Millions of U.S. households are hooking up their televisions to the internet, opening up a chance to see a wider selection of programming from the growing number of connected TV apps. Those viewers expect to have a viewing experience that’s equal to or better than traditional television, though technical hiccups can still get in the way. Some commercials may appear too frequently or not at all, leaving viewers to sit through a blank screen.
“When I’m watching TV and I see that ‘we’ll be right back’ and some music and it goes on for too long — that to me is the most heinous type of experience for the viewer,” Tom Sly, vice president of revenue, national media, at E.W. Scripps Co., said in this Beet.TV interview with Sr. Editor Rob Williams.
“But I think the great news is the industry is working on this,” Sly said. “We’re looking at new technology, we’re looking at ways that we can implement better partners and technology to reduce any type of ad duplication.”
Business rules in connected television (CTV) advertising are important for brands that don’t want their messaging to be overshadowed by direct competitors. The rules also apply to linear television as it becomes more addressable, meaning that different households will see different ads during the same shows.
“Lots of technologies come into play and…we’re working with addressable linear and starting to launch that,” Sly said. “The ad or competitive separation is a bit of a challenge right now, which is why we’re still kind of in the in the proof-of-concept and test mode. But look, this is important for advertisers and therefore it’s important to us.”
Technologies including ATSC 3.0, or NextGen TV, are another key part of the evolving television ad marketplace. Advertisers will have more ways to reach different audiences, regardless of how they spend time with video content.
“The beauty of a lot of these connected TV audiences — they’re streamers that you may not be able to reach on broadcast or pay TV,” Sly said. “I think there will still be a need…from the buy side for broadcast and for networks, but I also think that there will be a huge demand — and we see it today in connected TV — a huge demand for addressable audiences.”
You are watching “Transforming CTV: Delivering a Better Ad Experience for Viewers,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series presented by Beachfront. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
