SANTA BARBARA — Around the new TV industry, sentiment is growing that there are too many ads on screen.
As the average total duration of ads on US TV has climbed to 22 minutes per hour, subscription, ad-free video services have risen in popularity.
That is prompting a recalibration, with many networks committing to air fewer or shorter ads.
But, for the leader of an umbrella group representing premium video and TV publishers, ad load is a symptom of one thing – advertising’s effectiveness.
“Someone can … say something’s too much or too little. But the advertisers themselves, they’re the ones who want to continue to use this medium in all its forms because very simply it works,” says Sean Cunningham, CEO of VAB, in this video interview.
“The reason that there is the multiplicity of ads out there is because of the fact that we have ever more advertisers who want the inventory, and they want the inventory because they’ve got the data and the analytics that say that there’s a bold line between television advertising in all its forms and the outcomes they’re looking for.”
Cunningham’s VAB was formed in 2015 out of the old Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB) and represents national broadcast and ad-supported cable networks, regional cable networks, MVPDs, major cinema advertisers and suppliers to the video advertising business.
He says viewers and publishers are actually involved in a consensual relationship thanks to advertising.
“There is an understanding essentially that world-class content comes with an ad contract,” Cunningham says. “What we’re seeing is that we are putting ever more relevant ads with ever more relevant stimuli in front of properly identified consumers who are taking actions against them.”
This video is from a series leading up to, and covering, the Xandr Relevance Conference in Santa Barbara. This Beet.TV series is sponsored by Xandr. Please visit this page to find more videos from the series.
