Over the past several years, connected TV (CTV) viewership has skyrocketed. As more and more people turn to CTVs to consume video content, it’s no surprise that digital ad spend follows. Marketers want to reach people when and where they’re watching video, and with over 109 million US households using a connected TV in 2022, CTV advertising is like blasting Mariah Carey the day after Thanksgiving: it just makes sense.
With this channel’s explosive growth has come a similar influx of terms (and acronyms, because we in the ad industry love our acronyms—IYKYK) to describe the CTV viewing and advertising experiences. Couple this with the complexity of today’s digital marketing landscape, and it can be downright overwhelming. For those marketers left wondering what the heck the difference between CPV and CPCV is, don’t worry—we’ve got you!
Here, we’ve broken down the terms and definitions advertisers need to know to make the most of the connected TV advertising opportunity:
Pssst: we’ve got a whole piece on connected TV advertising planning, targeting, and measuring! You can check it out here.
Knowing the lingo to talk about all things CTV is great. But you know what’s better? Really understanding the complexities of the channel and seeing how to make the most of it within your campaigns.
Enter: Basis Technologies’ Connected TV Advertising Guide.
If you’re looking for a deeper dive on all things CTV advertising, we’ve got you covered. In it, we explore today’s connected TV advertising opportunity, lay out best practices and strategies, and show you how Basis can help. Interested? Check it out here.
Each month, Basis Technologies’ Programmatic 101 series tackles a different facet of programmatic advertising—from best practices for buyers, to competitors in the space, to trends you should know.
The advertising industry is constantly expanding with new channels, platforms, and formats, but video continues to be an important part of any advertiser’s media mix. In fact, eMarketer predicts that $62.96 billion will be spent on programmatic digital video this year, and that over half of total programmatic digital display ad spending will go to video. Clearly, now is a critical time for advertisers to tune in!
In order to do so, advertisers must understand what programmatic video advertising is, the different types of programmatic video available to run in a DSP, and the advantages it can bring to media campaigns. Need a refresher? You’ve come to the right place!
Programmatic video advertising leverages technology to buy and serve video ads that are shown during other video content. These ads may be served across exchanges or publishers, within traditional display ad slots, or across television devices.
There are two main buckets that programmatic video can be organized into: online video and advanced TV.
Within the online video bucket, there are two different types to be aware of: instream and outstream video.
Instream video is served before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) streaming video content. One example would be the ads that run before YouTube videos (if you’re not using an ad blocker extension, that is!)
Outstream video is served outside of video player environments. This type of ad unit typically includes less traditional video placements, such as:
Advanced TV is an umbrella term for TV that’s delivered outside of the traditional linear TV model. In general, advanced TV offers increased targeting and measurement when compared with linear TV. Advanced TV includes:
While buying video programmatically comes with a variety of benefits, let’s review the top five:
Advertisers can tap into first- and third-party data when buying video programmatically, which allows them to target their audiences more precisely.
The use of programmatic technology means that advertisers don’t have to worry about high minimum spends or upfront contracts. In addition, since most programmatic inventory is sold on a dynamic CPM, any cost efficiencies that are driven via optimizations are passed right back into advertiser’s wallets.
When an advertiser buys video programmatically, they get access to 40+ exchanges in one buy. In addition, thanks to the invention of cross-device targeting, advertisers can target a user who saw their video ad across multiple devices, allowing for higher frequency and greater recall of video messaging.
Since advertisers don’t have to work with middleman publishers when buying programmatic video ads, they can quickly update their video messaging, turn off creative that’s not performing well, and change their targeting in real time.
Buying video programmatically offers advertisers a suite of performance metrics to look at, plus the flexibility of slicing and dicing performance data by DMA, audience, and more. However, there can be limitations with reporting for advanced TV depending on how you end up buying the inventory—if you’re buying traditional TV spots, for example, you won’t be able to track things like click-through-rate or viewability.
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Of all the different ways advertisers can leverage programmatic video, connected TV advertising is becoming increasingly important. CTV is leading the significant growth of digital video ad spend, and has been particularly impactful in the 2022 US election cycle.
