CANNES — Addressable TV has been in development for the last decade, but only now is it beginning to reach scale. That means that gross ratings points, or GRPs, may be starting to become obsolete.
“You know what’s really silly?” says Michael Bologna, president of GroupM’s Modi Media, in a panel discussion at Cannes recorded by Beet.TV. “Asking 20,000 people what they watch on television and assuming the other 114 million watch the same.”
Bologna says over 100 GroupM advertisers are running 350 campaigns on addressable TV right now, and the agency is willing to pay CPMs as high as $400 for premium inventory. And SMG’s Tracey Scheppach, EVP-Precision Video Director, says over 45 agency clients have done roughly 100 campaigns.
However, both acknowledge this is just a drop in the bucket when you consider the $70-billion TV ad market.
“I agree that distributors have been slow to embrace this technology and slow to roll it out at scale, but I think we’re starting to see that happen,” adds Mike Welch, president of AT&T AdWorks.
Scheppach says that TV networks are starting to feel an impetus to embrace new technology.
“The whole CPG category is up in review, and when you have that moment when upfront dollars are moving, it puts a lot of pressure on inventory owners, the traditional ones, to pull something off to save the account,” she says.
The session was moderated by Terence Kawaja, CEO of LUMA Partners.
Scheppach, Bologna and Welch were part of a Cannes panel discussion on targeted TV advertising presented by AT&T AdWorks. Please visit this page for more videos from the series.
