Steve Ellwanger

LAS VEGAS — It’s not Google TV’s second coming, but the tech giant’s new integration with WideOrbit will make it easier for marketers to buy inventory from more than 600 local television stations. The deal means Google joins 14 other demand-side platforms to essentially “connect $7 billion of programmatic digital video spend back into linear […]

Every television advertiser is trying to identify what their specific audience means outside of broad age and sex demographic targets. While the latter represent a “fairly blunt instrument that we use as a currency,” more media owners are executing in ways that line up better with how buyers want to execute their plans. An audience […]

Supply and demand for television inventory is still a big part of conversations during the TV Upfront season, but it’s now accompanied by talk of OTT and VOD opportunities along with new transaction models like non age/sex audience targeting. When media agency Assembly talks with its clients, “These are all areas we feel are important […]

Having set aside $1 billion in inventory for non-Nielsen audience guarantees during this year’s TV Upfront, NBCUniversal has seen demand for its audience targeting products double year over year. Although it’s a big commitment, market dynamics are in the company’s favor. “The reason we’re continuing to be confident about increases in demand is because we’re seeing […]

Shortly before the 2017 TV Upfront began, Disney unified the way it sells ABC, Freeform and its Disney entertainment cable networks to advertisers. If only the advertising/media industry could coalesce around standardized cross-platform audience measurement. Like other media executives whose content is distributed on an ever-increasing number of platforms, Debra O’Connell “would like to see […]

After reducing the ad load in some of its programming on truTV and TNT, Turner has seen a corresponding ratings lift while seeking to bring more native ads to television as a complement to the ad reduction. And in this interview with Beet.TV during the 2017 TV Upfront, Ad Sales President Donna Speciale says she […]

There might not be anything revolutionary per se about the 2017 TV Upfront, but that’s not to suggest there aren’t a variety of evolutionary forces reshaping the competitive landscape. They range from competitive pressure to build out dynamic ad insertion capabilities to offering more precise audience targeting and ensuring brand-safe digital ad environments. These are […]

If premium video providers need a promotional tagline to summarize their current world, it could well be “Coming to you live on your living room television.” That’s because two of the biggest takeaways from the FreeWheel Video Monetization Report (VMR): Q4 2016 are a big uptick in live and simulcast viewing and a migration of viewing […]

Buying television based on audiences as opposed to programming is a welcome evolution to media veteran Wenda Harris Millard. And while the term “quality programming” is in the eye of the beholder, she thinks marketers have every right to know exactly where their ads are running. “I’ve been in the business for a long time. […]

LOS ANGELES – In an age of advertising as storytelling, it starts with deciding what stories to tell that are worthy of an audience’s time. The next part is what gets tricky, namely figuring out the best places and ways to tell those stories. As much as some brands might wish to create a particular […]

Given supply and demand dynamics amid shrinking television ratings, it still makes sense for brands with big TV budgets to participate in the annual Upfront negotiating ritual. Unlike last year, the President of National Video Investment for OMD USA doesn’t foresee significant price inflation this time around. “By and large, if you have a sizable amount of […]

LOS ANGELES – People are unpredictable and messy, so understanding what drives their purchase decisions is truly a work in progress despite oceans of data. Then there are machines like Alexa and Siri, who are slowly nudging humans from the decisioning process. But these realities are what excite Stephanie Stopulos, the SVP of Advanced Analytics […]

VIEQUES, PR – The transformative power of data is about much more than just being able to target audiences with more precision and relevance. Data also has the power to cure many digital ecosystem ills. “Data is paramount to every strategy we put together with our clients, with our partners. It’s sort of the universal […]

LOS ANGELES – Being big for the sake of buying clout used to differentiate media agencies. Now creative agencies are finding ways of trimming down to keep pace with ever-speedier, lower-paying client demands. For Steve Erich, “not your typical agency model” means contracting for the best creative talent for the nascent Erich & Kallman shop […]

LOS ANGELES – If you could hold a mirror to the current world of content marketing it would largely reflect what’s been happening for a long time in sports and entertainment sponsorships. One of the elemental rules is that just borrowing enthusiast audiences doesn’t cut it unless you actually connect with them. “It’s not about […]

VIEQUES, PR – There’s no shortage of data to apply to linear television audience targeting and, likewise, a variety of ways to attribute campaign results. In the middle lies the customer experience, which is also data-fueled and growing more sophisticated by the day. These and other insights emerged from a discussion about enhancing the value […]

VIEQUES, PR – Having worked nearly two decades for a major holding company media agency, Francois Lee prefers the “pipeline” of data that runs through MDC Partners’ Assembly to “siloed verticals.” When MDC launched Assembly three years ago, it combined the prowess of TargetCast, RJ Palmer and Doner Media under one roof. Lee joined in 2015 […]

Television can drive big awareness, but with digital media brands can take small steps with small budgets and “test and learn” their way to success. This, in essence, is the approach online and brick-and-mortar retailer West Elm has taken during nearly 30 consecutive months of profitability. West Elm has shied away from spending money on […]

LOS ANGELES – It’s been a busy six months for Matter More Media CEO & Co-Founder Tracey Scheppach. The addressable television specialist formerly of Publicis has a new partner in Co-Founder and Publicis colleague Steve Murtos and a new strategic data partnership with Tapad. Scheppach is particularly excited about new addressable TV operators and the […]

LOS ANGELES – Reaching the right audience with advertising is only part of the bigger puzzle called engagement. It starts with figuring out the role of media in driving creative decisions. “I think the opportunity around creativity is to divorce it from the visual design standpoint,” says Doug Rozen, Chief Digital & Innovation Officer at […]