Now that you know all about programmatic video and its benefits, take your knowledge to the next level by diving into our guide to connected TV advertising!
What’s new in the realms of paid search and social media? Basis’ Senior Vice President of Paid Search and Social compiles all the latest news, trends, and resources each month for easy access.
TikTok’s Q2 2022 ad spend surpassed both Snapchat and Twitter—combined! eMarketer says the explosion was driven primarily by brands with revenues of $1M to $5M, showing the app’s power to help median brands connect with niche consumers in authentic ways.
New forecasts from eMarketer show that search ad spending shows no sign of slowing, even in the context of economic upheaval. Google’s growth continues to outpace competitors, with Microsoft as their top search challenger. This article also references the news that TikTok is growing as an alternative search engine, especially with Gen Z.
eMarketer's latest quarterly break-down of social media updates includes YouTube news for the first time, discusses how BeReal competitors stack up, and explores how marketers can navigate the most important recent industry changes. Bonus: this companion piece dives even further into how all the social platforms stack up against each other, as similar feature sets surrounding video and e-commerce become more comparable between them.
Search Engine Land recaps the major announcements from Google's recent Search On event, touching on Google Search, News, Shopping and more. The updates around Google's plans for more visual search results listings are particularly interesting, as well as the highlighted “discussions and forums” listings (Reddit stands to benefit greatly.) Also covered at Search On: 9 updates specific to Google Shopping.
According to recent jobs posted to LinkedIn, TikTok may be taking on warehousing, delivery, and customer service returns through new fulfillment centers in a bid to grow native shopping in the platform. Clues point to Seattle as a possible location for this, although they may be working with other vendors nationwide to transport goods. This positions TikTok as not only a threat to other social platforms, but also possible competitor to Amazon, Google, and other retail networks.
The short answer is… maybe? Here, eMarketer breaks down the app’s opportunities and challenges in detail before coming to the conclusion that while it has a long way to go to compete with the big guys, its functionality and ease of use make BeReal a clear a hit with consumers. While the app's uniqueness is likely to wear off (especially as those same features are copied by other social platforms), it provides a good testing ground for marketers while it is still around.
Pew Research Study released new findings around the crucial role social media plays in news consumption today. There are some powerful statistics in this report, showing that while certain platforms are used regularly by large percentages of the US population, those aren’t necessarily the same platforms they’re turning to for up-to-the-minute news. This report also breaks down the demographics and political partisan leanings of news consumers across platforms.
Based on interviews with more than 2,000 regular users, Reddit shared insights on how people use their platform to connect, as well as the important role it plays in engaging communities around topics they’re passionate about. They also pointed out that Reddit users are excited to welcome brands into their communities and sub-groups, but want to build meaningful connections with them in addition to just seeing ads.
Contrary to other reports, eMarketer does not believe the influencer industry has taken a hit this year due to microeconomic conditions. With the industry now worth more than 5 billion in the US, they predict production budget cuts will continue to lead to growth in creator-led ad content.
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Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports—so you don't have to. Here’s what to read from the week of 10/21/22 - 10/27/22 to stay ahead of the curve:
Spotify’s third-quarter earnings report is in, and the results are...mixed. Like many companies, they cited a “challenging macro environment” for slower-than-expected ad revenue growth, underscoring the question on many advertisers’ minds: What should marketers do during times of economic upheaval?
Singing a more somber tune than Spotify (terrible pun, we know) is Meta, whose Q3 earnings missed the mark. Quarterly revenue is down more than 4% from a year ago, as the social media giant faces a barrage of challenges: from rival platforms, to fallout from Apple’s ad-tracking changes, to—surprise, surprise—the tough macroeconomic environment.
For folks hoping to rock out to their favorite tunes while baking their grandma’s famous apple pie this fall, we’ve got bad news: Apple prices have gone up, and not just at the grocery store. For the first time, Apple is increasing prices for its music and TV+ services, a move that may risk giving rivals an edge in a fiercely competitive streaming industry.
