As more TV sets get connected to the Internet, more of them are also being used to place ads bought in real-time to reach specific audiences.

By comparison, satellite TV platforms may seem like anachronism. But being beamed from space doesn’t mean satellite can’t also benefit from programmatic.

In this video interview with Beet.TV, General Manager, Addressable & Programmatic at DISH Network, Sean Robertson, explains how DISH is using a new approach to extend speedy programmatic benefits to satellite advertisers, too.

“For DISH, programmatic means two different things,” he says:

  1. “On our Sling platform, it is real time bidding, real-time ad serving in a very dynamic environment. Advertisers have the ability to go in, in a very private marketplace, identify an audience … and deliver those ad impressions in a very real time. Last year, for March Madness we had private auctions where folks were bidding on sports programming … during the game. Milliseconds later, those ads were being served to a live audience.”
  2. “On our DISH (satellite) side, it’s a little-bit different because we’re still bound to the structure of satellite television. We have ,through our own SSP that we’ve white labeled with our partner BidSwitch and IPONWeb, we’re able to have an environment where advertisers or agencies can bid on live impressions, win those impressions, and then have them served a week later.”

That gap may be one reason programmatic ad spending in television is still forecast to be only 4% next year – but initiatives to teach the old dog new tricks could move that needle.

Specifically in DISH’s case, a team is dedicated to helping advertisers identify the right audience to serve to, planning the campaign and, after the fact, reporting findings to help identify performance against KPIs.

It’s the kind of “white-glove” service, as Robertson puts it, which may be necessary to give satellite the kind of value advertisers want versus the appeal of real-time.

He was interviewed by Beet.TV during NYC Advertising Week.