The connected TV future may seem as clean and effortless as digital media – but that often masks the reality that the channel is sometimes more “programmanual” than “programmatic”.

That’s a problem for several reasons – but a new one has just come to light.

After speaking with NBCU, AdExchanger reported: “When Peacock first launched, it was forced to reject about 40% of the creative it got from advertisers because so many of the tags were faulty.”

That’s bad news for a new, ad-supported platform trying to monetize itself. So NBCU has called on video ad-tech vendor Innovid to improve the situation.

Overcoming rejection

Innovid is working to install software checks that put a stronger workflow around connected TV ad ingestion – forcing marketers and agencies to use the correct file types and other criteria.

In this video interview with Beet.TV, Tal Chalozin, CTO & Co-Founder of Innovid, explains the problem. He says reasons ads are rejected include:

  • Files are of insufficient quality.
  • Tracking pixels from vendors that are not allowed.
  • Potential for user data leakage.
  • The format of the ad is not the right format and it does not apply to every device.

“It creates a lot of delay and problems in the campaign,” Chalozin says. “We’re talking about eight out of every 20 ads … being rejected.

“Together with NBC and the Peacock team, we want to lift this number all the way to one out of 20.

“The creative agency will see all the different elements that NBC asked for all the way in (at) the second that they upload the creative – we’re essentially limiting the rejects that are down the line.”

NBCU And Innovid Collaborate On Ad Quality Controls For Peacock

Improving CTV quality

As quality is a crucial element of connected TV because viewers and advertisers demand a TV-like experience.

That is despite some of the creative served being the same that is sent to digital video channels.

“There is a big demand for higher quality because people see when the content is pixelated,” Chalozin says.

“We want every viewer that watch streaming to have the same feeling of beautiful television as it is on the traditional side.

“People expect that the television is a product that just works, it doesn’t buffer, there’s no black screen, the volume doesn’t fluctuate.”

Toward 2021

Chalozin says his company wants to invest in personalization and identity technology for connected TV.

CTV suffers from lack of good identifiers, despite its digital chops, meaning the promise of super-targeted delivery sometimes falls short.

Chalozin knows that “one-to-one tracking isn’t going to fly. And he wants to move to a world of lower-frequency advertising, interactivity and shoppable TV ads.

“When you have better, more pixels and a bigger canvas and a more beautiful screen to introduce more creative, then you can do things that get better results,” he adds.