Commentary

Addressable/Programmatic TV Deals: Lacking Traditional TV Data Points?

What is the downside of addressable/programmatic TV deals? Sometimes it’s the lack of traditional TV specifics.

An addressable/programmatic TV buy that media agency US International Media made recently for a Caribbean Island client struggled with some of these issues.

There were many positives, says Mitch Oscar, programmatic TV strategist for US International Media. Benefits included more data, saving time, better targeting, one media invoice, and reach extension -- where the marketers easily extend the number of networks to be included.

The downside?  The media post-buy analysis included over 163,000 lines and 3,500 pages to analyze.

Also for the TV buy, the agency didn’t know networks, dayparts, programs, or necessarily the days of the week where the inventory ran. It’s all about the algorithm, Oscar was told. “It is opaque. You can’t replicate that.”

And he says there was some complex proposal evaluation. “When we get proposals with TV stations' inventory, cable network inventory or MVPD [Multi-Video Program Distributors] inventory, it’s complicated for us to figure out [individual] value.”

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