Comcast’s Look Back at 2020 and Look Ahead to 2021

This has been an unusually challenging time for prognostication. The once-in-a-generation pandemic and the current political environment have upended expectations and has created what some believe is a “new normal.” 

How are the advertising and publishing spheres of media looking back and looking forward? Comcast FreeWheel offers a look back at 2020 while Comcast Advertising looks ahead to 2021.

Programmers 2020 Look Back

2020 was a year of major changes from the global pandemic to the Black Lives Matter movement to the U.S. Elections and aftermath. But the first look at the year 2020 began with a push forward on addressability with Comcast FreeWheel’s initiative on enabling addressability.

 

The full force of the global pandemic hit the market in March, changing viewing patterns across dayparts, devices and platforms. According to Comcast FreeWheel, in the first half of 2020, premium video views increase 17% year-over-year and premium video ad views increase by 32% in the U.S. Europe saw a significant increase in TV viewership as well with average daily viewing per household up to 6 hours and 25 minutes per day on average from 90 minutes. Tent pole events had mixed performances with the Superbowl achieving a five year ratings high while the Oscars slumped and the Olympics in Japan were postponed.

Certain advertising categories benefited from consumers sheltering at home, such as Food, while other categories such as Travel held more optimism for an eventual recovery in 2020 than actually happened. Sports returned by the start of summer, registering huge increases in viewership especially for Baseball, Hockey and Basketball. Notably, by the fall, more sports resumed including Tennis, Cycling and Rugby. Programmers, anxious to offer more viewing options to content starved consumers, launched a range of streaming services including Peacock from NBCU.

Certainly the impact of Black Lives Matter in the summer brought into the forefront the malignant and enduring impact of structural racism which expanded beyond the U.S. into the global zeitgeist, forcing the media world to lean in to be part of the change.

As the year progressed, Upfront was proving to be very different from prior years with smaller-than-normal and delayed events. Adding to this was the uncertainty of TV schedules with delays in production due to the pandemic and advertisers buying closer to program airings because of the uncertainty.

As 2020 wound down, the world braced for a COVID-19 resurgence and further lockdowns. But there are signs of optimism and hope for 2021. A FreeWheel survey of 500 European Marketers reveals that when it comes to advanced TV budgets, 84% expect spend to grow in the next 12 months.

Agencies 2021 Look Forward

For agencies, 2020 has been a year of adversity, complexity and, yes, opportunity. According to Comcast Advertising, Measurement has risen to the top of priorities for both the buy side and sell side of the business. Comcast has found that, “the whole industry is looking for workable solutions,” in an area that has historically lagged behind in innovation, relying on legacy data sets.

But 2021 looks to be a very different measurement environment. For Michael Law, President Amplifi USA, “As consumers have clearly shown they are in control of their experiences with brands and with media, it’s imperative our industry works collectively to evolve to a consumer-centric, cross channel and platform measurement solution, that can be used universally as a future trading currency and benchmark for the efficiency and effectiveness of all brand communications efforts.”

Programmatic is projected to be another hot growth area for agencies and as media converges, it is accelerating adoption of this advertising format. As Hayley Diamond, EVP, US Digital Investment and Partnerships, Publicis Medi, noted, “Two factors are driving new investment behavior in the TV space: increased buying automation and utilizing data for enhanced targeting. We see increased programmatic interest and activity, directly driven by a need to drive efficiency, the higher volume of options in terms of supply and investment options, and the unique dynamics of 2020 and into 2021.”

The Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted what has always been an important issue among agencies – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. There can be no more delay in implementing policies and actions that foster substantive change in this area. “This has to be a key objective for our industry, it’s not ok to sit on the side-lines and hope someone else will do it. As leaders of businesses we have to be better educated in recognizing that we don’t know what we don’t know, learning more and learning how to actively make those opportunities available to all,” warned Stephanie Marks, Managing Director, Havas U.

A major area of change that might lead to a new normal for viewership is streaming which is now 25% of total video consumption, fostering further fragmentation. Agencies realize that Unification is necessary for the healthy future of television that can be bought at scale more holistically.

“OTT and CTV’s scale and maturity have placed it on an even playing field with linear TV in terms of quality and engagement and offers incremental audiences via advanced targeting capabilities. Holistic planning across all flavors of TV will be key to take full advantage of these platforms so that marketers can maximize unduplicated reach and use the strengths of each platform to deliver the right advertising message,” stated Marissa Jimenez, President, MODI Media.

