Connected TV is hot, attracting the attention of advertisers and media buyers. Eager to combine the measurability of digital video with the appeal of sight, sound and motion on the biggest living room screen, brands are paying top dollar to reach consumers via this medium. It’s also attracting fraud, though, causing concerns about inventory quality, invalid traffic and measurement. At Advanced Advertising, part of Fall TV 2020’s suite of virtual events, top executives from the world's largest media investment company GroupM, which recently issued a brand-safety playbook, and digital media verification company DoubleVerify, which has made comprehensive CTV measurement a priority, discuss the latest techniques for ensuring CTV media quality and performance, while the industry develops standards for the channel.
Fall TV 2020 interviewed Joe Barone, managing partner, Brand Safety Americas, at GroupM ahead of the Sept. 14 Advanced Advertising session, about the topic, the event and trends in the media industry.
Q: What are you looking forward to most out of this conversation? Where are you expecting the conversation to go, and what would you hope audiences will glean from it?
Joe Barone: From our perspective, the key factors to unlocking further growth are technology standardization and transparent contract terms. These are the key takeaways I’d like to make sure are communicated.
Q: By the way, are you approaching your preparation any differently that you might have, if the pandemic had not hit? How (if at all) has the pandemic touched your lens on the space, when you engage in these conversations with other industry leaders?
JB: The pandemic has accelerated the viewing shift to streaming, increasing the urgency for the factors listed above as well as comprehensive cross-platform audience measurement.
Q: What remain your greatest concerns about brand safety in the year ahead in the advanced TV space? How would you like to see the different players (agencies, brand safety solution providers, brands themselves, et al) in the ecosystem improve the state of play for all of us?
JB: The biggest brand safety issue is invalid traffic. As we move to a standard best practice of measuring IVT, it’s becoming obvious that all secondary markets for CTV inventory are rife with fraud. This awareness may begin to restrict or even reverse the flow of video investment to CTV, especially in light of the CPM premium vs. digital video. Publishers and resellers need to recognize and address this risk through technology standardization, transparent business terms, and third party measurement integrations.
Q: When you think about the clients your agency serves, and this area of concern, what do you most want them to know about where the industry is going and what they can expect?
JB: CTV as user behavior is here to stay. We need clients willing to test and learn and then apply new insights to future investment. And please traffic more than one execution, frequency capping is still a major issue!
For more information about Advanced Advertising and Fall TV 2020, please visit FallTVEvents2020.com.
