Shereta Williams, president of Videa, has a varied background she’s put to good use in many career turns, working at financial start-ups, in mergers and acquisitions at Lazard, and at Cox
Media Group. She grew up on a farm in rural Georgia before moving to Boston to study electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ”I am driven by a desire to create
value, and all of the paths leading to my current role — farming, finance and engineering — are ultimately about creating growth,” she says.
Charlene Weisler: Tell me about
your company, current job and projects.
Shereta Williams: Videa brings automation and data-driven decision-making to broadcast television. We debuted earlier this year
and recently announced over 10 strategic partnerships — including Mediaocean, Videology, and Raycom — to bring audience-driven buying and new demand to spot television. I lead the
organization in overall strategic and product direction….
We launched our beta product this past December and officially debuted at the 2015 National Association of Broadcasters Show.
We are launching our commercial product this fall.
CW: What type of strategic partnerships — can you be more specific?
SW: Videa is currently working
with seven key broadcast partners including Raycom, Media General, Graham Media, and Cox, as well as major advertising agencies including Carat / Amplifi and Starcom, to enhance and simplify the
buying and selling of TV advertising.
In April of this year, Videa inked a key partnership with Mediaocean… As part of the agreement, Videa will be the supply partner for broadcast
inventory that will be initially available through Mediaocean’s Spectra.
CW: Do you work with just broadcast, or do you also work with cable networks?
SW: We work with broadcasters. By utilizing our platform, local broadcasters can now leverage automation and data to enhance existing selling approaches and increase demand of
their inventory….
CW: Where do you think programmatic TV is today?
SW: Until about 18 months ago, programmatic buying was mostly restricted to
the digital display business.
Nearly 40% of all U.S. digital ad spend is expected to be conducted through programmatic buying transactions in 2015, according to eMarketer. Now,
programmatic practices are more commonly applied to the sale of other media, including TV.
Programmatic buying has become a viable and growing option for TV advertising this year. The
multibillion-dollar local market is in play — spot TV, in particular.
In programmatic, buying is more automated and the targeting method of choice is based on audience spending insights
as opposed to broad demographics.
Today programmatic TV offers a variety of benefits, which improve the standard linear TV advertising model.
For example, having an automated buying
process saves time for ad buyers and sellers, since many of the resource-heavy elements of these transactions can be streamlined. Additionally, advertisers can add consumer spending data to their
purchasing plan to ensure they target viewers with the most appropriate messaging.
CW: Where do you think programmatic will be in 2017?
SW: In 2017,
advertisers will be able to purchase audiences across platform (digital and TV) based on enhanced data attributes — more efficiently than they can buy stand-alone digital and TV today. This will
allow for relevant messages to consumers and more engagement with audiences.
CW: Do you think TV measurement metrics will change from the current Nielsen currency?
SW: I think measurement will change over time to include more spending, behavioral and psychographic data, in addition to demographic and viewing data. So I’m not sure
Nielsen goes away, so much as it gets augmented with additional information on who is viewing what.
CW: Give me some predictions regarding television and how it will look in the next five
years.
SW: I saw a quote somewhere that “TV is the new TV,” and I think that’s right. TV companies invest a tremendous amount of resources in creating
quality, engaging content, and that investment will allow them to continue to extend their audiences and business models across all platforms: online, OTT, mobile, etc.
The content bundles,
currencies and distribution models may be different, but the providers and their ability to pair advertisers with their audiences will continue. I do think there are likely to be some new networks
that emerge from MCNs, but the existing networks will evolve and grow as well.