Programmatic CTV spend on the rise

The CTV space continues to innovate and grow, and according to Xandr 57% of advertisers will spend more on addressable TV over the next 12 months across major markets.  Furthermore, according to eMarketer advertisers are expected to increase their CTV ad spending in the US by 48% year-on-year to top $13.4bn and to spend $6.7bn specifically on CTV ads purchased programmatically this year.

Fragmentation in the CTV space will lend itself well to the unification of inventory to enable more programmatic buying.  This will also open up opportunities for more addressable ads and leveraging data with CTV inventory.  This week the IAB Tech Lab announced plans to better support CTV’s development with the second evolution of its ads.cert framework for improving programmatic buying with new measures aimed at reducing ad fraud across digital.

Publishers taking back control

With more marketers looking to work directly with publishers to make up for the loss of third party cookies there’s a growing opportunity for publishers to take back control of audience addressability.  Digiday suggests mid-tier publishers are at most risk as they lack the scale of the bigger premium publishers, and the specificity of audiences of the smaller more niche publishers.  To avoid this collapse of the middle, publishers need to learn more about their audience to uncover opportunities, and fill gaps through, for instance, collaborating with other publishers to scale their data and leveraging next gen contextual solutions.

The risk outlined here — of the middle falling out — is a real one if media companies and publishers do not unite to combat it by creating co-ops and other second-party data sharing opportunities among each other

Cory Munchbach, COO at BlueConic

There’s no doubt that a new breed of walled gardens will exist where they put first party data at the center of post-cookie strategy e.g. News UK, but contextual targeting will put publishers back in control too.  By combining contextual insights – such as content & keywords – with quality metrics and first-party data, publishers can provide buyers with relevancy, accuracy and personalization in brand safe environments.

Contextual and first-party data allows marketers to trust the content and the audience – a great advantage for publishers and their CPMs

Mimi Wotring, DoubleVerify

Carbon combines behavioural and contextual signals via its automated categorisation which automates the process of identifying, mapping and optimizing page categories and data signals so publishers can easily identify and package audiences.  By layering all this with real-time revenue analytics, Carbon can help publishers identify the key behaviours and contextual signals that drive CPMs and real value for their buyers to then focus on those core audiences and find more of them.

Google: Goodbye last click, hello more antitrust complaints

It was announced this week that Google is switching from last-click to “data driven” attribution as its default – an alternative technique that uses machine learning to understand how each individual touchpoint contributes to conversions.  Though the move sounds like a good one given that last-click doesn’t account for the customer journey as a whole, some advertisers could be reluctant to adopt the new model due a range of concerns around privacy and data sharing among others.

Meanwhile, Google continues to get into hot water. The Australian competition watchdog – the ACCC – plans to curb Google’s dominance in the adtech sector, having accused Google of giving its own adtech service an unfair advantage.  The ACCC’s inquiry also found that Google refused to participate in header bidding, whilst allowing its services to have a ‘last look’ opportunity to outbid rivals.  Recommendations revolve around data separation and increasing transparency in supply chain fees.

The ACCC is a domestically respected and independent regulator, legislated to enforce Australia’s strong competition and consumer protection laws. They have demonstrated recently a real willingness to test and evolve these protections into the digital supply chain given the critical importance and overwhelming influence of digital platforms and their data. The estimated 90% that goes through Google’s platforms before reaching publishers certainly merits scrutiny given their participation in the vast majority of digital ad-spend.

Andrew Julian, CEO at Narratiive

On a similar note; UK marketing-led group MOW is taking its antitrust complaint against Google’s Privacy Sandbox to the EU.  The main claims revolve around evidence of Google’s tech changes impacting choice and competition:

The internet was originally envisaged as an open environment outside the control of any single body. Google maintains it is making these changes to protect privacy but if not properly policed, the move threatens digital media, online privacy and innovation

James Roswell, Director of MOW & co-founder of 51 Degrees

Other interesting reads

UK adspend recovers well

There were a number of UK adspend updates this week as the IAB reported Digital ad spend accelerated 49% in the first half of 2021 to hit £10.5bn, with a surge in online over-75s, strong video growth, and mobile key contributors.  GroupM also reported that UK ad spend will rise 30% year-over-year compared to 2020 with TV revenues on track to grow 19% year-over-year and digital up 34%.

IAB Europe warns consent management firms

Over the last 6 months the IAB Europe have reportedly warned a number of CMPs that they were not compliant with the industry’s voluntary Transparency and Consent Framework, which sets standards for managing the flow of data tracking consent throughout the digital ad supply chain.

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