Recent events from the pandemic to the protests have not
only changed the ways we live with each other but also the processes by which
we interact. Looking specifically at our industry and the way we transact
business, it is clear that the old processes need to be updated to reflect the
new realities.
For those is the media sales sector, what was once hands-on and meeting-in-person
has, by necessity, changed. TVSquared’s Vice President of Enterprise Accounts, Hanna
Gryncwajg is a media expert with experience that spans linear and advanced TV,
OTT, digital, and programmatic sales. For her, the pandemic, “has put an even
stronger spotlight on the importance of speed and agility for advertisers.
Those that react quickly – in smart, strategic ways – survive and thrive.”
Here are her thoughts about where we are and where we are
going:
Charlene Weisler: How
has your job changed pre and during the pandemic?
Hanna Gryncwajg: At TVSquared, my job is primarily
working with MVPDs and media owners, providing them with attribution
and measurement tools for their advertisers. While the sell-side was certainly
in the midst of change, moving toward more transparency, accountability and
outcomes, the pandemic has accelerated it. They are even more hyper-focused on
providing their advertisers with proof of performance and the data-backed
insights needed to reach audiences whose viewing habits and patterns are
changing constantly. Brands want to be able to dynamically manage and optimize
linear and OTT campaigns (like they do with digital), and MVPDs and media
owners are adapting to that demand quickly.
Weisler: What are the greatest
challenges for sales today?
Gryncwajg: For sales across all parts of the advertising
ecosystem, two challenges stand out. The first is staying on top of the rapidly
evolving industry, which is no easy feat. Our space is changing by the
day, with automation, data and technology moving us forward. It’s so critical
for sales to be able to articulate these changes and trends clearly and in context
of clients’ needs and challenges.
Second, the shift away from “traditional” metrics to ones
that are more business-specific, has created a disconnect in the market. Don’t
get me wrong, outcomes- and performance-based metrics, and being able to measure
TV’s direct impact on them, are very good things. But in the case of agencies
and sell-side sales, they are still being “graded” on delivering GRPs. That is
a disconnect that is tough to balance, but we’re seeing the divide lessen.
Weisler: What are the greatest opportunities?
Gryncwajg: There are so many opportunities, but most have
one thing in common: they benefit the advertiser. At the end of the day, we’re
all serving the advertiser – whether you’re a DSP, agency, an enterprise
seller, you name it. The end user has the money and they want to leverage TV to
move products. They are not interested in GRPs. They want flexibility and
transparency into what’s working and what’s not, and the data-backed insights
to inform continuous optimizations.
In the case of streaming services, at the very moment
(that’s how quickly we are evolving) it’s all about incremental reach, proving
out how OTT extends reach over linear campaigns. OTT providers are seeing an
influx of ad spend. Some of it is
clearly due to increased viewing during the pandemic, but much of it is about
the content, not where or on what device it is being viewed. OTT providers want to make sure they are
finally given the credit of viewers they deserve, and to keep those additional
dollars flowing. The time is now to prove what incremental reach can do for a
brand – to measure it and also to attribute response to it. TVSquared plays a
critical role here because we measure TV everywhere, across linear, data-driven
linear and digital. We provide this critical piece of information to our
partners as well as brands directly.
Weisler: What are you able to tell advertisers and
clients regarding their flights during the pandemic?
Gryncwajg: TVSquared is a single, unified platform that
measures outcomes, impressions, reach, frequency and reach extension across
linear and digital TV anywhere in the world. We currently have clients in 76
countries and counting. We’re not in the business of attribution studies, which
provide findings six weeks or more after a campaign. We are always-on, so you
get real-time insights on the business impact of your campaigns. During the
pandemic or not, we’re able to tell our clients optimal campaign delivery,
reach and frequency. They get granular performance analytics by creative, day,
daypart, channel, program and genres – with insights down to the DMA an ZIP
code levels. They understand the immediate, longer-term and household-level
impact of TV, and can uncover unique reach across OTT, as well as incremental
reach vs. linear.
Weisler: In those industries where product sells
itself like hand sanitizer, why should advertisers continue to advertise? What
is the right mix during these times?
Gryncwajg: It’s
about adapting your creatives to be situationally aware and then testing and
learning. There are products that are much more in-demand now than ever before.
But there’s still competition and consumers have many options. At the start of
lockdown, we saw many clients go off-air for a week to adapt their creatives to
address the pandemic in some form or another. They then were right back on a
few days later.
The
right mix is 100% dependent on the brand. What works for one, isn’t necessarily
going to work for another. Once a brand is on-air, it’s so critical to test and
learn – see how new buys, timeslots, OTT/linear mixes, etc. are impacting the
bottom line. And then use everything you learned to inform your next flight.
Viewing patterns and audiences are always going to be shifting, so constant
measurement and then acting fast to make those learnings actionable are very
important.
Weisler: For those categories that are hurting like
Hospitality, should they continue to advertise?
Gryncwajg: One
of our biggest pieces of advice for advertisers is to not go dark. The damage
we’ve seen from brands going off air, and essentially relinquishing their share
of voice to competitors, is hard to come back from. It’s about finding the
right messaging and staying on-air. Consumers are not necessarily buying cars
or booking vacations at the moment, but you still see auto and travel brands
on-air to maintain brand awareness. Their creatives aren’t about direct selling
at the moment, but they are still staying in front of consumers so when the
time comes to purchase a new car and book a holiday, they are top of mind.
Weisler: As states open up, are you seeing a shift
in the business? Are KPIs changing?
Gryncwajg: The
KPIs we measure for our thousands of advertisers are unique to each advertiser,
so it’s hard to generalize. I will say that some of the brands that were on-air
to maintain awareness have been slowly shifting back to more performance-based
KPIs as things get back to normal (or as normal as things can be now). We’re
also seeing verticals like travel, real estate and auto start to increase their
presence across linear and OTT. While they never went dark, they are starting
to show patterns of returning to pre-COVID schedules.
Weisler: What types of platforms are working best
overall at this time for advertisers and why?
Gryncwajg: TVSquared has been growing steadily since its
start, but the last few months have been extremely busy. Advertisers need to
know that every dollar in their ad budgets are working, so cross-platform
attribution that generates real-time insights has climbed to the top of many
priority lists. Our platform was built to be data agnostic, it is versatile and
flexible to serve a global community with different datasets
and media needs. For an advertiser to be agile, its partners have to
be as well. We quickly ingest any type of dataset that a client wants to work with
to provide immediate results. There is no need to wait weeks for reports.
Instant gratification and results = impacting change towards
efficiency.
Give us an overview on a global level on the state
of advertising - maybe comparing countries?
Gryncwajg: We work with global accounts every day. We are
the only GDPR compliant attribution provider and the only one that measures
both linear and OTT globally. We have hundreds of clients that run campaigns in
20 countries or more. In fact, I’m working with a global data partner right now
and we are training their sales teams in US, Europe, Asia and Australia. Understanding
each country’s culture and media nuances are key to communicating in a way
that is respectful, engaging and will drive response.
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