Whether you want to buy households via addressable set top boxes or people and content via automated programmatic platforms, there remains confusion in the market over the state of the advanced TV market itself. What inventory really is available from what providers and over which platforms?What are the national and local avails? How will service providrrs How are planners and buyers embracing programmatic platforms and addressable advertising to satisfy different goals? How do managed services and self-service differ? Where is pricing relative to traditional buys? And where do they expect the most growth in coming years?

While programmatic and addressable TV platforms are just getting started, the mountains of digital data around consumer media habits has already fundamentally changed the way planners look at TV. They can find their audiences watching shows and during dayparts that traditional data never imagined. The implications are profound. The buy side can now find value and efficiencies in places sellers never anticipated. The buyers now know more about the audience than the seller. How are media buying decisions now being made, and how does it disrupt the relationship among seller, buyer and distributor?

Is “programmatic TV” really the inevitable (or preferred) end result of ad automation’s relentless march? What stands to be gained and what lost? And Is this next step in programmatic a solution in search of a problem?

As TV buying moves way beyond traditional techniques and relies on much more complex inputs and platforms, so too will the metrics. Who is measuring what? Which metrics and data vendors are emerging as important players in the advanced TV space. What do the numbers mean when compared to traditional metrics or even to other digital platforms?

In 2012, the advanced analytics techniques of The Obama for America campaign helped put data-driven TV buying on the map. Ever since, both parties and an explosion of political marketing firms have conducted a highstakes arms race of data and tech in preparation for 2016. How did these players test their system in the 2014 cycle? What did they learn, and what can other marketing categories learn yet again from the marketing segment that started us talking about advanced TV approaches?