Earlier this week, the California Privacy Protection Agency updated the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) regulations. Despite the law going into effect on January 1, 2023, this is not the final draft. That said, if you’re looking for high-level takeaways, this piece is for you. (And if you’re looking for additional info on some of the other major industry-related regulatory actions from 2022, this is the piece for you.)
Retail media advertising is exploding, but it isn’t without its challenges. For marketers wondering how best to embrace this new(ish) channel and incorporate it into their campaigns without throwing their existing strategies out the window, this is a great place to start.
In a move that highlights the growing importance of privacy-friendly solutions, Google is putting consumers in the driver’s seat when it comes to their privacy and ad experience. Their new ads hub, My Ad Center, will allow users to block ads on sensitive topics, choose to see fewer ads from certain categories, turn off personalized ads completely, and more.
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Imagine you’re shopping online. Maybe you’re hunting for a new vacuum on Amazon, or simply placing a pick-up grocery order from Kroger (or Smith’s, Fred Meyer’s, Dillon’s, King Sooper’s—whatever it’s called where you live).
You log in to the website (or the app, if you’re on-the-go), and are met with a seemingly endless selection to choose from. Case in point: a simple search for “vacuum” on Amazon generates over 3,000 results, and “cheese” on Smith’s yields over 8,000. Talk about options!
As you’re perusing, you’re consistently presented with alternatives. When you click on a specific product, you see at least two similar products on that same page. And as you move to the online checkout, you’re shown more and more complementary and alternative items that you can “quick add” to your cart.
Much of this phenomenon is thanks to the growth of retail media, or advertising within retailer websites and apps.
Due to the growth—or more aptly, explosion—of retail media, many advertisers find themselves wondering: how can I effectively embrace this new(er) channel?
Today, we’re here to break it down for you. We’ll cover the growth of retail media over the past few years, the challenges it presents, and how marketers can incorporate it—without throwing their existing strategies out the window.
Let’s dive in.
Retail media is following in the footsteps of search and social as the “third big wave” in digital advertising—eMarketer has even gone so far as to pronounce 2022 “the year of retail media networks.”
Just how big is this wave? Here are some stats to know:
What’s driving this explosive growth? Here a few key drivers:
At this point, many advertisers might be thinking, “Cool! Sounds like retail media is all that and a bag of chips.”
But focusing solely on its strengths (and ever-growing popularity among advertisers) doesn’t paint a complete picture of this new and evolving channel.
Which brings us to our next point:
Though its growth has been significant over the past few years—and for good reason—retail media presents distinct challenges for advertisers. Perhaps the most notable?
frag ment ation !
Remember when we said that most major retailers now have their own retail media networks? Though this means there’s a lot of inventory available, it also means that advertisers are working with many different platforms to access each retailer’s distinct offerings. And when it comes to monitoring campaign performance, tracking conversions, reporting, and billing, these many disparate sources of inventory (and thus, data) further complicate things.
Retail media is an impactful, relevant way to reach consumers when and where they’re ready to purchase. So, should advertisers abandon other channels and dump all their resources into it?
In short: No.
To paraphrase an old cliché, advertisers shouldn’t put all their eggs in the retail media basket. Especially since that basket is actually made up of several smaller, distinct baskets that don’t always share information well with other baskets. A messy metaphor, we know—but you get the point!
Because of this fragmentation—not to mention the fact that channels like search, social, video, audio, display, and native are also critical for reaching consumers at different stages of the purchasing journey—advertisers should look for ways to incorporate retail media as part of a holistic omnichannel digital media strategy.
And though some retail media networks offer extensions to tap into these channels, marketers lose the ability to apply targeting elements and run different tactics when going through a retail media network. Though it might seem like a solution to the fragmentation we mentioned, it would likely end up being more time-consuming (not to mention, more costly) to use these extensions.
Alright, back to the need for a balanced approach when using retail media. So, what might an effective, holistic campaign look like? It might, for example, focus on building broad awareness of a product through CTV advertising, move consumers further down the purchasing funnel through retargeting via search or social, and finally use retail media to convert customers as they evaluate their options on a specific retailer’s site.
The key here is intentionality: Retail media is a great way to personalize a customer’s ad experience, but it will likely fall short if it’s the only type of ad your consumer encounters.
