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OpenX’s Erika Loberg: Attention Should Measure ‘Real Human Engagement,’ Not Just Screen Presence

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Connected TV attention measurement must focus on actual viewing behavior rather than traditional viewability metrics designed for desktop environments, since ad appearance on living room screens doesn’t guarantee engagement. “Defining attention for CTV should be a real human engagement, someone actually watching the screen,” Erika Loberg, global head of CTV at OpenX, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Beet Retreat San Juan. “Traditional viewability metrics were designed for Google and desktop computers to show if an ad was actually on the screen or in view. [...]

Posted on 03/17/2026 at1:05

Beet Retreat San Juan 2026, presented by Alliant and TransUnion

Recent Videos

Advertisers Chasing Chatbot Intimacy Confront Obstacles: U of Digital’s Tameka Kee

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Consumers are spilling their deepest secrets and most specific needs to artificial intelligence platforms. To some, that is creating a goldmine of raw commercial intent previously unseen in traditional search engines or social media networks. But tapping into this highly personal data carries significant risks of breaking trust if mismanaged, so the rush to capitalize on generative [...]

FreeWheel’s Alex Ibarguen: CTV Fragmentation Is ‘Very Much an Identity Problem’

Connected TV’s fragmentation challenges extend beyond inventory distribution to fundamental identity resolution issues that erode audience fidelity as buyers extend campaigns across multiple activation endpoints. “The fragmentation problem in CTV is real, but we as an industry often talk about it as an inventory problem, but it’s very much an identity problem as well,” Alex Ibarguen, director, platform sales, independent & [...]

Streaming Has Passed Linear – Now Roku Wants to Prove CTV Can Perform

For decades, television was the ultimate brand-awareness machine and little else. You bought the spot, hoped the right eyeballs landed on it, and moved on. No signal came back. Now, according to one Roku executive, that era is definitively over. More Americans now watch television via streaming than through traditional linear broadcast. "Performance on CTV today really means possibilities," said John [...]

‘Impression Gap’ Shows Why Attention Still Matters in CTV Advertising: VAB’s Sean Cunningham

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — In the streaming era, viewers have more choices than ever. Advertisers have more confusion too. Sean Cunningham, president, CEO of the Video Advertising Bureau, says the industry has spent years debating what “premium video” really means. His answer: stop arguing and start measuring where people are actually looking. “We wanted to get scientific about the question of [...]

Alliant’s Margo Hock: First-Party Data Has Its Limits

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Brands relying exclusively on first-party data miss cross-brand consumer behavior patterns, creating blind spots that limit audience understanding beyond single-retailer interactions. “Yes, that first party data is that liquid gold for a brand. A brand gets that from you because you want to then have your Kroger’s card or your Sephora points,” Margo Hock, vp for [...]

Ads Are Sexy Again as Streaming Discovery Gets Smarter: Gracenote’s Bill Condon

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — In a streaming world overflowing with shows, apps and remote controls that seem to require a pilot’s license, Bill Condon says the real hero is something viewers never see: metadata. Condon, global head of advertising sales at Gracenote, a Nielsen unit, says the company’s data has quietly become part of the plumbing that helps streaming platforms [...]

Streamers Line Up to Support the Kids of Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Several leading streaming services have committed to support the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico by donating substantial inventory for a Spanish-language public service announcement. The PSA, created by Omnicom's BBDO San Juan, will run on the Spanish language services of LG Ads, Netflix, Roku, TelevisaUnivision, Vizio and Comcast's Xumo. The program was first announced last [...]

Ogury’s Nicolas Bidon: Don’t Use AI to ‘Automate the Complexity’

Industry leaders risk falling into the trap of leveraging artificial intelligence to automate existing complexity rather than using it to simplify and extract clearer signals from increasingly noisy media landscapes. “One thing I’m hoping is that we don’t fall in the trap of leveraging AI in a way to automate the complexity,” Nicolas Bidon, CEO of Ogury, told Beet.TV contributor David [...]

Marriott’s Monique Perlmutter: 75% of Travelers ‘More Open to Discovery’ During Travel Moments

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Research commissioned by Marriott’s RIOTT Media and Kinective Media by United Airlines reveals that 75% of travelers demonstrate increased openness to brand discovery during travel experiences, representing convergence of intent and availability that creates heightened receptivity. “We found that about 75% of travelers are more open to discovery when they’re in this travel moment. It’s a [...]

