2023 Was a Year of Growth for Addressable TV Advertising
Go Addressable’s third-annual summit this year focused on discussing some of the biggest topics of addressable TV advertising; how the medium has progressed, what is needed from the industry for total convergence, the importance of authenticated identity, and where the future is headed.
Addressable TV advertising has been growing steadily in usage as advertisers better understand its capabilities and potential. In fact, during her opening remarks Amy Leifer, Chief Advertising Sales Officer at DIRECTV Advertising, shared custom research from Go Addressable and Advertiser Perceptions on how advertiser intent to spend on addressable has grown consistently over the last three years from 34% in 2021 to 40% today! Next year, 2 out of 5 advertisers say they will spend more on addressable than they did this year.
One thing was clear though, as the industry moves towards building a better ecosystem for buyers, sellers, and consumers we must continue to keep focused on the future if we really want to Go Addressable. As the event’s keynote speaker Rishad Tobaccowala shared, the future cannot exist in the containers of the past so the time for the industry to act is now.
It’s All Coming Together: The New (and Improved) Addressable Buying Landscape
Speakers: Jason Brown, Spectrum Reach (Moderator), Cullen Deady, PMX Lift, Lisa Giacosa, Spark Foundry, Jean-Mark Papin, Horizon, and Brad Stockton, Dentsu
Our first panel featured executives across four major agencies, providing a temperature check on the state of addressable adoption and what, if any, barriers still remain. The good news: there has been steady growth in addressable TV advertising, with an increased acknowledgement of its effectiveness and relative cost efficiency. All panelists seemed to agree that one of the most important actions needed is to debunk the myths that marketers might believe about addressable’s effectiveness. Education is needed to help brand marketers understand the true eCPM of addressable. It can actually make media dollars go further since it is more effective and can help manage frequency and drive incremental reach. The truth is that addressable offers more in terms of reaching more targeted audiences and helping to avoid wasted impressions. Being able to help prove the real effectiveness of addressable TV advertising will help push it forward.
Another important factor is making it easier for buyers to transact across sellers. The ultimate goal is a holistic approach to planning, buying, and measurement that truly reflects the way that consumers are now viewing premium video content, moving beyond legacy media modeling.
There is so much opportunity for advertisers when it comes to addressable TV. A key area of focus for Go Addressable is to knock down the perceived barriers for marketers through research and education. In fact, based on a recent survey, the number of advertisers who are satisfied with addressable TV has increased steadily in the past three years. With dedicated work that number should continue to improve.
Convergence in Action: Where Addressable TV Fits In
Speakers: Kevin Arrix, DISH Media (Moderator), Stephanie Foster, Yahoo!, Angela Girardin, Nielsen One Ads, Andrea Remoundos, GroupM, and Sara Wallace, FreeWheel
The second panel of the day tackled the convergence of addressable that we are seeing in an increasingly complex world with different models and buying types across various video types. Like the marketer panel, they agreed that the industry needs better uniformity to ensure that advertisers can buy and manage addressable campaigns and use it successfully in their media strategies.
The real solution for full-fledged convergence is making it easier for advertisers to have a cohesive view of their video investments. Despite all the progress, silos remain; we are still seeing that many companies are organized in a way where the CTV and Linear TV teams sit separately. There is work being done to encourage the two to come together so that these channels can sit alongside one another. Allowing for more programmatic buying of addressable will also provide more flexibility, transparency, and uniformity so clients can better optimize.
Enabling more inventory to be programmatically bought will help bring the teams together and improving measurement for addressable TV will drive it forward and allow us to understand the impact addressable TV has more holistically.
Go Addressable is committed to helping improve measurement and help provide better proof of ROI in order to encourage advertiser adoption. Currently, the organization works with the top 20 attribution vendors in the market as a way to develop better offerings. As a result, 59% of advertisers report seeing an improvement in measurement in addressable TV.
Data: Addressable’s Superpower and How to Maximize It
Speakers: Larry Allen, Comcast Advertising (Moderator), Kimberly Gilberti, Experian, Bill Harvey, RMT Inc., Emily Kistner, Adstra, and Jason Manningham, Blockgraph
When it comes to addressable TV, data is really the fuel that powers it, so it is critical that advertisers start with the best data input in order to get the best output. As Bill Harvey said, addressable is a very powerful tool that research has found delivers a higher ROI than linear alone given its precise targeting, reinforcing its value as a tactic in effective media plans.
The industry is working to provide interoperability across data and identity partners so that advertisers can have an accurate view of their audiences across the entire campaign lifecycle from planning, to buying, to finally measuring. Data accuracy is an imperative to allow advertisers to leverage data in the best ways and to make meaningful connections with their consumers.
Looking ahead to 2024
Go Addressable is helping marketers and agencies understand the power of addressable TV advertising so they can truly harness it and use it to its fullest extent. During the event’s Fireside chat with Joe Keating from Hill’s Pet Nutrition, he shared how he has really leaned into addressable to help build the brand, better understand consumers, and reach the right audiences. He pointed out that more convergence will make it easier for other brands to see the value of addressable in their own strategies.
As Travis Scoles, SVP of Advanced Advertising at Paramount pointed out, waste is the enemy of addressable TV. Once buyers have a better grasp of its capabilities and how to use it in a full funnel marketing plan, the channel will be unstoppable. There are three key things that the industry must do for this to happen, and these are the areas that Go Addressable will be focused on in the next 12 months:
- Provide clarity on the best practices of addressable to make it easier to engage and transact at every step.
- Foster industry collaboration to drive addressable implementation.
- Utilize research insights and case studies to showcase the merits of addressable advertising.
Thank you to all that joined us for Go Addressable Summit 2023: Building the Converged Addressable Future. Your participation and collaboration help us educate the industry and push the medium forward. To keep up to date with all the latest work we are doing, visit Insights – Go Addressable.
To watch the replay of the event, visit Go Addressable Summit 2023.
We’ll see you next year!