LONDON – Adam Gaynor has a way of making the most confusing subjects sound quite simple. For example, addressable television is a “product.” Programmatic is a “process.”
In the United States, says DISH Network’s VP of Media Sales & Analytics, “When you ask 10 people what programmatic TV is, you get 11 answers.”
But in an interview with Beet.tv, Gaynor makes it clear that DISH knows exactly where it’s going with regard to advanced TV.
“Programmatic’s not a product,” says Gaynor. “It’s not even a product when you talk about digital. It’s a process. The way that we look at programmatic is a way to automate the use of complex data sets infused into television buying.”
Gaynor goes on to outline a three-stop process at DISH with the preface that the company’s programmatic offering is built on the foundation of its addressable TV platform.
Step one involved the untargeted impressions derived from full 30-second spots that had been “sliced and diced” for addressable ads. “We wanted to take some of those untargeted impressions and bring digital money back to TV,” Gaynor explains.
So DISH made them available to advertisers that were already buying impressions across every screen but TV. “Now they have TV impressions in their buy,” says Gaynor.
Step two will be to ultimately automate the use of addressable across all of the company’s addressable impressions. “It’s not designed to get rid of my sellers or to get rid of buyers,” Gaynor says. “It’s designed to make what’s really a complex process easier.”
Step three: “Take all of my inventory and let it be purchased programmatically,” he adds.
Asked for his thoughts on the acquisition of addressable advertising platform provider Invidi Technologies by AT&T, DISH and WPP, Gaynor cites the need to continue to push addressable forward.
“The parties that come together for this venture demonstrate the commitment of both the sales side and the buy side to drive addressability,” Gaynor says.
Returning to his earlier quip about 10 questions yielding 11 answers, he explains that it’s different in Europe. “In Europe when you ask 10 people what programmatic is, at least I’m only getting three or four answers,” Gaynor says. “It gives me hope that there’s an ability for that part of the business to move forward in our industry.”
We spoke with Gaynor at the Future of TV Advertising Forum in London. Beet.TV’s coverage is presented by the 605. For other videos from the series, please visit this page.
