This week digital platforms and streaming services are in New York to point out off latest programming and digital ad opportunities at IAB’s NewFronts.
It’s a probability for digital publishers to point out how they’re capturing audiences who cut the cord and now select digital channels. They also need to persuade advertisers that their platform innovations and programming are the very best option to connects with viewers, especially younger ones.
U.S. digital video ad spend grew at almost twice the speed of overall digital media in 2022, 21% versus 11% overall, based on the IAB.
“Against this amazing backdrop of opportunity we should always make no mistake — we reside in difficult and unpredictable times,” said IAB CEO David Cohen, in his opening remarks. “There is quite a bit at stake and quite a bit up for grabs.”
Why we care. Presentations at NewFronts make a convincing case that video has earned the eye from brands that television gets with their upfronts — presentations that broadcasters make to advertisers within the spring about upcoming programming. Audiences are moving to streaming services for traditional TV content like movies and sports. Younger viewers who never watched TV recurrently are also spending time viewing short-from video content and playing games on their TVs and phones. Marketers need to follow this space as a way to meet a lot of their customers where they’re.
The NewFronts. “Despite today’s marketplace being 24/7 and 365-day experience, NewFronts provides a singular moment in time for buyers and sellers to fulfill and discuss planning for the rest of the 12 months and next,” Cohen told MarTech. “This is a business built on relationships and we understand how vital it’s to bring the industry together at key times of the 12 months.”
He added, “The video landscape has drastically modified, and ad-supported streaming is reaching a spot of maturity. IAB NewFronts has solidified itself as a must-attend event for brands and agencies which might be trying to understand where to put their video and streaming budgets. It has evolved into greater than only a showcase of content, but a spot where real dollars are transacted and real discussions are had about innovation in streaming.”
Some big announcements
Samsung Ads. Samsung’s free ad-supported (FAST) service, Samsung TV, is a superb example of how digital video is stepping as much as deliver premium content in a fragmented landscape.
In their May 2 presentation, Samsung TV announced it’s adding Conan O’Brien TV as a channel to its FAST lineup, in addition to expanded local news and weather content. For gamers, Samsung also announced partnerships with video game streamers Antstream Arcade and Blacknut for free ad-supported games.
Three-quarters of U.S. households have at the very least one Samsung device, including many smart TVs. Smart TV owners can access Samsung TV free to look at programming, play games and navigate to other subscription streaming apps. This gives Samsung Ads device-level data on TV viewers that other video publishers don’t have.
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“We have the primary TV viewing data set globally, which implies our TVs provide more consumer viewing data than some other manufacturer by almost double,” said Sang Kim, EVP and GM of North America service business at Samsung Electronics. “This signifies that we’ve got the primary addressable footprint within the U.S.”
Samsung Ads announced a latest partnership with KERV Interactive to make ads on the platform shoppable and interactive. Earlier this 12 months, Samsung Ads launched the power for advertisers to run QR codes with ads.
They also announced the rollout of digital out-of-home (DOOH) ads later this 12 months, which incorporates connections to in-store retail partners. This provides another or complement to brands who’re promoting to customers through retailer-owned retail media networks (RMNs).
New programs and ad capability
Amazon Live, Prime Video and Freevee. Amazon’s FAST streaming service Freevee announced it can debut latest original programming in 2024, including “Mock the Week,” a panel show produced by comedian Trevor Noah.
Prime Video, which debuted Thursday Night Football last season, announced a latest capability for national advertisers to send different commercials to different viewers through Amazon’s Fire TV devices. It also announced that the NFL’s first Black Friday game, aired on November 24, can be free to view for anyone within the U.S.
Also, Amazon Live can have expanded live shoppable entertainment allowing viewers to buy while they watch. New shoppable episodes of “Black Girl Stuff,” — produced by REVOLT, Sean “Diddy” Combs’s media company — can be shown starting later this month.
Colleen Aubrey, senior vice chairman, ad products and tech for Amazon Ads, said the corporate desires to make “sense of the signals [and] insights at our disposal to create an optimal customer experience that drives business outcomes.”
YouTube. YouTube is bringing smart promoting to short videos. They announced that its YouTube Select brand safety platform will turn into available to advertisers of YouTube Shorts content. According to the corporate, 1.5 billion logged-in monthly users view Shorts monthly.
Addressing addressability
Measurement and addressability. All the presenters mentioned their reach and datasets. But what about larger concerns across the digital promoting industry related to addressability? Last 12 months, Cohen referred to this challenge as a “slow-motion train wreck.”
“We have all the time said that the longer term of addressability can be a portfolio of solutions — it won’t be an easy alternative of the third-party cookies or identifier with something else,” Cohen told MarTech today. “Clean rooms, contextual, seller-defined audiences, cohorts, and many other innovations have been introduced into the marketplace.”
He added, “We proceed to push all players within the ecosystem to check, learn, and deploy as the longer term will undoubtedly not fit into the containers of the past. Now is the time to get in the sport.”
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