SAN JUAN, PR — Whilst the rise of subscription video (SVOD) services in the last five years may have conditioned people to expect that paid digital services would become the norm and TV advertising will wither away, that is not quite the full story.
In a more nuanced version, there are two other dynamics playing out:
- In parallel, the rise of new ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services, aiming to snare ad spend from buyers now locked out of SVOD arenas.
- Increased targeting capabilities in ad environments, at least in theory, driving up the price of advertising inventory that is left in non-SVOD channels.
Asked if all of this may make ad inventory more valuable, not less, Julian Zilberbrand, EVP of advanced media at the combined ViacomCBS, says: “Sure. The nature of supply and demand will speak to that, obviously.
“But I think what really makes it valuable is the ability and targetability of that world. And the ability to actually drive a … not one-to-one per se, but at least a household to a dataset conversation.
“All of a sudden you can be a little bit more targetable and a little bit more functional about what you’re trying to do to have a conversation with your audience. Hopefully, that leads to variations in creative discussion. Hopefully, that leads to more people investing in a manner that seems to be where the marketplace is going.”
Last year, Viacom acquired the ad-supported Pluto service for $340 million, a service that is now also being expanded outside of the US.
Zilberbrand was interviewed by TV[R]EV co-founder Alan Wolk at Beet Retreat San Juan 2020, where he was a participant.
This video was produced at the Beet Retreat San Juan 2020 sponsored by 605, DISH Media, NBCU, Roundel & Tubi. For more videos from the series, please visit this landing page.
