MIAMI — There are now several technologies coming to the table that aim to help broadcast operators dynamically switch commercials in their ad break to specific viewing households.
But, by and large, just like connected TV itself, they depend on boxes, dongles, consoles or widgets connected to a television set.
What if you could do dynamic ad replacement in the TV itself?
That’s what Sorenson Media, a broadcast technology support vendor with a range of services, is aiming to help TV manufacturers do.
Product marketing VP Stefan Maris explains: We engage with companies like Samsung, LG, and Vizio. At this point, we are in integration mode with Samsung.
“Next year in Q2, we’re going to start field tests on the dynamic ad replacement, and we target to have a full commercial at least in Q3 next year.
“So if you looked at the overall footprint of Samsung, by the end of 2017, we’ll be looking at 50 million internet-connected smart TVs of which 28 million are in the US and 22 million are in Europe. Of the 28 million in the US, roughly 50% will be available upon launch.”
Sorenson was founded by Utah businessman Jim Sorenson, is led by CEO Marcus Liassides and numbers execs from Cardiff’s former on-demand pioneer Yes TV. Maris was previously with Philips and its Civolution unit, which performs broadcast tracking and automated content recognition.
He says Sorenson boasts partnerships with the US’ Hearst and Sinclair TV groups to replace ads ad certain times of day, targeted using data held about viewers, including via Neustar and Experian. He hopes SMG and Modi Media will show interest in buying the inventory.
Sorenson also offers real-time analytics of viewing behavior inside connected TVs, including analyzing which show promos yielded viewing uplift.
This interview was conducted at Beet Retreat 2016: The Transformation of Television Advertising, an executive retreat presented by Videology with AT&T AdWorks and the 605. Please find more videos from the event here.
This interview was conducted by Matter More Media CEO Tracey Scheppach.
