TV Ad Sales Chiefs and Buyers on the Marketplace’s Biggest Changes in 2021

As part of Adweek’s Year in Review coverage, we asked the television industry’s key movers and shakers to reflect on the past year. On Monday, TV’s top execs looked back on the most important thing they learned in 2021. Today, we talked to TV ad-sales chiefs and buyers about how the marketplace has evolved this year, and what is top of mind as they head into 2022. (In the coming days, we’ll also delve into the state of measurement and biggest priorities for 2022.) Here’s what they had to say: What are the biggest ways the TV advertising marketplace has changed vs. a year ago? What will be top of mind as we head into 2022? Dani Benowitz, U.S. president, Magna: Leading into the upfront we saw growth in spending as the shock of the pandemic began to wane and the world was struggling to return to normal. Heading into this new broadcast year we saw ratings increase, a return to a new normal with events and return to office but concerns over inconsistencies in the supply chain are leading to conservativeness in spending. The marketplace is no longer only about TV, it’s about video in all of its forms, and we are seeing spending shift significantly into OTT and digital video, with many of the streamers seeing sell-outs for the first time. In 2022, focusing on measurement will be top of mind. In addition, it will be important for the industry to continue to support minority-owned partners as well as those driving sustainability and brand-safety efforts. 14 Top TV and Streaming Execs on the Most Important Thing They Learned in 2021 Geoffrey Calabrese, chief investment officer, Omnicom Media Group: This year we started to get real clarity around where traditional TV partners are placing their bets for the future, as they continue to pivot to their future revenue streams—AVOD, SVOD and combinations thereof while still playing in the linear space. The second area of major change was the industry really holding Nielsen’s feet to the fire. David Campanelli, co-chief investment officer, Horizon Media: I think the biggest change is Nielsen losing accreditation and what that means for the future. Less about the fact that they lost accreditation, and more the reaction from the marketplace and action towards exploring alternatives and how they can be used to transact, likely alongside Nielsen, in the future. In addition to the measurement answer to the [second question], the continued shift and balance of consumption of premium video from linear to CTV. That shift is driving significant dollar shifts and changing video plans in a significant way. JP Colaco, president of ad sales, WarnerMedia: At WarnerMedia, our focus this past year, and one that will remain going into 2022 is to build the world’s most effective video-advertising service. Linear television has become more and more valuable, while digital plays an increased role in transforming our industry, notably within CTV. Through next-generation ad technology and outcome-based measurement, we can better inform the feedback loop for partners and unlock opportunities for deeper consumer engagement. We know that IP is the new primetime and are excited to prove that effectiveness to our partners. Carrie Drinkwater, chief investment officer, Mediahub: Bigger no longer means better. Strategic thinking and creative solutions have trumped clout for marketplace leverage. Alternative measurement solutions [will be top of mind in 2022]. Marianne Gambelli, president, advertising sales, Fox Corp.: For starters, the TV advertising marketplace was stronger than many anticipated a year ago. The emergence of AVOD, the popularity of premium live sports and news programming all contributed to a strong marketplace in 2021, as brands increasingly continued to seek out the engaged real-time audiences. As we started to see in 2021, SVOD platforms are experiencing subscriber acquisition and retention challenges and, in the face of increasing programming costs, media companies continue to put their premium content behind paywalls. In today’s world, viewers want quality content on their own terms, and at Fox we offer up a different path with Tubi that fills this need. As media budgets continue to shift with the audience and subscriber fatigue accelerates, Tubi is perfectly positioned to capture viewers and ad dollars. Kim Kelleher, president of commercial revenue and partnerships, AMC Networks: One of the biggest changes we see is the line between linear television and digital streaming continuing to blur, as the two distribution platforms become more similar than different and one major reason for that is the use of the advertisers’ first-party data to inform where buys should happen. Looking ahead, I think we will see evolution on several fronts—all positive—including more money moving into advanced advertising on linear, specifically addressable, as we prove that traditional digital buying techniques can be applied to the linear environment. We'll also see the ongoing maturation of the FAST/AVOD space, driven by more viewership and better programming. Peter Olsen, president, ad sales, A+E Networks: Industry is better understanding how to use different video platforms (linear, AVOD platforms, FAST, … ) to reach the unique audiences they each deliver. We can no longer have anything close to a one-size-fits-all approach to the video market, but instead how to maximize what each platform can contribute to the overall communications plan. Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer, domestic advertising sales, ViacomCBS: We’ve had to be more agile than ever before to meet the shifting needs of the marketplace. Yes, there have been many changes in 2021, but what remains constant across our business is the strong demand for premium content—and ViacomCBS delivers great content across all platforms and genres. There’s no doubt that streaming played a more crucial role this year and we saw that materialize in the upfront as clients really leaned into EyeQ to expand their investments in premium digital video. Now reaching 70 million full episode monthly uniques, EyeQ will prove to be extremely valuable in the new year as our advertising partners look to gain even more high quality video reach beyond the traditional linear TV ecosystem. Donna Speciale, president of ad sales and marketing, Univision: 2021 brought about many changes, and from my perspective, none bigger than the shift to focus on DEI in marketing. We have seen it firsthand with the commitment from marketers in investing in multicultural audiences. And, when you consider the positive results our clients have seen, combined with the latest U.S. Census data showing Hispanics account for over half of the country’s population growth, we’re hopeful this is the turning point with brand’s continuing to prioritize multicultural marketing in their plans. Dave Sederbaum, evp, video investment, Dentsu: The biggest change we have seen accelerated this year, and truly one that began well before, is the actual definition of “TV.” We talk about how consumers don’t differentiate between screens and how they simply focus on watching the content they want, how they want to watch it. This idea really took hold in 2021 with the solidification of CTV as a content destination. The great thing for marketers is that most of this growth in time spent is coming from the ad-supported platforms. This, along with the fact that CTV is perfect from an audience and platform approach perspective, means that the shift in marketplace mentality away from linear television will take hold as we move into the 2022 marketplace. From a linear perspective, in addition to budgets continuing to drop, we are going to shift the conversation from the supply and demand mechanics of old to one that centers around the price and value relationship. It is easy to justify an inflationary price by continuing to talk about more demand chasing limited impressions. However, the real question is whether or not the price being offered is worth the value to our clients’ overall business objectives and outcomes. Engagement, attention, personalization, performance—these are the words that get me excited and ones that drive business growth. The 10 Best TV Shows of 2021 Kristina Shepard, head of agency partnerships and national brand team lead, Roku: This year represented a tipping point. TV streaming became as mainstream for marketers as it has been for consumers: one-in-three American homes no longer have traditional pay TV. In 2022, marketers will accelerate into the streaming decade with new ad experiences to surprise and delight beyond the traditional TV spot, new activation strategies tied in direct consumer relationships, and new measurement tied to true business outcomes. Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer, Discovery Inc.: The TV ad market has been impacted significantly for the past two years and it has all been driven by the control that consumers have over their entertainment choices. Streaming has had a bigger effect on the broadcast/cable bundle than cable had on broadcast 40 years ago. The shift of viewing to streaming continues to fractionalize audiences, and grow ad-free viewership. All of this plays a part in the ongoing search to re-aggregate the lost reach of linear in other places. Our ad partners are asking us for solutions that infuse our linear and AVOD streaming with more precise data to ensure that clients can accomplish targeted reach goals. As we head into 2022, I think everyone is thinking about how advertisers can manage through the shortage of impressions on linear and streaming. On the content side, we have to build up AVOD scale to increase supply in the face of very low ad loads, and on the linear side, we have to look to alternative currencies that are more tailored and customized to individual advertisers’ consumer data. Matt Sweeney, chief investment officer, GroupM: The big macro theme: breakage has finally been realized across a variety of traditional TV fronts: Linear is no longer king: We’ve finally reached the point where more energy and emphasis is being placed on streaming and connected TV than traditional linear broadcast and cable. We’re planning and buying video campaigns against audiences under 50, often without much traditional linear at all [sports are still relevant]. That change will continue to accelerate—especially as sellers adopt platform-based go-to-market solutions to remain relevant. New suppliers are scaling: New and important players in the ad-supported [streaming/OTT] space will quickly scale and offer alternatives. Roku, Amazon, Google/YouTube are already at scale and others are working to join the club (Samsung, Vizio). Audience-based models are the future: Addressability is on the cusp of radically altering how linear TV delivers value. As impression-based selling moves beyond streaming and local cable avails to national inventory, ad models will evolve [formats, targeting, measurement, advertiser demand—net new]. The initial technical capabilities and measurement underpinning has begun to be laid for that evolution. Measurement is forever changed: The expected 2024 sunsetting of C3/C7 rating and distinct digital measurement has begun and the adoption of new currencies has taken root. We will end up with multiple solutions, and the world of a singular measurement solution has passed. Rob Tuck, evp, national sales, The CW: I think advertisers that pulled back a year ago due to the pandemic have come back and then some. Advertisers once again are looking to get their messaging out particularly on TV as the economy begins to pick up again. As we approach 2022, I believe advertisers will continue to use TV in a big way. These days TV comes in many forms and at The CW, we sell all platforms and all devices so that our advertisers can reach our entire audience wherever and whenever they choose to watch our shows. Linda Yaccarino, chairman, global advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal: There’s a growing appetite for partnership. We’re seeing this across every area of our business—whether that’s working with social platforms on the Olympics, or content partnerships like Reach TV and Holler, or on our internal systems and data like we have with Salesforce. Or just look at measurement. We’re finally taking action to identify multiple solutions to reflect our audiences, and help all buyers and sellers. All of that starts with partnership. (Additional reporting by Mollie Cahillane.)