Alright, quick check in: How are you doing? Feeling pumped? Excited? Hopeful? Or maybe a bit…overwhelmed? Stressed, even?
If adding another channel to the mix makes you feel like this ^^ (even when that channel is one with as much growth and potential as retail media), we get it.
Today’s digital media landscape is already so complex, and this is yet another channel to add to the mix.
Which leads us to our fourth and final point:
Retail media is one more piece of complexity in a digital advertising world that’s already stunningly complex. For advertisers looking to embrace this new channel, simplifying your digital advertising and digital media buying is what’s going to set you up for success.
This is especially true if you’re using a different point solution for each channel. If you’ve got one platform for CTV, another for programmatic display, another for social, and you add another (or five) for retail media, how are you going to have the time to effectively launch, monitor, and adjust each of them? (Not to mention what it would look like during reporting and billing—yikes!)
Luckily, solutions like advertising workflow automation exist. For digital advertisers, workflow automation offers the opportunity to unite many channels into one platform that handles every stage of a campaign through a single sign-on. By using advertising workflow software, advertisers (especially those beginning to dabble in retail media) can reduce manual, redundant labor and ensure their data is consistent and centrally located.
As retail media continues to add to the complexity of the broader media landscape, marketers will need to find ways to adapt to that complexity. Digital advertising automation is a powerful solution for minimizing tedious tasks and streamlining media buyers' workflows. From planning, to billing, to reporting, digital advertising automation simplifies the campaign process, creating valuable efficiencies and allowing teams to focus on what’s most important: strategy and outcomes.
I’ve always admired people who work on the tech side of things. As a human resources professional, product management is far from my wheelhouse—but the task of building a tool that helps people to solve big problems is incredibly impressive to me.
Take Basis, for example. Basis is a first-rate DSP, which means that it automates the process of buying digital ad inventory from a variety of sources. Building, maintaining, and constantly improving upon a piece of tech that enables this media buying at scale is its own challenge, but Basis is also a lot more than a DSP: it unites all the parts of the media buying process into one streamlined workflow, leveraging many forms of automation to simplify an incredibly complicated process.
I wanted to better understand the big problems our technology teams are solving, so I reached out to two of Basis Technologies’ Directors of Product Management. To help me understand their work, Yura Zelditch shared how his team tackles optimizing Basis’ DSP, while Marshall Bessières discussed how his team approaches all of Basis’ holistic, “more than a DSP” functionalities.
Want to peek behind the curtain to see how our tech teams build Basis? Read on to hear from Yura and Marshall:
My team is evolving our DSP engine. A DSP is this mega system that processes hundreds of billions of advertising impressions each day. There are only a handful of systems that operate at the scale a DSP operates on, so one of the exciting things is that we get to solve problems that affect hundreds of millions of people daily. Basis DSP processes more impressions and more transactions daily than the New York Stock Exchange or Amazon!
Anyone who browses the Internet, uses mobile apps, or watches streaming TV is impacted by advertising. At the same time, people don't like to be annoyed by advertising. One of our jobs is to optimize for a seamless end user experience—as you can imagine, if your website takes a minute or two to load, it's not the experience you're looking for. We’re making sure that all these interactions between advertisements and channels like CTV and mobile happen within milliseconds or hundreds of milliseconds, so that the ads that run through our DSP are positioned in a way that’s beneficial to advertisers, and non-disruptive for end users.
The main challenge is time and performance. To maintain performance, we have to process bid requests in under 10 milliseconds—and we have hundreds of billions of bid requests coming through our systems daily! There’s also a huge portion of our work that’s related to AI, machine learning, and other forms of optimizations to make sure that campaigns run and execute as smoothly and as efficiently as possible. In the end, we want the people viewing ads that run through Basis to have the best experience possible, and we want customer satisfaction from the marketers using Basis to fulfill their campaign goals.
Media teams are buying digital media across many different channels to complete a full campaign. In a world without Basis, they are doing that in different places for each method of buying with completely different experiences for activation. This results in a very fragmented approach to managing a campaign. Regardless of how a marketing team is structured or set up, people are having to work in many different tools in many different platforms, resulting in a high volume of manual work to pull everything together. Basis puts that all in one place, from planning, to buying, to optimizing, to reporting on a campaign.
