Still some way to go for cross-device programmatic

MACAU - Although programmatic advertising has helped marketers reach targeted audiences more efficiently, cross-screen programmatic advertising has yet to take off properly in the region.

“What is lacking in the market now is consumer metadata that is 100 percent reliable in order for us to construct the model for cross-screen targeting effectively,” said Basil Chua, CEO of AsiaMx. “There’s still a lot of assumptions being made.”

Chua was speaking during a panel session at the Casbaa 2016 Convention here yesterday. He was joined by Dave Downey, CEO of Invidi. The session was moderated by Joe Nguyen, senior vice president APAC, comScore.

Both panelists dismissed the notion that traditional TV is dead and that OTT is the new future.

According to Chua, the audience are still emotionally connected to great content. The difference being that content is consumed on different devices due to the evolution of TV and the lowered cost of technology.

“Our system looks at two exchanges—the first exchange involves the managing of broadcast TV inventory, the second is one is managing all the OTT inventory,” said Chua. Effective execution of cross-device programmatic advertising requires a combination of the two inventories along with sufficient data.

“It is still at an early stage for cross-device programmatic," Chua said. "As soon as the technology evolves to where we can cross tabulate the return path data and build up the model, the days of cross-screen [programmatic] campaign will become very real.”

Addressable versus programmatic

Downey said that the incorporation of addressable TV, which enables advertisers to send ads only to those viewers or households within the target audience, will enhance programmatic advertising executions.

“One aspect of addresability that plays very favourably into programmatic is post-campaign analytics,” he added. “Not only do we have the ability to target, we have the ability to determine what happens after the ads are run.”

Downey cited as an example, a campaign by GroupM for General Motors that Invidi was involved in. In the campaign, likely purchasers of automobiles in the stipulated six months were targeted.

Out of the 2 million households identified, 1.8 million households were sent the ads while remaining control group did not receive any. The advertiser was able to nail down 1,341 buyers who made the purchase after watching the commercial.

“For the very first time in the history of TV, we were able to turn TV into a business where you can measure the rate of return for your advertising dollar. “General Motors was very happy to spend US$3 million on advertising and sold US$43 million worth of vehicles in return,” said Downey.

Other sessions at the third day of the convention included measurement techniques in a changing broadcast environment, international Japanese channels, winning strategies for PayTV operators and the next wave of Korean content.