The rapid rise of CTV has introduced new ways for consumers to interact with content and for advertisers to engage their audiences. However, these advancements have ushered in complexities in addressability - the capacity to accurately reach specific viewers. Though the road ahead presents its share of challenges, it is also a signpost of innovation and growth that will reverberate across the entire industry, even outside of CTV. Let's explore these hurdles and the industry's efforts to build a robust infrastructure for CTV addressability.

Unraveling the Addressability Landscape: Challenges and Solutions

As we traverse this dynamic terrain, there are several salient addressability challenges and the corresponding industry responses:

●      Multi-Identifier Landscape: As the presence of multiple media conglomerates grows, managing various new identifiers (UID, RampID, and others) within a single entity has become the next major challenge. In a multi-ID landscape, resolving and connecting disparate identifiers can be arduously time and cost-intensive for individual brands, significantly hindering their ability to effectively reach and understand their audience.

●      Fragmentation Across Platforms: Changing consumer behavior has led to frequent usage of multiple platforms, even on a single device. This reality makes it challenging for advertisers to maintain a consistent dialogue with audiences. Between multiple platforms and multiple devices, attaining a single coherent view of the consumer can be an immense technological undertaking, often resulting in inefficient use of resources and inconsistent brand messaging.

●      Internal Challenges: These hurdles are not just external; media corporations grapple with internal fragmentation as well. As portfolios expand and incorporate diverse assets, ensuring consistent messaging across different channels is crucial. This fragmentation can result in misaligned strategies and disjointed experiences, impairing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

●      Recency of Data: The recency and persistency of data is critical on multiple fronts: both in terms of the identification of the household and the ad occurrence data showing whether ads ran. This is made more complex with impressions served across multiple platforms. Failing to validate ad occurrence and clearance accurately can lead to wasted ad impressions, and cause inaccurate targeting, severely diminishing the return on investment for advertisers. 

Solutions to these challenges are within reach. And this extends beyond CTV. CTV’s lack of dependence on cookies from its inception has been a driving force in creating innovative solutions for addressability challenges. This positions CTV as a potential addressability pioneer in a world increasingly moving away from cookies. However, the absence of a universal standard for data updates and ID synchronization adds another layer of complexity. Despite this, the industry is steadily working towards standardization, a testament to its adaptability.

Building towards a Neutral, Interoperable Infrastructure

In the face of an increasingly fragmented ecosystem, there's a clear need for a neutral, interoperable identity infrastructure. This system would be capable of unifying data from disparate sources, thereby bolstering addressability. The industry stands to gain from a solution that can operate across different platforms and device types, integrating fragmented identities into a coherent view.

An encouraging step in this direction is the advent of a unique identifier that can serve as a graph of graphs in an increasingly fragmented landscape - a household-based identity spine for the industry that offers an accurate view of the consumer, regardless of platform or device. 

The potential of this model extends beyond merely bridging different platforms. It also acknowledges the fluidity of the modern consumer, understanding that individuals within 'living units' are likely to influence each other's purchasing behaviors.

The Path Forward for CTV Addressability

While the current state of CTV addressability is marked with challenges, it is equally emblematic of an industry on the brink of significant transformation. As we continue to navigate complex identifier landscapes, prioritize data recency, and adapt to a cookie-less environment, the industry is laying the groundwork for a versatile, interoperable infrastructure. This is setting the stage for an encouraging future for CTV addressability, guided by a system that offers a comprehensive view of the consumer in a landscape that is growing more fragmented by the day.