Razorfish NXT POV: Programmatic Television Targeting

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Razorfish NXT POV: Programmatic TV
August 2016

By: Suhani Shah

Introduction
For years now, programmatic technology has revolutionized the way digital media is targeted, executed, and measured. As a result, advertisers have experienced reduced complexity, lower costs, better data, and more precise targeting. Until recently, this advertising technology has been limited to desktop and mobile devices, having been absent from the biggest screen in the house—TVs.

Enter: programmatic television.
So, What is Programmatic TV?
In its simplest form, it is television inventory that is planned, bought, and sold on impressions using software automation. It is intended to create value and operational efficiency for both the buying and selling sides …show more content…

Connected TV represents the convergence between computers, TV sets, and set-top boxes. Of the three investment opportunities, this channel has the most precise targeting (1:1 unique targeting) when reaching audiences. Examples include Samsung Smart TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, etc.
• The second, Linear Addressable TV, is technology that allows brands to dynamically serve different ads to unique audiences watching the same program or video on-demand (VOD) on Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) or set-top boxes. With this channel, audiences can be further segmented by behavioral, demographic, or geo from 1st, 2nd, or 3rd party data. Targeting opportunities become a little broader compared to CTV as it is 1:1 household targeting. Examples include distribution through multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs), including Dish, DirectTV, Charter, …show more content…

With every new technology comes its limitations. While programmatic TV offers great potential, the technology has experienced a handful of hurdles from the get-go:
• Reach & Scale o Both of these factors are dependent on the supply-side platforms and currently do not offer the same capacity to deliver a message to the entire linear TV universe as traditional TV ad buying currently does
• Skepticism o There’s hesitancy on both sides. TV networks have a lucrative business model they don’t want to ruin, and are wary of letting advertisers cherry-pick specific shows and ignore the rest. From the buy side, advertisers are concerned the inventory offered is remnant and low-quality
• Lack of True Programmatic Capabilities o A lot is different in programmatic TV technology compared to its digital counterpart. Currently, the standard TV pricing is on a flat CPM versus dynamic. There is little to no transparency into media cost and fees—something that digital programmatic platforms often tout. Digital programmatic technology’s core is reaching an audience in a 1:1 environment, an area where programmatic TV is barely scratching the