The primary goal is to really to help brands and agencies scale out. We want to give marketers the ability to be more successful with their campaigns, and collaborate more easily with their teams. For agencies, we want to help them support more clients and more business and meet their goals.
Basis offers a unique benefit to marketers in that we’re part of the entire digital mixed media buying funnel. Because our platform unites all these channels into one place, marketers can see the relationships between those channels when it comes to campaign performance.
The big challenge is always breadth versus depth. How deep can we get in any individual channel, and how many channels can we cover? The uniqueness of each channel makes this a very big problem to solve. We have to deal with the complexity of those differences while also making it somewhat seamless, unified, and integrated together inside of one platform, so that it still feels like everything is managed in a holistic way. That’s not easy, but it’s also one of the things that makes this work so exciting.
There are a lot of point solutions that have been created to help with the complexity and fragmentation of the marketing landscape—a lot of adtech companies choose to focus on one discreet problem. We’re one of very few teams that gets to think comprehensively across the entire digital media buying experience. I love working for Basis Technologies because there’s a boldness in saying, “we’re actually going to tackle the bigger problem—media fragmentation—by unifying all aspects of media buying.”
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Interested in joining our technology teams to help improve upon the industry’s most comprehensive, automated, and intelligent advertising platform? Check out our open roles!
Gas for $4 per gallon. Milk for $5 per gallon. $6.15 for four ears of corn?! We just can’t catch a break in this economy.
And while consumers are hurting, many brands are also struggling to weather the current economic downturn and plan for a possible recession. While no two economic downturns are alike, we can (and should!) learn from past recessions. Much has been written about how brands who have maintained or upped their marketing investment during past economic downturns have seen success. One recent study found that brands who cut spending during the 2008 recession risked losing 15% of their business to competitors who instead boosted their marketing spend.
But of course, just maintaining or increasing spend isn’t enough to ride out a recession. Marketers must analyze and adjust their strategies with an increased degree of precision and agility during these turbulent times.
So, if you’re a marketing leader, how can you make the most of your ad spend and even discover an opportunity or two amidst all this uncertainty? We've got three recommendations to share with you:
As CMOs fight to defend their marketing budgets heading into 2023, brands would do well to strategically reallocate spend to maximize its efficiency during this economic instability. This will look different from brand to brand, but we’ve got a few considerations to keep in mind:
1) Forgetting about your current consumer base is a big no-no. For many brands, loyal customers are the main source of revenue and growth. However, those customers' behaviors are likely to change under economic stress. It’s of utmost importance to nurture your customer pools, solicit feedback from them whenever possible, and offer communications that show both your appreciation and your sensitivity towards their economic circumstances (a loyalty discount never hurts!)
And don’t forget about leveraging their first-party data: Trusted partners like TransUnion, for example, can extend your data’s reach by categorizing it against their own and creating new audience pools to tap into—which brings us to our next point:
2) With all the changes in consumer behavior that come during a recession, there’s an opportunity to branch into new markets. Marketing in a recession is all about balance: while nurturing your current customers is a smart defensive move, identifying and branching into new audiences is a strategic one for those brands looking to maximize future success.
Marketers should also make a habit of looking at performance metrics and using that data to reallocate spend between channels and tactics accordingly. Low performers should be cut or revised, while high performing tactics can take on some of that newly freed-up spend. It’s also important to prioritize tactics that are measurable, targeted, and precise, so that you can continue to pull actionable insights to revise your strategy and prove out the impact of your work to stakeholders. Again, in that spirit of balance, marketers should allocate spend between tactics that are reliable, like paid social and linear TV, and ones that represent calculated risks, like CTV PMPs or even augmented reality.
There are several strong arguments in favor of investing in brand awareness during a recession. Back in 2008, during the Great Recession, brand messaging outperformed performance marketing 80% of the time.
