Between ATSC
3.0, Addressability, live programming such as news and sports and OTT, this
year’s NYC TV of Tomorrow conference offered a great sense of anticipation
regarding the future of media. From when I first attended the conference in
2012, the ecosystem has gone through a series of seismic changes, lurching
forward in one area and contracting in another. Recall the first rumblings of
Addressable? Now it is reaching critical mass. Remember 3D TV? Yeah, neither do
I. This year, the prognosticators report the following:
Revenge of the Nerds
There is
more data than ever which leads to much more complexity in how it is used.
“There is a greater need for examining multiple data sources, rather than
simply relying on one or two” stated Helen Katz, Senior Vice President and
Director Global Analytics and Insights, Publicis.
“Given the increased complexity in consumers’ media and purchase behavior over
the past five years, buyers and sellers both need to look to more granular data
to do their jobs effectively.”
To that end,
Julian Zilberbrand Executive Vice President Audience Science, Viacom/CBS,
got it right when he said, “If you don’t have your nerds, you’re dead.” Arming
your company with the best talent in data science, research and analytics is a
must to compete in this ever complex media ecosystem. I have been in the nerd
sector of the industry for decades so this evolution in industry attitude is
very welcome.
We Are All Confused
As frenetic
and confusing as the change is for those who work in media, the world is
equally so for the consumer. “There is consumer confusion about how to access
content,” stated Julie DeTraglia, Head of Research, Hulu.
“We went into homes and found that people don’t understand their own TV sets.”
Natasha Hritzuk, Vice President Consumer Insights, WarnerMedia,
added, “It is a challenge for consumers. People feel overwhelmed. They have to
grapple with the device proliferation and the choice of content.”
Part of the
confusion on the media side is the changing ways to do business. “The rules we
grew up with are antiquated,” stated Peter Olsen, Executive Vice President Ad
Sales, A+E
Networks, “It was good when we started because TV didn’t have to sell
itself,” but now there is more competition. And even current business rules are
not as simple as we may think. Take, for example, calculating attribution.
“When I view engaging content, I won’t switch to buy something. I will wait,”
explained Radha Subramanyam, President and Chief Research and Analytics
Officer, Viacom/CBS.
“Half of TV impressions are not counted because they are time shifted. Tons of
clients do attribution around live. But no one will stop in the middle of a
great program to buy something, especially something expensive.”
A Media Kumbayah
For the
first time in our history, there has been a partnering of not only frenemy
companies who compete on the same side of the business but also those who
compete across the negotiation table. Programmers, networks and content
distributors are forming working open partnerships with agencies, brands and
advertisers. This cross industry collaboration is a welcome advancement where
agreed upon solutions can be facilitated and moved more quickly into market.
David Ernst, Vice President, Advanced TV and Digital
Insights, A+E Networks, explained that, “We offer insights as to how well
campaigns on our networks are driving results, driving KPIs, drive to the web
or retail location. What is changing is the dynamic of media seller and buyer.
Once at odds, we are now all in same boat. There is more collaboration with
agencies.” Olsen is, “confident in the bigger picture that TV works and we need
to get there fast. It will take a couple of years but when we put our heads
together we find many solutions.”
Be Careful of Simple Solutions
To mitigate
this confusion, there may be a temptation to enforce simple standardizable
solutions. But this lack of nuance would be a mistake. Collecting all content
into an app, for example, aggregates content from many properties which can be
good but, recalling her past experience in CPG research, Hritzuk warned that, “We
are on a point of inflection to become commoditized. I worry about
commoditization of inventory.”
Bringing different datasets together can solve for the
deficiencies in each. Tom Ziangus, Senior Vice President Research, AMC
Networks, noted, “There is a level of granularity that we don’t have with
Nielsen but a level of information on Individual viewers from Nielsen that we
don’t have from big data,” he explained. However, bringing different datasets
together is complicated. “We need to ‘de-babelize’ the dataset [into one common
language],” noted Jonathan Steuer, Chief Research Officer, Omnicom,
“Or we can’t have same buying and selling combinations.” For Andrew Ward,
President, Ampersand,
the industry should, “move away from panel survey-based to deterministic.”
Remember too
that we are not always seeking the same solutions. “PlutoTV is free so we are
not competing for money but competing for time. People feel overwhelmed and
confused over places to watch things. For many, Pluto is easy, like turning the
TV on. We are not trying to get dollars out of people’s pockets. We are
competing differently,” explained Colleen Fahey-Rush, Executive Vice President,
Chief Research Officer, Viacom.
For Katz,
she believes the industry will eventually come together to create a common data
platform that incorporates data from multiple sources. How soon that will
happen remains to be seen. Stay tuned for TVOT 2020.
This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
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