With nothing but more streaming competitors on the horizon, DISH Media’s Sling TV is nonetheless buoyed by consumer behavior. “The Sling TV audience basically consists of cord nevers and cord cutters. And that is only going to grow going forward. I think the consumer behavior stats that we see are most compelling for us,” says DISH Media SVP Kevin Arrix.
One of Sling’s key selling points is enabling live television to be delivered by IP. “Being able to bring live television to a programmatic environment and bring it to buyers who can transact in real time is really unique and really exciting,” Arrix says in this Beet.TV interview at the recent MediaMath Connect All Fronts industry conference in Manhattan.
“And I think that’s a beacon of what’s to come down the road for anybody in the live TV OTT space as well as CTV.”
At Sling, programmatic is “a significant portion of our overall revenue. It’s a really unique way for buyers to come in and get live television advertising in real time,” Arrix adds.
What powers the combination of programmatic with real time transactions is the ability to leverage Sling’s viewer data. “By leveraging our data, you can deliver very unique targeting and probably more importantly, you can deliver reporting on the back end that ties into ROI and ties in to attribution and takes measurement to the next level.”
Asked about how Sling works with MediaMath and other DSP’s, Arrix says there’s a lesson to be learned in terms of “what the DSP’s have built” and that their utility is dictated solely by the demand side.
“The demand side is saying ‘I like this company, I like MediaMath I like their UI, I like their platform and I am going to run my marketing dollars through to this platform.’ Supply siders that want to be a part of that “need to get connected and get integrated.”
Noting that Sling has full integration across the spectrum of DSP’s, Arrix says he thinks Mediamath “has done a great job in terms of drumming up added demand around CTV and OTT.”
As for the continued emergence of new, streaming-video competitors, Arrix says, “The advanced advertising or data-driven video space is exploding and there are developments left right and center. We love were we stand right now.”
This video was recorded at the MediaMath Connect All Fronts industry conference in Manhattan. The series is sponsored by MediaMath. For more videos please visit this page.