Maintaining brand awareness messaging during a recession is a savvy long-term play: Consumers may choose to forego investing in your product while budgets are tight, but once they have a bit more wiggle room, your brand will be front-of-mind. And when we say “long-term,” we’re not talking decades—the average recession in the U.S. has only lasted one to two years.
Additionally, in times of economic upheaval, many companies will opt to deprioritize brand awareness campaigns in order to focus on driving revenue more directly. With fewer competitors crowding the space, there’s an opportunity for your brand’s media to make emotional, memorable connections with consumers.
Still, an effective brand awareness campaign during a recession won’t look like a brand awareness campaign in times of economic stability: personalized messaging that meets consumers where they are is critical. Consumers in a recession are experiencing stress, upheaval, and financial difficulties. As a result, they’re looking for reassurance, connection, and empathy.
In 2020, TV viewers joked about how every COVID-19 commercial looked the same—and although the "we're in this together” message quickly became cliché, the marketers behind those ads knew what kind of consumer they were trying to reach! Leaning into the factors that specifically differentiate your offerings during economic upheaval, demonstrating empathy, and even using humor can be powerful ways to personalize your messaging during a recession. (Need some inspiration? Here are five ads that got inflation messaging right.)
While we can make educated guesses, there’s no real way to predict what the economy will look like in 2023, or how consumer behavior will shift as a result. Since 2020, it’s seemed like all we have been able to count on is an ever-changing landscape. In order to simultaneously meet changing consumer needs and future-proof your marketing operations, it’s critical for marketing organizations to prioritize agility.
Even in times of economic stability, the ability to monitor and adjust live campaigns based on real-time insights is quickly becoming a must-have for brands and agencies. From misinformation, to developments in consumer privacy regulation, to the rise in consumer demand for brand authenticity, there are a variety of factors that make the ability to “turn on a dime” a lifesaver in today’s marketing landscape.
At the same time, many marketers have little free time for things like manual campaign optimizations, because they’re bogged down by the complexity of today’s media landscape. In fact, marketers use an average of nine different platforms to run a typical campaign. That’s a lot of different tabs to toggle between! Advertising automation platforms that streamline and simplify the media buying process—from planning, to buying, to reporting—can help to minimize the chaos, free up time for marketers, and save money at the same time. With automation, advertisers can rapidly adapt while maximizing their resources—and if those outcomes aren’t game changers during economic upheaval, we don’t know what is.
While none of us can do anything about the 100% increase in egg prices, advertisers do have some agency when it comes to optimizing their marketing strategies in times of upheaval. Looking for more insights and advice on how to advertise in these wild times? Check out our webinar, Advertising Through Uncertainty: How Marketers Can Navigate Economic Downturn, to learn more about what the current state of economic instability looks like in the US, new consumer categories that form in times of economic hardship, and best practices for advertising in an unpredictable marketplace.
“The tectonic plates of the industry are shifting.” – Andrew Susman, Institute for Advertising Ethics, Programmatic I/O 2022
By now, it’s no secret the ad industry is facing broad, foundational changes. Many of the fundamental processes with which we’re familiar— including audience identification and targeting, measuring and attributing performance across channels, and the laws governing day to day operations—are being upended.
Conversations at AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O 2022 centered around these familiar industry woes, but it was the tone with which they were delivered that set them apart. Sessions were as much an educational moment as they were a rallying cry—and, often, a reality check.
Case in point? Research presented by Permutive found that digital advertisers can reach just 30% of consumers on the open web today via traditional targeting methods.
Rewriting the playbook on how you engage consumers and drive business objectives isn’t easy. However, the conversations held at Programmatic I/O provided great insight on how to get started by re-focusing on the fundamentals.
Here are four takeaways you can act on now:
Education holds a fundamental role in successfully navigating how ongoing industry shifts or incoming regulations impact your business needs or day-to-day operations. It’s also pivotal in evaluating new solutions—separating the smoke and mirrors from viable opportunities—and the resources you’ll need to effectively meet your business objectives. At Basis, we are doing our part to provide the latest info on our blog, in our webinars, and through our podcast, and consuming a diverse array of thought leadership will leave you best positioned for future success.
