• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 19, 2017

Not all digital media is bad, some media selling executives will tell you -- especially those sites/platforms owned by big TV/media companies.

Lots of talk about brand safety concerns of nontraditional big media digital video platforms (You Tube? Facebook?) floated over this upfront presentation period. But those traditional linear TV advertising selling executives say those issues don’t apply to ad-supported digital video platforms from the TV networks.

All that suits traditional media TV executives. Brand safety talk takes away issues of linear TV viewership erosion — and expected higher cost per thousand price increases for this upfront with mid-single digit percentage gains.

Right now, according to Standard Media Index, those TV-owned video platforms continue to grow -- albeit more slowly.

In April, all TV network digital advertising grew 3%, says SMI, with pure-play video platform advertising 6% higher. Than may not sound like much, but all of digital media only grew 3% for the month.  In the first quarter of this year, SMI says pure-play video was sharply up -- 28.2% higher over the first quarter in 2016.

UBS media analyst Doug Mitchelson estimated digital video advertising for traditional TV companies was projected to get to $2.1 billion in 2016. By way of comparison, eMarketer estimates all digital video ad spending will grow 24% this year to $13.23 billion.  YouTube alone is estimated to generate $3.5 billion in ad revenue in the U.S.

Senior media agency buying executives may believe any network TV app with advertising -- or those OTT-ad supported TV sites like CBS All Access, the original Hulu service, or others -- has a better overall value.

Going forward, though, new digital pay TV providers -- offering up a number of traditional TV networks, including YouTube TV -- may tell a different story.

Brand safety seems to be have replaced other digital media issues -- possibly transitioning over viewability, digital fraud and transparency among them. 

But what about coming new OTT video brand platform safety that airs TV network-programming -- especially all those that aren’t owned by big TV network media companies?