It was one of the pioneers of satellite-delivered television.
Now DirecTV is carving a role for itself as a provider of streaming TV shows and advertising.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Matt Van Houten, SVP, Product & Business Development, DirecTV Video Advertising, explains what is coming next.
Addressable OG
DirecTV has been offering ad buyers addressable solutions, in which ad spots in satellite boxes are swapped out for more targeted alternatives, for many years.
In fact, Van Houten says that capability launched 11 years ago and is now delivering “thousands of campaigns per year”.
“We’re kind of the OG for that business,” he says. “We’re taking all the great learnings from satellite, from linear, and we’re moving that over to the streaming environment.”
Innovation incoming
Last year, AT&T announced it would spin out DirecTV, AT&T TV, and U-Verse into a new company jointly controlled with TPG Capital. Van Houten now says new announcements are coming.
“You’re going to see a lot more coming out of DirectTV from a product innovation perspective – not just on the core video side, where there’s some interesting features that are going get launched later this year, but also on the advertising side,” he says.
“You have so many new ways to delight the customer. You have new experiences, new real estate on the guide in video, out of video.
“So we’re thinking about the next frontier of advertising. We know viewers are on both platforms. How do we create unique experience across those platforms, but then how do we tie it all together to bring that reach?
“So I think you’re going see a lot more innovation from us on the digital side here in the next few months.”
Data driver
The new thrust is data. DirecTV already knows it has a nationwide footprint, with presence in 210 designated market areas (DMAs) and a huge pipe of viewer data from set-top boxes.
Some of that data is licensed out to measurement companies.
“The data is very, very valuable,” Van Houten says.
“It’s probably the most valuable piece of our equation now because the media has become so commoditized that the insights on that data is really what gets us from a pre-campaign perspective and a post-campaign perspective, gets those clients calling us back.”
Van Houten spoke at the Advanced Advertising Summit in New York. He was interviewed for Beet.TV by Jon Watts, Editorial Director, Beet.TV Events.
