Events like the upcoming NewFronts will play an important part in driving digital video from a $4.1 billion business to an $9 billion business over the next three years, says Jordan Bitterman, Senior VP at Digitas in an interview with Beet.TV, citing recent benchmark figures from eMarketer. On the eve of the NewFronts, kicking off April 29, he shared his insights into how digital video is growing as well as the hurdles that remain in terms of standards.
“You have lots of scale in terms of content, and great companies with great technology in the space,” he says. He adds that selling opportunities like the NewFronts have helped drive interest in digital video. However, some marketers are still wary about content, while others are held back by a lack of creative and buying standards. “We believe in buying on impressions on a one-to-one basis rather than GRPs, but many marketers want to use the same currency. So there’s this idea of a bridge metric that takes those two and puts them together to make some equations to see how every impression delivers,” he says.
At the NewFronts, about 17 content producers are slated to present their digital programming lineups to Madison Avenue. Bitterman expects more emphasis this year on the context around that content. “That’s important to marketers,” he says.
-Daisy Whitney