Fueling this need for convergence is Addressable which, for agencies, is the necessary next step in television’s growth and relevancy to marketers. Comcast Advertising noted that in June 2020, nine programmers began addressable trials for project OAR (Open, Addressable, Ready) and AMC was the first to join Comcast Advertising’s On Addressability in the U.S. This is expected to expand in 2021.

For Jason Han, Senior Vice President of Addressable Innovation for Matterkind, “Addressable TV is taking significant steps in its evolution as programmers are opening up their national inventory and new solutions are being tested. 2021 promises to unlock new levels of scale for advertisers looking to reach specific desired audiences in a premium environment that clients value.”

Will 2021 hearken in a “new normal” for our business? There is every indication that the seeds planted in 2020 from measurement to addressability to programmatic to inclusion will blossom into a stronger, more viable media ecosystem that is, indeed, a new, robust normal.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 

 

Upfront Relevancy and the Importance (Or Not) of Data. The IRTS Newsmakers Panel.

The IRTS is an industry organization of top media executives and also serves as a charity to build future leaders and industry diversity through an educational program initiative. The recent Newsmaker Breakfast not only recognized the thirty students comprising this year’s IRTS fellows program, it also offered a provocative panel of noted agency leaders moderated by Jack Myers, Chairman and Founder of Myersbiznet.

The panel included Lori Hiltz, CEO Global Brands, Havas Media Group, Dave Penski, Chief Investment Officer, Publicis Media, Dani Benowitz, EVP Director of Investment, Magna Global, Rino Scanzoni , Chief Investment Officer, GroupM and Donnie Williams, Chief Digital Officer, Horizon Media. Myers led a lively discussion of the state of the industry from the upfront and newfront to data, automation and disintermediation. 

Upfront 2016

“The upfront has taken some interesting turns this year,” Myers began, “What do you see happening?” Hiltz responded, “The Upfront is the social currency of our industry. It doesn't matter what platform or channel – we are platform agnostic when it comes to investment. But the Upfront becomes the jump start.” Scanzoni countered, “The Upfront marketplace is irrelevant to what the overall market really is. Last year we saw market declines and this year we expect to see low to single digit growth. There is change and disruption but the fundamentals of our business are not changing.” “There is more of a shift from national TV into digital. We have been looking at digital holistically for a while as a way to reach consumers,” Benowitz noted.

The Importance of Data and Closed Loop Initiatives

 Is data a game changer? “We are all talking about data,” Scanzoni said, “But there is nothing new about data. Yes it is more sophisticated and there is more first and third party data. But we’ve used data in TV for many years. We are doing it better – it is more objective and reliable - but there is no nirvana here using data.” But data is being collected and leveraged in new ways. “The closed loop is new,” said Myers. “There are closed loop initiatives from companies like NBCU, Viacom and Turner. Do they have scale and are they sustainable?” Scanzoni responded, “If I were a seller I would do exactly that but as a buyer I do not see the value in closed loops. You have to have a consistent data set to apply to a full TV portfolio. The correlations are different between Kantar and Nielsen, for example. They point you in different directions. You need a consistent dataset and have to find a way to optimize across vendors. Sellers have to work as a group but that is impossible because they have their own self interests. Agencies need to choose data and do their own correlations.”

Automation versus Human Relationships

Programmatic continues to loom large over the industry. Williams noted, “Programmatic has the ability to help decision-making over multiple media touch points, which is great. Investments become more efficient and it is a true value proposition.” But what about the balance between sales automation and the human relationships that are the cornerstone of our business? Penski responded that, “Relationships are important if not more important in the industry now. We have added people to our staff because to buy programmatically now requires even more people. Keeping talent is a big challenge for us. We are still a very human based industry.” Benowitz added, “It is not a matter of traditional versus programmatic. There is room for both. We look at content, engagement and watercooler talk. But the ability to buy auto intenders is certainly where we should be headed. It won't go all one way or the other. It still takes two people talking to hear the passion in their voice. If we lose that we are in a different place.”

