SANTA BARBARA -- Around the new TV industry, sentiment is growing that there are too many ads on screen. As the average total duration of ads on US TV has climbed to 22 minutes per hour, subscription, ad-free video services have risen in popularity. That is prompting a recalibration, with many networks committing to air fewer or shorter ads. But, for the leader [...]

Now that there is a plethora of vendor measuring TV advertising exposure and using attribution technology to link consumer outcomes to that exposure, advertisers will demand a different kind of success from TV. That is according to the engineering and product chief at a company offering such services. In this video interview, Anthony Skinner of iSpot.TV - which offers measurement, attribution and [...]

Comscore CRO Chris Wilson wants clients to trust its insight on the future of advanced TV. Comscore’s goal is to help buy-side advertisers get better results from ad measurement. Attribution is critical, says Wilson, and it’s even more critical that advertisers are operating off not just a subset of data, segmented by channel (linear TV, OTT), but a complete picture. Comscore’s data [...]

The organization formed to smoothe the path to cable TV ad sales almost 40 years ago is rebooting itself for the age of data-based TV ad buys. Operated by Comcast, Charter and Cox Communications, NCC Media launched in 1981 to provide a common way for ad buyers to get on to disparate and disconnected cable, satellite and now telco networks. Last week, it rebranded [...]

A central question posed by one of Google's leading AI programs is: "What if solving one problem could unlock solutions to thousands more?" That is what Google is trying to solve with DeepMind. And DeepMind has been busy answering that question, including by writing AlphaGo, an advanced AI program that has become skilled at playing the ancient board game Go. AlphaGo is [...]

Around the industry, the challenge of figuring out audience members' identities has become a leading imperative. But how effective are attempts at solving identity, really? Not effective enough, according to the co-founder of one mobile-specific ad-tech vendor. "Identity is an interesting challenge because that fundamentally drives the entire fabric of digital advertising." says Abhay Singhal, co-founder of InMobi. Singhal says identity is about [...]

Nielsen is gearing up to plug video brand safety features in to its Digital Ad Ratings, after investing to acquire a minority stake in OpenSlate this month. OpenSlate provides data about the content, subject matter and suitability of more than 600 million YouTube and Facebook videos for advertisers to determine whether the inventory is a good fit for their brand. It is [...]

Purpose-driven marketing is often treated as an empty buzzword. Dentsu wants to change that. Dentsu Aegis Network, which owns global creative and performance agencies like iProspect, Merkle and Firstborn, has built social impact principles into its business that goes across all of its companies. According to Angela Johnson, Dentsu Aegis Network’s US Client Development Officer, it’s something that will mark the [...]

If Google can make a business from showing ads to users asking questions, could a site that is dedicated to questions and answers go one better? Quora is trying. The site, on which users ask and answer questions on a host of subjects, launched its advertising sales effort in 2016 for a handful of clients. A year later, it opened up a [...]

The emerging world of performance attribution promises to let marketers see when a consumer's exposure to an ad led to desired brand outcomes, like sign-ups or even purchases. But the world of data underpinning the execution is still coming together. Lana Busignani fears that, for many marketers, it may be too piecemeal. "A lot of players in the digital publisher space have [...]

Over the last 10 years, advanced digital ad buyers have used off-the-shelf sources of data about individuals in order to better target their ads. Lately, however, legislation and tech vendors’ own policy changes mean this super-power is diminishing. Now, it is becoming more commonplace for brands to collect, store and use their own data about their own customers and prospects. But could [...]

The new ability of technology to link consumer behavior to connected TV ad exposure is changing the habits of ad buyers, says an exec trying to spread the software. "Whereas traditionally, (ad buyers) were digital shops, they're now coming in and saying, 'what should my mix look like?', says Jo Kinsella, chief revenue officer of TVSquared, a performance TV attribution vendor. Kinsella’s [...]

It may be barely a year old but, already, the digital ad services group formed by former WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell is making headlines. After its initial capitalization, S4 Capital was kick-started by a pair of key acquisitions - content studio MediaMonks and programmatic firm MightyHive - and further acquisitions will continue to provide the fuel for its future. This summer, [...]

Until recently, advanced digital ad buyers used off-the-shelf sources of data about individuals in order to better target their ads. But, lately, legislation and tech vendors’ own policy changes mean this super-power is drying up. Now, it is becoming more commonplace for brands to collect, store and use their own data about their own customers and prospects. After Acxiom sold its own data [...]

Roundel president Kristi Argyilan wants the industry to see her company as more than just Target’s shopper marketing arm. To prove it, Roundel signed a deal with Disney, which it announced this week, to provide the company with data that would help brands plan their inventory buys for linear TV around a more targeted customer base. “You can plan your television [...]

SANTA BARBARA -- What would you get in the middle of the Venn diagram if you overlaid "millennials" and "Generation Z"? "Cuspers", according to recently-published research from Fullscreen, an agency providing influencer talent to brands and management services to talent. The research, conducted by TalkShoppe for Fullscreen, which is owned by WarnerMedia's Otter Media group, identified a group of consumers, aged 19 [...]

SANTA BARBARA -- Television ad salespeople need to go beyond just selling impressions and brand marketers need to empathize with the underlying goals of their companies  in an age where outcomes are becoming more in-demand. That is the message from one leading advertising exec at US TV company A+E Networks. The company, which operates channels A+E, History Channel and Lifetime, says it [...]

If you thought that ad fraud happened on classical digital platforms and would never impact TV, it may be time to think again. Integral Ad Science (IAS), a vendor of digital ad verification software services, has this year beta-tested a new tool aiming to apply similar processes to connected TV ads. Now the new system is gearing up for a full [...]

There may be several competing digital media measurement standards already out in the marketplace, but Jane Clarke thinks they don't capture the full picture, so she wants to plug the gap. Clarke has led the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) since it was formed in 2009 by television content providers, media agencies and advertisers to explore ways to measure audiences [...]

The summer may barely be over but this is the time of year when many brands' forward focus shifts to the holiday season, and marketing strategies to get in front of shoppers. This year, they will find consumers who are more optimistic about spending but who may also be more difficult to reach. That is a takeaway from the latest annual research [...]