A few short years ago, few could have predicted that Game Of Thrones, Wolf Blitzer, basketball stars and broadband infrastructure engineers would be rubbing shoulders in the same company.

But that’s what the modern AT&T – incorporating WarnerMedia’s Turner and CNN – now looks like.

For the corporation – like Verizon alongside it – it is part of an ambitious move to tie telco and content in to a broad offering that leverages data on subscribers and consumers across a range of devices and content types.

And, for advertisers, the gateway to the kingdom is Xandr, the platform which gains access to each platform.

Beet.TV’s Identity in Focus forum heard from two executives now at the cusp opportunities at the unified entity:

  • Xandr VP Research Dan Rosenfeld
  • Turner SVP ad innovation and programmatic solutions Dan Aversano

In conversation with former Turner revenue chief Howard Shimmel, the two Dans opined on the challenges and opportunities in delivering multi-screen ads.

“What’s incredible about the TV viewership data is you’ve got an almost infinite, library of signals in terms of content, behaviours, interests that are indicators simply from a proclivity to tune into certain types of content,” Rosenfeld said.

“And that can really tell us about the passions and the interests of consumers in and for an advertiser to align their brand with a specific passion or try to connect to a consumer through that insight is very powerful.”

Aversano agreed, adding that using data on telco subscribers available through AT&T is a particular added boost.

“Mobility data – things like geolocation, app usage, mobile web usage –  is a vast treasure trove,” Aversano said.

It’s not just “mobile”, however. AT&T has made a big commitment to 5G roll-out. And, whilst its rebadging of some advanced existing 4G spectrum as “5ge” has ruffled feathers, the operator will soon operate 5G spectrum proper – leaving the two Dans licking their lips.

“5G is a game changer for many different reasons for AT&T but particularly in the data world, we see there being some great opportunities as that begins to roll out,” Aversano said.

“The ability to have zero-latency video streaming virtually on any device … cis a whole new ball game. And when you talk about it and things like an identity graph, there’s a lot of opportunity, we think.”

Rosenfeld agreed: “One beautiful opportunity with 5G is the idea that there’s one pipe controlling all of your video ad experiences.”

This video was produced in New York City at Identity in Focus: Understanding the Cross-Screen Consumer in a Fragmented World, a Beet.TV Leadership Forum, presented by 4INFO and hosted by Viacom. For more videos from the series, please visit this page.

By Robert Andrews on    @robertandrews