Editor’s Note: Here is a video overview and text summary of programming and objectives for the Beet Retreat Santa Monica, by Jon Watts, Editorial Director of Beet.TV Events and programmer of this Beet Retreat:
This year’s Beet Retreat in Santa Monica promises to be a special event for the industry, a chance to come together to take stock of the tremendous progress made during 2022 and to discuss the work that still needs to be done, to support the transition to a new kind of marketplace and to unlock the full promise of advanced advertising.
There can be little doubt that the Retreat comes at a critical time for the industry, with dramatic long-term shifts underway across the industry, with traditional pay-TV subscriptions, linear view and linear ad dollars also facing significant challenges.
Dollars tend to follow eyeballs, and streaming services are growing rapidly, attracting a growing share of advertising dollars, with more to follow as Netflix and Disney+ launch lower-cost ad-supported offerings. Where will this growth in AVOD spending come from? Linear network owners are working hard to support addressable advertising and data enablement at scale, with various collaborative efforts underway to drive scale and standardize transactions, but the industry is still grappling with addressable measurement and joined-up planning and buying.
At the same time, the industry is making real progress. More holistic, consistent measurement across linear, VOD and streaming is developing rapidly, supporting far better management of reach and frequency across different platforms and pools of inventory. Preparation for a multi-currency market has been underway for some years, with major media owners and agencies working hard to test and support different measurement providers, but the 2023-2024 upfronts are widely expected to see a significant ramp up of transactions completed against new currencies. Partnerships and investments, such as the recent tie-up between Blockgraph, Acxiom and Ampersand and Snowflake Venture’s recent investment in OpenAP, are proliferating, playing a vital role in building the new, joined-up marketplace.
This is critical work. Wall Street has growing doubts about media industry business models, with streaming valuations down by around 60% and linear TV networks down 51% during the last 12 months. The industry needs to demonstrate real progress, to support and grow revenues and to continue to deliver the high-quality content and services that audiences know and love. The next year will be pivotal for the future of the TV ad market.
Against this backdrop, the Beet Retreat will bring together nearly 200 executives from across the media and adverting industries to explore the future of TV in the 2020s. Since stepping in as Editorial Director, I’ve worked hard to develop the Retreat into a unique event, different to most other conferences. Rather than listening to a steady stream of PR-approved corporate presentations, the Retreat is a truly interactive event, with a succession of town-halls presenting opportunities for real dialogue and engagement. Everyone can participate and is encouraged to take part, both inside and outside the conference hall.
This year’s program in Santa Monica will kick off with a brand-new interactive format, designed to help us explore the future shape of the industry in 2025, collectively and collaboratively. Our expert panel will give us their views on what lies ahead.
We’ll then move into the Big Beet Retreat Debate, exploring the practical steps and collaborations required to make the multi-currency transition a success. We’ll also discuss different perspectives on what success would look like, in 2025.
Day Two of the Retreat will explore a range of advertising innovations, taking stock of progress in key areas, and exploring the new opportunities opening up for the buy- and sell-sides of the industry. The discussions will include deep dives into the future of addressable TV, CTV and streaming, the attribution revolution, the growth of programmatic, the evolution of TV measurement, and the growth of the new TV data ecosystem.
Day Three will kick off with a deep dive into the latest innovations in measurement, including new developments in attention metrics, contextual advertising, and cross-platform. We’ll close with a plenary, exploring industry priorities for the next three years, the road to 2025.
Along the way, we’ll hear from an incredible diversity of speakers and panelists, including senior executives from our event partners: T-Mobile Advertising Solutions, The Trade Desk, Ampersand, PubMatic, MiQ and Nielsen.
This promises to be a special three days. We’re excited to welcome our guests and speakers to the Retreat and looking forward to the discussions. Come prepared to contribute. Let’s celebrate our industry and plan for the future.
By Jon Watts, MD of CIMM, Editorial Director of the Beet Retreats, and Executive Director at The Project X Institute.
You are watching preview coverage of Beet Retreat Santa Monica 2022, presented by Ampersand, MiQ, Nielsen, PubMatic, T-Mobile Advertising Solutions, and The Trade Desk. For more videos from the Beet Retreat, please visit this page.
