How Google Wants to Further Automation in Cross-Screen TV Buying

People’s viewing habits are changing at a rapid pace, and Google intends to capitalize with today’s introduction of a host of audience buying tools aimed at streamlining how media buyers can target users across screens. These include a series of updates to its online buying tools Display & Video 360, formerly known as DBM, extending its reach to traditional linear TV, including consolidated workflow processes plus the implementation of privacy measures devised by the IAB. The online advertising giant unveiled the series of updates as part of its annual flagship event Google Marketing Live hosted in San Francisco, Calif., and come amid heightened calls for privacy as indicated by the updates announced to its Chrome browser last week at Developer I/O. Payam Shodjai, director, product management, Google Marketing Platform, also marked the introduction with a blog post that outlined the planned updates. “First, we’re implementing privacy-forward standards for connected TV that ensure responsible audience management practices by giving users transparency and choice over their ad settings,” it read. “Second, we’re launching new linear TV capabilities so you can extend your reach to traditional TV viewers by purchasing ads on national broadcast networks and local TV stations. "And finally, to help you deliver consistent TV strategies across delivery methods, we’re creating a consolidated TV workflow to buy connected TV together with linear TV.” Eve Goldman, director, YouTube & video global solutions, Google, told Adweek, “The number of advertisers running on connected TV campaigns within Display & Video 360 is more than doubled in the last year. And so, the announcements that we're making really build off of these existing investments and further improve the TV buying experience in critical ways.” The updates also include support for a standardized identifier, devised by IAB Tech Lab and dubbed IFA, that helps advertisers better frequency-cap online audiences in an online environment where regular methods such as cookies are not available. IFA also helps advertisers measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and supports an opt-out experience that lets audiences reset the ID associated with their device. Additionally, Display & Video 360 includes a tool to help advertisers better manage their online audience buys both across connected and offline screens from a single dashboard. “To help you easily execute these campaigns and give you more control over your linear TV investments, we’re introducing new buying functionality in Display & Video 360,” reads Shodjai’s blog post. “For example, you can now setup detailed campaign parameters such as geography, daypart, program genre or TV network directly. And throughout the campaign, you can quickly manage budget allocation and optimize reach by adjusting these parameters.” Finally, Google has also unveiled a streamlined audience buying process that consolidates both workflows under a single TV insertion order (IO) in Display & Video 360. “This new streamlined buying experience will allow brands and agencies to further simplify the execution of their TV buys by providing insights and setups designed specifically for TV campaigns. We’ll start rolling out this new workflow this fall,” added Shodjai. Tal Chalozin, CTO of connected TV outfit Innovid, told Adweek, “I think the main thing is that connected TV has been growing significantly and while it is the nexus of everything that is amazing about TV and digital, it’s been full of friction and cumbersome. So the main thing that these announcements show [is] another big step towards standardization and simplification.”