Is Programmatic Still Problematic for Ad Addressability?
Historically, the prevailing assessment of programmatic advertising in the agency world has been that it doesn’t provide the desired transparency in terms of where an ad ran or a clear picture of the audience the ad is addressing. Is this still a problem in the streaming ad ecosystem, or are these concerns overblown? Roku’s Charlie Goodman, Philo’s Aulden Kaye Yi, Vevo‘s Melissa Sofo, and TVREV’s Alan Wolk discuss the answer to this question in a clip from the latest Streaming Media Connect.
Programmatic Specs in Real Time
TVREV Co-Founder and Lead Analyst Alan Wolk sets up the issue at hand: When talking to ad agencies, he says, they bemoan the fact that they are spending their programmatic dollars but don’t know where their ads are running. They are told only that their target was hit. He wonders if that lack of transparency is still a problem.
Head of Supply Side Ad Platform at Roku Charlie Goodman emphasizes that what can help is providing programmatic specifications that deliver detailed insights into production quality, content type, and viewership data. “I think in a privacy landscape, there’s a big difference [between] selling a program that’s not addressable versus having a highly addressable product with identities, et cetera, plus viewership data,” he says. “But one of the reasons why we have things like programmatic specs is, I can be able to tell you production quality is true, what the content type is, how long the duration is. I can actually provide a lot more of that information in real time of the actual underlying program.” To supplement, a canned report can give statistics such as the top series and where an audience was spending time.
Doing What Works
Goodman points to Vevo’s approach to advertiser relationships: buying direct for upper-funnel tactics and complementing with programmatic and tactical audience targeting, which is explained further at the end of the clip. When it comes to the information being provided by Vevo after an ad campaign, “you can do that for sure,” he says, “especially if it’s a direct deal and you’re working with an advertiser themselves.”
Philo Head of Advertising Partnerships Aulden Kaye Yi is a proponent of direct deals to ensure more control over ad placements. She says it’s important to implement them when planning to buy across publishers because “we’re not getting as granular as the show level on an individual impression basis, but you do know I am airing in Philo’s environment, and Philo has this type of content, and I can drill down to the genre or whatever it is that’s going to make me comfortable about where my dollars are going.”
On Being Intentional and Tactical
Yi notes, “I do think that there is a need to be intentional about what you’re buying.” But there aren’t many premium providers, she says, adding that curation is a current hot topic. Additionally, “curation on the greater web is a way different undertaking than curation in CTV,” which is something to keep in mind.
Vevo VP of US sales Melissa Sofo brings this conversation to a close by underscoring the need to align advertising strategies with client KPIs. “At the end of the day, if they’re looking for upper funnel tactics, coming direct, [and] buying big moments and big sponsorships with me will help, but then to go down the funnel and complement that with programmatic and more tactical audience targeting, that’s … a perfect complement to a successful campaign,” she explains. “[T]hat’s why I think we’re all saying leveraging the two together is the formula for success.”
Join us in May 2025 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect.
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