Xandr - Preparing for a More Converged World

One of the major trends in television today is Programmatic. Once more of a digital and then a local TV buy, Programmatic is fast expanding into other television formats from OTT to VOD to even traditional. And media buyers and sellers are transitioning and adapting to this new, opportunistic normal. 

”Where advertising can benefit in the future is limitless,” noted Matt Van Houten, Vice President, Advertising Product Development Media Sales, Xandr who, along with Lindsey Van Kirk, Vice President of Product Management, spoke about their company’s initiatives at the recent Programmatic TV Summit held in New York.

An Expanded Business for a Changing World

While Xandr has been at the forefront of programmatic TV, they are not resting on their laurels according to Van Houten and Van Kirk. On the heels of recent media acquisitions, AT&T restructured its communications business, Van Houten explained, creating an entertainment division under WarnerMedia and an advertising division under Xandr as well as their global business.

The company has the capability to sell nationally, locally and programmatically and is making inroads into linear programmatic according to Van Houten. The long view is, according to Van Kirk, “to get into 100% of the buying selling workflow,” by “driving the target-ability of audiences whether they browse websites or are subscribers.” She sees that, “Consumers are becoming more fluid across platforms,” so the focus for the company has to include how to better analyze the audience to help advertisers extend reach. “We are moving more to a converged world,” she concluded. 

Convergence and Integration

To facilitate that convergence for sales purposes, Xandr relies on impression delivery which enables a seamless way to analyze audience delivery across platforms and through their AppNexus interface. In addition, Van Houten noted that there is the capability to, “have real time dynamic targeting by segment.” Future steps include, “a more dynamic integration into traffic system to make it less manual than it is today. We are looking to get to fully integrated systems.”

In addition to the technical and data aspects of the business, there is also the human and the creative element. “We are talking to more buyers,” stated Van Kirk, “They want more control with their relationships with suppliers and want access to greater insights and information.” To that end, she explained that, “We want to start expanding from a narrower programmatic lens to more unique formats for a more converged world.”

To accomplish this, the company is offering “a brand new user interface with a suite of products to expand creative formats and a powerful optimization engine with a new user interface that can activate on these different formats,” essentially taking any dollar and transacting on it programmatically. She is focused on, “How to bring people along on the journey,” and promised that, “Any way you want to work with us you can.”

The Future Looks Bright

“We are bullish on the industry,” stated Van Houten, especially with “5G is rolling out nationwide.” He explained that new opportunities crop up every day including, “driverless buying,” where passengers in driverless cars suddenly might have hours of free time as they travel and where, “data is coming off everything creating interesting opportunities for advertisers,” from smart dog collars that can indicate when to walk or feed the dog. “Sixteen (ad) minutes per hour has been under stress for a while,” he warned, so it is important for the industry to pose the question, “How can we interrupt less and monetize across other experiences.”

That is a long term approach. In the short term however, the big win a year from now would be “unified targeting and unified measurement across platforms,” for Van Houten and, “a buyer being able to access any piece of inventory they want,” for Van Kirk.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com