AT&T AdWorks chose to go vertical in 2017 with what it calls the industry’s first-ever Addressable Upfronts. Its 100 events across the country are tailored to specific industry product and service categories and clients with a focus on the attributes of both television and cross-platform addressable advertising.

“Instead of a one-size-fits-all, one big event, we take a more tailored approach,” Maria Mandel Dunsche, VP, Head of Marketing, says in this interview with Beet.TV.

AT&T has been sharing with agencies and marketers findings from some of the hundreds of addressable campaigns handled by DirecTV, which it bought last year and hasbeen in the addressable marketplace for four years, as Advertising Age reports.

“It’s about educating them about how to best use addressable, not only TV but across platforms as well,” says Dunsche. “There’s a tremendous opportunity to educate clients.

She sees addressable advertising becoming a more important part of the conversation during this year’s TV Upfront season as marketers look for more accountability from TV advertising. Addressable not only can eliminate TV ad spend waste but also is “highly measurable and trackable through entire marketing funnel,” says Dunsche.

This segment is part of a series leading up to the 2017 TV Upfront. It is presented by FreeWheel. To find more videos from the series, please visit this page.