Vevo is assembling an ad-tech supergroup as it partners-up to strike the right note in its journey to a connected TV (CTV) future.
The music video service was once weighted heavily toward online and on-demand viewing.
But, in this video interview with Beet.TV, Vevo advanced TV VP Rob Christensen says CTV is exploding.
CTV booming
“Prior to the pandemic, when you look at five quarters ago, connected TV revenue represented 4% of our total direct ad sales,” Christensen says.
“As we close out two to 2021 here, as we sit in June, connected TV will represent just about half of our overall advertising revenue directly.
“We’ve officially reached the inflexion point of supply and demand in TV. And we look forward to surpassing that 50% mark as we head into 21 and 22.”
Trending up at upfronts
Vevo, like other digital publishers, has been going through its NewFront, a period during which it touts its upcoming content roster to secure advance ad sales commitments.
During the season, WarnerMedia’s head of ad sales JP Colaco said: “We believe IP is the new primetime.” Vevo’s Christensen adds: “We happen to agree with that.”
For his company, TV consumption was growing 40% year-over-year for the two years before the pandemic. Now it has grown even faster.
But it’s not all about VOD. “We’re looking at linear as well as VOD opportunities for launch,” Christensen says. “We have linear channels here in the US live on Samsung TV Plus, Vizio, Xumo, Pluto TV and more to come.
“You’ll start to see some more channels launching here this year globally.”
Supporting cast
To build everything out, Vevo is assembling a range of ad-tech suppliers to support.
For self-service platform (SSP), it has used SpotX, FreeWheel and Christensen says “others to come”.
“We’re very excited to work with Beachfront for their ad pod bidding solution,” Christensen says. “It will maximise every single ad pod that we’re running.
“We’re testing varying lengths on VOD and linear right now. As we’re running ad pods and multiple minutes per hour, it’s important for us to make sure that it’s a great experience for brands to create experience for users and of cost maximising the monetization opportunity.
“So we’ll be utilizing their tool for all those things, as well as managing competitive separation for our clients and frequency.”
Measuring-up
In the new environment, Christensen acknowledges there are difficulties around measuring success, since consumption platforms and patterns have proliferated.
He wants to answer questions like “How do we increase yield?”, “How do we maximise every ad opportunity in real time?” and “Can we better unify ad decisioning and monetization?”
There is a particular challenge around measuring incremental reach.
Vevo has turned to iSpot.tv to help it distinguish connected TV audiences from those viewing and other platforms to authenticate a campaign’s incremental reach.
And it uses TVision, which has an opted-in panel of users throughout the country, to measure attention for content as well as advertising.
You are watching “Convergent TV: Driving Addressability Across Traditional and Connected TV,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by Beachfront. For more videos, please visit this page.
