• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, January 11, 2017

Gerry Sutton, CEO of Adstream, describes himself as “a software guy at heart” who worked in Australia and the United States in technology, digital, motion pictures and television.  His current company, Adstream, addresses the creative content challenges of multiple screens and cross-platform.  

“Today, there is no such thing as a single-channel strategy,” Sutton notes. “Most ad campaigns span multiple screens, formats and platforms. So there are more creative assets to manage, deliver and measure,” he notes.

Charlene Weisler: Tell me about Adstream.

Gerry Sutton: We store, manage and review all forms of marketing and ad content — for digital, mobile, social, VOD, OTT, linear TV, and more — on a global scale. It also enables delivery of ad content across every type of media channel, whether traditional or new media, while providing content tracking upon delivery to ensure creative is used and optimized.

Today, more than 10,000 global agencies and brands use Adstream to manage over 26 million creative assets and deliver 2.7 million annually to 125-plus countries.

Weisler: How does it work in the area of television?

Sutton: Globally, for linear TV advertisers, we help manage ad collaboration and delivery, making sure [spots] air on time and at top quality levels. For TV advertisers, we provide quality delivery anywhere.

When advertisers send TV ads around the world, they must meet regional standards and quality levels. We deliver to over 116 countries from one simple ordering interface.

TV advertisers can also manage and approve an ad campaign’s video content, along with any other media, access our library and track a project’s status with analytics  which ads are used and where they were delivered, or even integrate third-party data.

We can also manage all clearance, traffic, and basic production, including pre-flight checks, clapper and countdown, file fixing, standards conversion, captioning and transcoding.

Weisler: Do you get involved in the programmatic TV space? If so, how?

Sutton: Programmatic is just another destination for TV content, and we deliver ad content to all channels and platforms. So, yes we have been involved since its inception. It’s an exciting space.

The category is expected to evolve fairly rapidly over the next 12 months. During this time, we expect more broadcasters and cable channels to begin adding programmatic capabilities to their linear TV feeds and enable automated buying at scale. This will create additional challenges with respect to TV advertising and content delivery. Content will be required with more immediacy.

Weisler: Where do you see ad tech going in the next three years?

Sutton: Advertisers’ demand for transparency and accountability will shape the next three-year period. This will result in media agencies, for example, providing more granular ROI reporting to brand customers.

In that spirit, we are also likely to see many advertisers decouple technology from their agencies. Brands will, instead, build direct relationships with these technology partners.

On the technology side, there will be a rise of metrics around creative measurement and attribution. Remember, creative is the only piece that is yet to be fully understood or measured in-depth, despite its overwhelming importance.

Relatedly, expect to see much more programmatic creative, even for HD-resolution content.