As senior VP, U.S. Sales & Global Distribution, for Vevo, Rob Christensen is responsible for global strategy, sales leadership and managing OTT distribution partnerships. With a core background in television and premium video sales, he is focused on positioning Vevo’s professionally produced music videos as an impactful, platform-agnostic opportunity for brands to align with pop culture’s most influential celebrities. On Monday, September 11, Christensen will join a panel discussion about addressable technology enhancements to linear- and connected-TV platforms, part of the Advanced Advertising summit that leads off NYC TV Week. He answered five questions on industry topics with B+C ahead of the event.
B+C: What datasets are most valuable for the addressable marketplace?
Rob Christensen: The marketplace has evolved from household-level identification to now identifying valuable customers inside of households and creating custom audience segments from these customers. Coupled with retail media opportunities and how incredibly shoppable the future of TV is, there is a ton of opportunity for networks, platforms, and brands alike. With purchases increasingly being made via phone, the phone’s camera, or even voice in the smart home, we can enhance reporting, measurement, and verification to give us all a better sense of the consumers who are viewing content for specific products within a particular market.
Understanding which customers are high-value, high-frequency, or have a purchase history of competitor brands or an intention to purchase a certain type of good is critical for informing an addressable streaming TV strategy. This can affect how networks program and how targeting is applied across the industry to help mitigate waste and increase return on investment. The technology and targetability can provide dynamic, real-time opportunities to shift media — either to specific areas of the country, in order to fine-tune messaging where it is most relevant or to broaden it nationally for maximum results.
B+C: Now that FASTs are a consumer mainstay, what do advertisers need to know?
RC: FAST is television as we always knew it but with true addressable ability for both programming and advertising. The technology within FAST enables us to continue to discover the full power of TV with the historical promise of digital. It finally feels like we're getting started with these technological possibilities (versus just talking about it like the industry has for years).
With FAST, platforms and networks have the ability to deliver the most relevant linear channels or viewing blocks within channels to increase relevance and engagement. Premium IP sets will continue to dominate the FAST linear space following the eyeballs shifting from traditional TV.
Advertisers need to understand that this space is fragmented and there are a multitude of platforms to watch content on. To achieve adjacency, brand safety, and maximum effectiveness, advertisers need to identify the right content mix to own over time in order to have a true national presence (just like TV’s MMM model traditionally). Just investing in a handful of platforms or running in content rotationally will not be good enough for maximum reach nor transparency.
B+C: What are the opportunities that exist for advertisers to reach diverse audiences in an authentic way?
RC: Increased addressable capabilities will certainly aid in achieving this, as we learn more about users, consumers and their purchase intentions within streaming TV. Brands need to be selective with the partners they invest in, ensuring they offer the right environment and accurate and representative storytelling by the very people they want to reach. Brands also need to marry these investments with ad creative that speaks to their intended audience authentically.
One of the things that I am most proud of at Vevo is how we have built the largest inclusive streaming TV network in the U.S., featuring music videos by a diverse array of the most influential artists in the world. Each of these artists represents a specific culture or group of people and they have a captive audience, which brands can then utilize to connect with directly. The world of Streaming TV and FAST also allows us to program more intentionally and create more focused audience pools than at any point in TV history.
B+C: What are your predictions for FAST in 2024?
RC: We will see more and more legacy premium networks distribute FAST channels featuring syndicated and some first-run content used as a front porch to drive further interest into SVOD user acquisition. Additionally, FAST will continue to gain traction due to the increasing presence of powerhouse IP (like sports leagues) on streaming platform UIs that promote FAST engagement options. Furthermore, the opportunity for commerce in FAST is a massive one for the market to truly execute on … the promise of TV meets digital is finally here.
B+C: All-time favorite TV show?
RC: Lost. This series was my last true weekly serial “appointment television” primetime series.