Looking Ahead

Between the impact of data and programmatic on creative and consumers, the industry continues to evolve and innovate. Some final words of wisdom were offered by the panel. Benowitz advised, “Don't be afraid. There is a lot going on but there is room to do business.”  Penski added, “There is still a need for humans in our ecosystem. We must continue to work together and find ways to bring competitors together to work together. It is not just about data.”

This article first appeared on www.MediaBizBloggers.com

DPAA Explores the Mediapalooza

If you think at the television space has undergone change in the past few years, you haven't seen anything yet. In the world of out-of-home (OOH) digital placed based media, the impact of digital technology arguably surpasses all other types of advertising media. Which is why attending the annual DPAA conference is so important to understand the pervasiveness and effectiveness of digital messaging on consumer behavior. "It is a great time for video" exclaimed DPAA president Barry Frey, "The world is changing, disrupting, fragmenting and shifting like tectonic plates. Technology is forcing change upon consumer habits which is foisting change on media habits.  It is a Mediapalooza."

Indeed, now we can receive content and messages when we pump gas in our car, sit in a movie or a nail salon, shop at a bodega or a mall, use a vending machine, an elevator, a taxi or Uber or visit a doctor’s office. There are many new streams of data available through such novel sources as vending machines, airports, stadiums and gyms. The opportunities to reach consumers at every point in their day wherever they are, makes for new collectable datasets that can lead to an all-encompassing view of their behavior.

Currently “forty-one percent of OOH is digital,” according to DPAA Chairman François de Gaspé Beaubien and this is posed to increase over the next few years. Looking ahead, Frey predicts that "by 2017 more than half of all ooh revenue will be digital and 10% bought programmatically. There will then be a steep curve towards programmatic. *

So where is all of this disruption leading?

Change, Change, Change

Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategist for Publicis Groupe mapped out three areas of massive change - Globalization (which he deems “unstoppable”), Demographic shifts (noting that the average age in Africa is under 21 and the aging of China led to the reversal of the one child rule) and Digitization (which is driven by phones that today have “1000 more processing power than in the first space shuttle.”)

Marketing Without Borders

Tobaccowala reprimanded marketers who he said, “have to learn how to market. They haven't done so in 30 years. Eighty percent of what marketers were doing was logistics and managing revenue points.”  Relying on comparing yourself to a traditional set of competitors is risky because “threats and opportunities come from the outside.” Take, for example, the iPhone. “When iPhone came out Nokia and Blackberry did not take it seriously because it had no keyboard and, anyway, what did Apple know about phones? If you don't take people seriously, things happen. Benchmarking against other pathetic people doesn't make you any less pathetic.”

Forget Data Ownership. The Secret to Success is Storytelling

And the lure of owning your data? Tobaccowala is unimpressed. He said, “Owning data alone will be obsolete. It is how you access data not own it. It is the algorithms. Owning is so 1980s.” The secret to success is storytelling. “We have to recognize that we are talking to humans. Storytelling is very, very important. And mobility is also important.” He concluded, “Change sucks. The more things you want to stay the same, the more you have to change yourself. How do we change the people? We need to learn to collaborate.”

Ecosystem Dichotomies
Lori Hiltz, CEO Havas Media spoke of the “complexity of our business where the largest retailer does not own a store, where families are connected and disconnected at the same time and where technologies shape the dynamics of the new us.” Despite rumors to the contrary, David Sable, Global CEO Y&R asserted that, “TV is not over. Cinema is still strong. They say that print media dead but catalogs are having resurgence.” He also refutes the theory that as media gets fractured, TV audiences will likely get smaller. He said, “How do you define TV? We are watching more video than we have ever watched in the history of mankind. We are watching for longer and longer time. There are more screens and more shows to watch. In 1999 there were 26 series to watch. In 2014 there are 1715 series shows available to view, not including short form video.”

The Future is Expansive and Expensive

“Let’s set the record straight,” advises Sable, “The narrow definition of TV is digibabble. As Michael Wolfe wrote in his new book, TV is the new TV. It is simple. Think about the entire ecosystem. Twitter doesn't kill TV. It makes it better.” The idea that content can be free is unsustainable to Sable. “The future of free is dismal and not sustainable. Advertising pays for content. There are three ways to access content - steal it, pay for it or watch ads.” And just wait – “NFL contracts are up in 2022,“ Sable warns, “That is when the next big change will happen. That will be the next huge inflection.”