• by Felicia Greiff , March 11, 2016

If you're curious about some of the terms surrounding the rapidly changing industry of programmatic TV, you're not alone. 

Programmatic TV, or PTV is a growing industry. Last year, IPG Mediabrands’ Magna Global projected U.S. PTV spend would top $10 billion by 2019, and the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated programmatic TV would account for $17 billion in ad spend worldwide by the same year.

Still, it's early days for PTV, and there's some confusion around its benefits and organization. A white paper from DataXu offers some starter definitions (available for download here). Below are some highlights. 

First, there's PTV, which DataXu defines as inventory planned, bought and sold on impressions using automated software.

PTV has different types, including linear (bought through an automated platform and delivered to set-top boxes); addressable (ads delivered through set-top boxes in select households using first or third-party data); and connected (ads delivered through OTT devices or smart TVs connected to the Internet).

Different types of PTV are watched on different devices. Traditional is watched via cable, satellite, standard and smart TV. Addressable and programmatic can be watched via cable, satellite and smart TV. And connected TV is watched through Internet-enabled devices such as Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV and smart TV.

DataXu broke down devices by number of wasted impressions, too. (High for traditional TV; medium for programmatic linear; low for addressable and connected TV.)

Sandro Catanzaro, SVP-innovation and analytics, DataXu, made some predictions about PTV:

-- Set-top box cable and satellite addressability will reach 50% of U.S. households.
-- Marketers will request outcome-driven marketing investment plans, which will account for 20% or more of their TV investments. 
-- Networks will pursue advanced TV models, seeking more info about their audiences to gain more efficiency than older "age and gender only” models.
-- OTT content becomes mainstream, and everyone goes after an all-screen strategy.
-- Cable networks start converting consumers into full IP (Internet protocol) unicasts, a process that will take five years, Catanzaro predicts.