It’s TV buying time again. And this year, things are decidedly different as digital and linear TV are colliding in new and compelling ways.
The upfronts are more data-driven than ever. At the same time, the NewFronts are becoming more TV-like. The two distinct camps of premium video are increasingly overlapping.
But here’s the catch: digital and linear TV buys are still planned and transacted separately. And while these silos will undoubtedly disappear over time, the sooner advertisers and agencies begin planning them together, the more advantages they will see.
What’s new is old
As premium digital video moved from the desktop to the living room, the NewFronts encouraged advertisers to start treating digital content like they treat TV: as a constrained resource worthy of upfront investments. In many ways, this was new media behaving like old media. And many leading advertisers responded by securing premium sponsorships from top publishers and content creators.
Until recently, however, premium digital video programming that mimicked TV lacked the scale needed for more significant advertising investments. It also existed in separate data and planning silos from traditional TV.
Today, premium digital video buys need to be made with an understanding of the brand’s TV investments and insights into how TV and digital audiences migrate across devices and content. In other words, commitments to premium digital content at the NewFronts can no longer be made separately from linear investments made at the upfronts.
What’s old is new
Conversely, linear TV programming is typically still bought on demographics, and even TV that is programmatically distributed via OTT has lacked the data, efficiency and attribution of digital video. While digital consumption of broadcast content is a growing share of total views, it has been packaged alongside linear inventory without the benefits of digital addressability.
But today, data-driven planning technology is being adopted by broadcasters and networks can now help advertisers understand how to reach their strategic target efficiently across their entire portfolio of programming, both linear and digital. So, old media is adopting the disciplines and addressability of new media.
In fact, according to Advertiser Perceptions’ recent Video Convergence report, advertisers expect 36 percent of linear buys to be bought programmatically in 2019.
Simply said, broadcasters and advertisers must begin bringing data-driven addressability across all TV inventory, regardless of what device its consumed on.
The impact on planning
As data, planning tools, and forecasting capabilities can now be applied across screens, advertisers need to merge their TV and digital video strategies into one holistic approach.
The good news is that this is starting to happen. But when? If you’re not approaching your TV and digital video buys holistically, you’re at a distinct disadvantage.
Here are a few strategies to help maximize the impact of cross-screen investments:
1. Understand your strategic audience before placing your bets: Use advanced data to create strategic audiences that balance precision and scale. Then utilize a programmatic platform to target the same audience across linear TV, connected TV and digital.
2. Forecast where your target consumers will go before they get there: Know what your targets are watching and what devices they are watching it on to understand how reach and frequency build across devices.
3. Optimize performance throughout the lifecycle of linear campaigns: How can you maximize your options for greater impact or efficiency? How can options like ADUs or scatter buys be optimized? And is your team leveraging automation to accelerate quarterly planning to monthly, or even weekly updates?
4. Reach your target audiences with “TV aware” strategies in digital environments: Amplify the reach of TV by identifying unexposed consumers and targeting them via digital and social. Build frequency for lightly exposed viewers. Defend mindshare by targeting viewers of competitive messaging.
5. Measure and adjust your cross-screen investments: Constantly look for ways to optimize your campaigns to reach your strategic target. This could mean changing your linear-digital mix as you learn more about viewing habits and resulting behaviors.
As old and new collide, advertisers need to stop thinking about upfronts and NewFronts as separate beasts. As TV becomes addressable and premium digital video is bought via an upfront commitment, you’ll need to plan holistically.
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As chief strategy officer, Philip Smolin is responsible for driving Amobee’s global strategy and key growth initiatives that integrate data, analytics and programmatic activation to deliver industry-leading solutions for global marketers operating on the Amobee platform. A digital marketing innovator for more than 24 years, Philip is an industry expert on data and analytics, programmatic media buying, audience targeting and the emerging business models redefining marketing.
