Tracey Scheppach, founder and CEO of Matter More Media, offered a summary of where smart TV stands, the advertising opportunities ahead, and some issues and obstacles that will need to be addressed at MediaPost's TV Insider Summit.

Amid the progress toward wider adoption of audience-based buying, some crucial pieces of the puzzle have yet to fall into place.

Clarion Research interviewed executives at 15 media agencies about their perceptions of the challenges associated with audience-based targeting programs, and what would help accelerate adoption.

Two agency executives, who report that they've vetted "dozens" of PTV platforms in the past two years, offered their own checklist of critical platform capabilities during MediaPost's TV Insider Summit.

While there are indeed many moving parts within the advanced television ecosystem, implementing effective campaigns isn't as daunting as some might assume, according to Michael Bologna, president of Modi Media/GroupM.

Contrary to some industry perceptions, Magna Global is not "anti" linear television, says Brian Hughes, SVP, audience intelligence and strategy for the IPG Mediabrands unit.

This week's announcement of OpenAP, an advanced audience platform for cross-publisher targeting, was met with expressions of praise and optimism by a number of heavy hitters on the buy side.

This week brought new stats confirming continued, robust growth for connected TV device ownership and usage, plus news of comScore launching panel measurement of connected-device behavior and more.

Agency media investment executives say they're intrigued by NBCUniversal's just-announced commitment to offer $1 billion in cross-platform ad deals based on audience-based guarantees.

What do agency and media executives expect to happen in regard to so-called programmatic or advanced television deals during this year's television upfronts? We have some answers.