Pubs in Search of Post-pandemic Revenue Streams; CTV Is Only Growing

FLoC Trial Ends, None the Wiser

“We’ve decided not to extend this initial Origin Trial. Instead, we’re hard at work on improving FLoC to incorporate the feedback we’ve heard from the community before advancing to further ecosystem testing,” wrote senior software engineer Josh Karlin in a Chromium Blink development forum.

Also in this issue: USA Today Launches Paywall, But Who’s The Target Audience?; How Has Working From Home Shaped Ad Blocking?; The End of Big Tech?; TTD Vs Walled Gardens

What Will Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection Mean for Newsletters?

Spoiler alert: It’s not pretty. Many publications opine that Apple Mail Privacy Protection is going to drastically change the way newsletter marketing takes place and that said marketers must readjust their strategies now before changes go into effect.

Also in this issue: Apple’s ATT Privacy Changes a Boon for Amazon?; FTC Refiles Lawsuit Against Facebook. Is It for the Wrong Reasons?

Whaddya Mean Newsletter Subscription Fatigue?; Half of U.S. Consumers Prefer AVOD

Alex Kantrowitz, writer of the Big Technology Newsletter and the book ALWAYS DAY ONE: How The Tech Titans Plan To Stay On Top Forever, said that the rumblings of newsletter fatigue are mere rumblings. In fact, he believes the opposite is taking place and he dubs it the “Newsletter Network Effect.”

And: Two recent reports, one from Future Today and one from Roku show that consumers love AVOD content, including the ads, because they don’t have to pay much for subscriptions with free ad-supported TV.

Is Google Double Dipping?

Talk about inflating ad deals. In an unredacted lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, it was discovered that Google takes between 22-42% of each ad transaction that moves through its system. This is anywhere between two and four times the amount rival ad exchanges take.

Also in this issue: Did Google and Facebook Collude Against Apple?; How Apple’s Privacy Changes Really Hurt

IAB Europe in Breach of GDPR; AI Runs Globe and Mail Paywall

Google and countless other advertisers rely on IAB Europe’s consent management system, which has now been deemed in violation of GDPR.

And: AI runs Globe and Mail paywall. And it’s doing a stellar job. So much so that the company is offering it as a SaaS product. Named Sophi, it controls home page placement of stories and the metering of stories—how many free articles a consumer gets before being prompted to subscribe.

Could CMA Commitments Delay Cookie Cutoff Further?

The ICO’s (Information Commissioner’s Office) outgoing commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, posted a scathing opinion piece where she “warns the industry [behavioral advertising industry] that its old unlawful tricks simply won’t do in the future.”

Also in this issue: The Lingering Impact of the Long Goodbye to Third-Party Cookies; Are Content Creators and Influencers > Media and Brands?; Making Ad Tech and Advertising More Sustainable??

The post Best of AdMonsters Wrapper 2021: Top 12 Stories in Digital Media and Ad Tech appeared first on AdMonsters.

Whichever descriptor you use, there’s no denying that interest is swirling and investments are flowing — and it’s always useful to have data that can help provide a more grounded perspective. So we were excited to have Google share some stats about the CTV ad market during a special webinar at our PubForum Virtual edition. 

With impression data pulled directly from Google Ad Manager over the course of 2020 —  including transaction trends, global viewership insights, and even details about live streaming performance — the session didn’t disappoint. It also covered some best practices for ad ops pros that are deep in the weeds managing their Google Ad Manager specs directly.  

Dig into the insights that Google Ad Manager product experts Peentoo Patel and Carolyn Ganon shared in the full replay below.

A few highlights include:

2020 saw increases in CTV viewership — but also big shifts in terms of the way CTV ads were transacted:

• In terms of viewership, live-streamed content grew faster than VOD
• For the first time ever, in-app advanced TV impressions surpassed those on the web
• While direct-sold deals led CTV inventory sales, programmatic-based buys are growing, with Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) and Preferred deals growing the fastest

CTV standards are still emerging, and while adoption continues to grow there’s still some uncertainty — partly because of the variety of devices in the ecosystem. However, there are a few standards that stand out: 

• App-ads.txt is one of the most viable tools that publishers can deploy in the fight against CTV ad fraud — and it’s recently been updated to support inventory sharing across multiple devices 
• Google Ad Manager also supports industry standards that promote user privacy and increase transparency, including the IAB Tech Lab’s Identifier for Advertising (IFA), Session ID, and  “Why this ad” disclosures on CTV inventory 

You can also access the full 2020 Advanced TV Inventory Report here. 

The post Think There’s Not a High Volume of CTV Being Sold Programmatically? Think Again appeared first on AdMonsters.

Tegna is on the path to providing that transparency and choice with their OTT audience. During our April 15, 2021 webinar, OTT & CTV Privacy Controls: Activating Choice & Transparency in Apps, Chris Fehrmann, Tegna VP of Digital Products, and Alex Cash, OneTrust Consent and Preference Management Lead, explained to publishers how they can deliver personalization, and build trust within their streaming apps.

Key Takeways:

• The changes coming to iOS are also coming to tvOS, so we have to think about the same user journey for TV platforms too.
• Like the mobile landscape, CTV & OTT have a varied landscape with different coding requirements. For instance, fireTV is based on androidTV, but it has different requirements for SDK integration.
• Consumers are thinking a lot more about privacy than they had been in the past. According to Consumer Reports, 96% of Americans agree that companies should be doing more to protect their privacy.
• Due to targeting and efficiency, OTT/CTV are taking a significant share of spend from Linear and digital. 60% of digital is going to OTT/CTV this year and 21% of marketers linear budgets are going to OTT/CTV.
• Having one single CMS that can be used to transition from web to mobile to CTV allows for consistent distribution of content, with single tagging and single taxonomy for a unified user experience.
• Tegna rolled out compliance and consent by choosing a framework that affords all consumers with the same experience as the consumers in California, this approach could also potentially future proof them from coming privacy regulations and updates.
• Due to the shared nature of OTT, publishers are mostly looking at household consent .vs user consent. But this is also where providing profiles on apps come into play so that publishers can have a single view of a user across their experience.
• CPMs will drop for publishers who don’t adopt the standards for privacy, which will likely impact AVODs more than SVODs.

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