WPP Media’s Adam Shlachter: Gaming ‘Might Be Ultimate Environment’ for Retail Media

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Gaming environments provide real-time, in-the-moment opportunities that could represent retail media’s ideal application, enabling brands to connect shopper behavior with gamer mindset during specific game states and moments of need. “Gaming might be one of the ultimate environments for retail media to pay off on its promise. It’s very much in the moment,” Adam Shlachter, client [...]

Ad Industry Needs Standards Before AI Agents Start Buying Media: IAB Tech Labs’ Anthony Katsur

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — As artificial intelligence begins creeping into media buying, Anthony Katsur, chief executive of the IAB Tech Lab, has a simple request for the advertising industry: slow down and agree on the rules first. “Standardization is needed or needed to be adopted in several areas,” Katsur said during an interview with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the [...]

NewFronts Arrives Earlier as Media Buyers Plan Year-Round: IAB’s Craig Coleman

Media buyers who like a little extra time to plan their video budgets may want to circle the calendar early this year. The IAB NewFronts is moving up the schedule, arriving in March with a familiar mix of digital video pitches, shiny technology and enough buzzwords to power a small agency brainstorm. Craig Coleman, senior vice president of events and programming [...]

AI Is Moving Fast but Work Still Gets Done in the Present: Hearst’s Lee Garfield

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO – At an industry event where conversations often drift toward what advertising might look like in five or 10 years, Lee Garfield is urging people to slow down and look at what is happening right now. The vice president of programmatic sales and agency relationships at Hearst Magazines, whose more than 30 brands include Cosmopolitan, Elle, Good [...]

‘Neuro Contextual’ Ads Offer Relief From the ‘Intrusive’ Retargeting Trap

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Are you haunted by the ghosts of products past? Most consumers recognize the phenomenon of searching for a product only to be followed by advertisements for that specific item for weeks afterward. While this behavioral targeting strategy became an industry standard, it is increasingly viewed by some as an inefficient use of media budgets that alienates [...]

For TransUnion’s Spiegel, Human Oversight Will Be the Governor on AI’s Engine

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- As artificial intelligence reshapes the marketing ecosystem, a new hierarchy of influence is emerging. While automation will inevitably handle more of the day-to-day campaign mechanics, some think this will put a premium on the uniquely human ability to unearth consumer insights, build brands, and craft campaigns rooted in a deep understanding of data. It will require a [...]

AI Agents Are ‘Nascent’ but Data Clean Rooms Are Ready for the Collaboration Era

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. - Data clean rooms were never meant to be a silver bullet. But, as AI agents begin reaching across organizational boundaries to hoover up everything they can find, the humble clean room is getting a second look -- this time, as a critical guardrail. That tension, between AI's appetite for data and the enterprise's need to control it, [...]

Jeremi Gorman of Fanatics Advertising Says the Business Is Bigger Than Your Closet

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. – Jeremi Gorman, chief revenue officer of Fanatics Advertising, would like to clear something up before anyone files Fanatics under “people who sell hats.” “It’s actually much bigger than a lot of people think,” she said in this interview at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, describing a portfolio that stretches from officially licensed merchandise across major leagues to [...]

United’s Kinective: The Traveler Mindset Creates an Open Wallet

The vacation mindset is a spending mindset. New research from United Airlines' Kinective Media and Marriott Media reveals that the vast majority of travelers make purchases they never planned on while in transit or at their destination, opening up opportunities for brands willing to meet consumers where their wallets are already open. The study found that 85% of travelers make unplanned [...]

In-store Is Retail Media’s Blind Spot: Michele Roney of Mars United Commerce

LAS VEGAS – For all the precision lavished on ecommerce pixels, the physical store remains retail media’s great shrug. Speaking with David Kaplan at CES 2026, Michele Roney, executive vp of retailer CX at Mars United Commerce, put it bluntly. “The gaps in the shopper experience as it relates to retail media are hands down in-store,” she said. Brands can model every click [...]

Horizon Media’s Alex Stone: AI Dynamics Making Deal Negotiations ‘Take More Time’

LAS VEGAS — While artificial intelligence is supposed to simplify all kinds of processes, the relative newness of agencies’ AI embrace is still complicating enterprise partnership negotiations, particularly when it comes to structuring contracts around new AI dynamics, pricing models, and technical integration requirements. “There’s certainly more time spent on contracts and on the principles and dynamics to make some of [...]