Commentary

Activation Is Now THE Critical Value Fulcrum In Premium Video Ads

by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, Yesterday

For decades, we have been waiting to see what would happen when the worlds of TV, on-demand viewing and digital advertising technology converged. Now they have, and so much is clearer.

Here are some of the “truths” as I see them in today’s converging TV and steaming advertising world:

Linear TV and streaming delivery can co-exist for a long time. We are six years past the COVID-driven streaming video explosion, yet 50% of TV content viewing time is still on cable, satellite and broadcasting distribution -- and, incredibly, so is 85% of TV-ad-viewing time. Those numbers will certainly change, but the shift is happening much slower than anyone expected.

One-to-many broadcasting is far from dead. A big reason linear TV is still so robust is that so much TV viewing is on sports, live events and news: programming delivered almost entirely in one-to-many broadcast mode, as are the vast majority of ads on it. And, critically, most households in the U.S. can get much of that programming for free or for a modest addition to their broadband service.

Real-time bidding failed in premium video advertising. Programmatic, real-time ad bidding was a hammer looking for a nail in premium streaming video. Most of its promoters have been those hoping to grab 50%-90% margins selling whatever they could cull from the open video web, or from bots and fraud. Fortunately, the game is up there for most smart advertisers and agencies. Premium video ad growth has shifted to demand-side platforms with strong ad serving, like GOOG, The Trade Desk, FreeWheel and Magnite/SpringServe, with requisite inventory control.

Activation is THE value fulcrum in premium video advertising. Controlling ad serving, automated insertion orders and inventory waterfalls is where power is accreting in premium video advertising, particularly if the market moves significantly toward selling outcomes, not just content and audiences. Just look at recent transactions like Pinterest and TVScientific, Zeta buying IRIS and TVision Insights. Controlling exactly what inventory slot goes to what advertiser for what desired audience or outcome is where market power is moving today.

Has activation become THE value fulcrum in premium video advertising? What do you think?

3 comments about "Activation Is Now THE Critical Value Fulcrum In Premium Video Ads".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 24, 2026 at 11:29 a.m.
Interesting, Dave. My problem is with the definition of "premium". For some advertisers it's only sports --but sports of all types accounts for just about 20% of broadcast TV viewing and half that much for cable. What about the rest? I consider just about all of linear TV primetime content to be "premium", including reruns of off-network fare, and this applies to many of the made-for-streaming--shows as well. But doesn't news also qualify--local and national? And what about The "Today Show", isn't that in the mix? Are game shows such as "Jeopardy " and "Wheel of Fortune" , excluded?

As for selling time based on "outcomes", if this refers to sales--as it should----that approach has been used by certain magazines for years. The problem is that the sellers know what the norms are for each type of product and make their guarantees of short term sales or share of market lifts within the context of what is reasonable to expect. Result: the advertiser usually gets a guarantee of what is very likely to happen anyway--but pays more to the seller for the guarantee.
Reply

Dave Morgan from Simulmedia replied, April 24, 2026 at 3:01 p.m.

Ed, I am with you that "premium" is in the eye of the beholder, but I used it here because so many do classify "premium" as something different than any video on TV, such as social video from YouTube, for example.
Yes. Performance has been around all media forever ... DR was always here. However, we will increasingly in see top inventory positioned used for it and not in the "prememtable" ways of old.

Dave Morgan from Simulmedia, April 24, 2026 at 3:06 p.m.

Folks, apologies for the error relative to TVision acquisition ... meant to write Viant, not Zeta. Sorry about that.