And it’s not just about self-education: it’s imperative to also educate and engage with your stakeholders on these industry trends and new opportunities. Building rapport with these key decision makers ensures you have the support needed to successfully test new industry solutions.
Partners across the advertising ecosystem have worked diligently on solutions that fill the gaps caused by signal loss. There’s been meaningful growth within capabilities like artificial intelligence and machine learning, publisher-defined audiences, automatic content recognition (ACR), and mixed media modeling. The real question is, do you trust these solutions enough to test them?
You can move forward with confidence by setting expectations for each test opportunity: What business needs does it meet? What is the expected audience scale or outcome? Where does it sit within your broader media strategy? How are you gauging success?
Leveraging an advertising automation platform empowers you to fluidly test a variety of solutions and determine the mix that’s right for you.
Digital marketers can maximize their media investments—and the efficacy of those investments—by adopting a greater level of care and intentionality within media planning and buying.
Panelists at Programmatic I/O emphasized the need for higher standards within the inventory supply chain. From a media buying perspective, customizing brand safety and ad fraud practices as well as optimizing away from bad actors creates an accessible layer of protection. Both the buy side and sell side can create greater accountability and transparency within the supply chain by practicing supply chain optimization and implementing frameworks like the IAB’s ads.txt.
In addition, be intentional about where and what you’re buying. The channels, sites, or ad formats you’re running within not only define the quality of media in which you’re investing, but the experience consumers have with your brand.
Optimize your investment by maintaining audience targets (ex: removing previous converters), seeking out premium inventory via private marketplace deals, and creating a better audience experience with high impact or rich media ad formats and quality creative.
Consumer perception and favorability toward your brand is derived heavily from the experiences they have with your brand—essentially, the experiences we create for them.
L’Oreal’s SVP and Head of Media, Shenan Reed, redirected the focus back to the consumer by reminding us to treat consumers the way we’d treat one another in real life, even giving a few cheeky examples like, “Would you repeatedly ask someone on a date after they’ve turned you down multiple times? Probably not.” So, why do we continue to bombard consumers with ads after they’ve communicated they’re not interested?
In an increasingly competitive, fragmented, and complex space, brands should consider how they can best orchestrate each channel, tactic, and creative asset to create a compelling and meaningful consumer experience.
Adapting to change can be daunting, but the message at Programmatic I/O was clear: it’s time to get moving. By taking the first steps, each of us contributes to the future of the industry itself.
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Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports—so you don't have to. Here’s what to read from the week of 10/14/22 - 10/20/22 to stay ahead of the curve:
The holidays really do start earlier every year: close to 40% of US consumers plan to start their holiday shopping earlier this season due to inflation concerns. If you’re still ironing out your holiday marketing strategies, here are the general trends you should know, as well as some specific insights for automotive, higher education, CPG, and cannabis brands.
The launch date for Netflix’s ad-supported tier is just two weeks away! Its price point for customers sits right between Peacock and Hulu, and its CPM for marketers is said to be among streaming’s highest—but could cool down. Will Netflix offer stranger things to advertisers? Or will marketers be married at first sight to this new option?
TikTok has changed the way people search, buy, watch, communicate, and advertise. Not too bad for a platform once written off as a “silly video-dance fad!” So, how did it grow so dominant, and what are the consequences of that dominance? This in-depth piece touches on all the details.
Like peanut butter and chocolate uniting into a combination far more powerful than either snack alone, grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons may merge in one of the biggest US supermarket deals ever. The combined strength of these behemoths could reach an estimated 85 million households nationwide—and upend the retail media network space in the process.
Ah, the elusive Gen Z. At Advertising Week in New York, a variety of panels are focusing on how marketers can connect with the generation for whom traditional advertising tricks just don’t hit the same. Read about those conversations, and more hot topics related to Advertising Week, in this rundown.
UberX, UberEats...UberAds? The rideshare and delivery giant has announced a new advertising division to help diversify its revenue sources. The company says it will sell ad space inside its apps as well as in-vehicle digital ads, sponsored mails, and storefront ads—the latest in a host of new premium inventory available to digital advertisers. Everything is an ad network these days!
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