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Samsung Ads is aggressively leaning into its new suite of experiences across native connected TV and smart TV inventory this upfront, as the advertising arm of Samsung Electronics now reaches consumers across 45 million households.
The company first announced three new ad experiences last week, and today spent its NewFronts presentation urging advertisers to increase their spend in the connected TV space.
Tom Fochetta, Samsung Ads’ svp of sales and marketing, told Adweek that Samsung spans hundreds of millions of devices, running across smart TVs, mobile phones and desktop, and offers its advertisers brand safe inventory.
“That’s fueled by the backbone of our exclusive TV data and insights,” said Fochetta. “We give advertisers the opportunity to engage consumers across the Samsung household.”
The company’s in-house AVOD offering, Samsung TV Plus, saw 84% year-over-year growth in monthly active users and a 34% year-over-year increase in time spent on the service. The AVOD has over 160 live channels and is growing.
“For the NewFronts, we’re obviously going to focus on AVOD and tout those stats,” said Fochetta.
Three new ad offerings
The first of three offerings builds across the entire Samsung TV universe. Discovery Masthead is accessible through Samsung TV’s Universal Guide and its apps store.
Samsung said it allows advertisers to reach consumers where they are actively looking to discover new content. The product delivers masthead banners with a high-impact, 100% share of voice placement. According to Samsung, in beta tests, brands and media companies that have used the product experienced higher click-through rates and brand lift.
“[Consumers’] challenge is always how to find and discover content. And we think we solved that for our users by offering universal guide,” said Fochetta. “We put the Discovery Masthead within this environment. So, you can reach the consumer while they’re looking to find and discover new content,” he said.
Fochetta emphasized the product is not a rotating ad unit, but instead offers 100% share of voice.
The second product, 1st Screen Plus, is an improved version of a product already available on Samsung Smart TVs. Beginning on models starting in 2018, 1st Screen Plus works to deliver advertiser messaging in an auto-expanded environment. Capabilities include auto-play video, and Samsung believes the product offers a richer, larger canvas for brands to showcase creative before viewers enter into a non ad-supported environment.
“When you turn that Samsung Smart TV on, you’ll see this ad unit expanded,” said Fochetta. “We guide our advertisers to like really like play with the imagery to make a catch the user’s attention. And this ad unit is only for endemic advertisers and when I say endemic, that’s media and entertainment.”
The final product builds on the strength of Samsung’s in-house AVOD offering Samsung TV Plus. While not an ad unit, per say, Samsung TV Plus Editorial Sponsorship gives brands easier access to cord-cutters. Samsung TV Plus is the No. 2 most-watched AVOD streaming service on Samsung smart TVs, and 90% of Samsung TV Plus viewers stream directly from their smart TVs.
“It’s our first-ever opportunity to allow advertisers to own all of our owned and operated channels across Samsung TV Plus,” said Cathy Oh, vp, global head of marketing and analytics at Samsung Ads, during the company’s NewFronts presentation.
The editorial sponsorship allows advertisers to take over an entire channel and reach consumers through multiple ad units and 100% share of voice.
“We’re unlocking sponsorships. So, in the past, we sold 15s and 30[-second spots] like everyone else, but the advertisers are asking for something a little bit more creative and different,” said Fochetta. “It’s not the global top of funnel, and it’s certainly not [direct-response] advertising.”
Fochetta said that the sponsorship is designed to help advertisers reach their upper and mid-funnel objectives, following a beta program done in partnership with three advertisers, and in beta campaigns unaided brand awareness increased by over 80%.
