VIEQUES, PR — Recent moves by US broadcasters to begin selling some of their TV ad slots by making more digital-style data available are likely to bear fruit at the upcoming US TV ad sales season known as “upfronts”.
- Earlier in March, Fox, Viacom and Turner teamed to form OpenAP, a system in which they will allow ad buyers to define audience segments that are targetable across the networks, not just individually.
- NBC plans to sell $1bn of its upfront inventory through its own Audience Targeting Platform.
- A+E followed with a similar announcement.
Speaking with Beet.TV in this panel interview, 605 founder and CEO Kristin Dolan said: “We’ve definitely had conversations with a number of partners about what opportunities we can bring to their upfront presentations to help them think through continuing to get advertisers excited about this, and to consider different approaches.
“You’re always going to have the advertiser who wants to see their ad in the Oscars … but if there are opportunities to spend dollars in a way that’s easier to justify and optimise, that’s going to matter.
“At the upfront this year, you’re going to continue to hear a significant amount of conversation about this topic.”
The 2017 US Upfronts and NewFronts season, in which TV networks and digital publishers tout their upcoming content roster in a bid to secure ad spending, began early in March and is set to continue through to mid-May; here is the calendar.
Dolan’s 605 was founded last year when Cablevision executives Dolan and Ben Tatta left to form their own company providing set-top box data to marketers. The move came after Dolan’s Dolan Family Ventures acquired the existing Analytics Media Group (AMG), a data analytics firm with a background in politics, last year to immediately launch what Dolan is calling “605“.
Dolan adds: “We were thrilled to hear Linda’s (Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s ad sales chairman) announcement, and the subsequent announcement by A+E.
“They’re brave and passionate and she’s willing to put money where her mouth is on this. She’s been an advocate for a long time. The announcement with Turner, Viacom and Fox continues to indicate that people are passionate and enthusiastic about it.”
This interview was conducted by MediaLink MD Matt Spiegel.
This video is part of a series produced at the Beet.TV Executive Retreat in Vieques. The event and series is presented by Videology and 605. For more videos from the series, please visit this page.
