Vikram Somaya

It was a long time coming, but the long-held promise of targeting individual households with customized TV ads has finally come in to view. That is something video and TV programmers – all facing competition from digital-native ad platforms that have long offered super-targeting – need to remain competitive. “I think there are finally real […]

Widespread change requires “a lot of experimentation for people to change dramatically,” and that process has just begun in the quest for more advanced television targeting, according to LiveRamp’s Allison Metcalfe. Then there is complexity, which can inhibit change when not all entities are committed to changing at the same pace, notes Mike Rosen of […]

ESPN is heading to this year’s Cannes Lions as part of Walt Disney Co.’s “one-stop shop” platform, as the sports giant begins to experiment with household-addressable television and retargeting OTT viewers across its digital footprint. “Disney certainly has a lot to say at Cannes this year,” ESPN’s Vikram Somaya, SVP, Global Data Officer & Ad […]

Although using first and third-party to target linear television audiences is in the testing phase, it stands to increase the attribution TV gets for prompting consumer behavior. “At ESPN, we certainly think the audience buying future is upon us,” says Vikram Somaya, SVP, Global Data Officer & Ad Platforms at ESPN. In this interview with […]