The Advanced Advertising Summit panel “CTV’s Big Moment“ looked at the booming connected-TV space and how the likes of Disney Plus and Netflix will fare as they push into the ad-supported connected-TV world. Adam Gaynor, chief revenue officer and interim president of Gamut, said the category looks “incredibly strong,” with more and more viewing happening on the streaming side.
Diana Horowitz, Imagine Communications VP of strategic sales and advertising technology, said the viewer boom is a catalyst for advertising. “As viewership continues to grow,” she said, “the advertising outlook is very strong.”
Danielle DeLauro, VAB executive VP, moderated the panel. Lori Cassorla, senior VP, group media director, investments at Mediahub Worldwide, said a lot of advertisers Mediahub works with are shifting to streaming, “but it’s definitely not a wholesale share shift,” with broadcast still commanding eyeballs.
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DeLauro asked the panel about Netflix and Disney Plus entering the advertising space. Marni Rommel, VP of business development at Beachfront, said users will try the new platforms. “I think we’ll see a lot of testing and experimenting” in the near future, she said. “People follow the content they want to see.”
Anthony Susi, director at Xandr, said a minimal ad load will be likely for Netflix. “When you’re into Stranger Things, you don’t want to break,” he said. “It needs to be a careful go-to-market.”
Gaynor noted how frequent repetition of ads diminishes the viewer experience considerably. “We know what we do in the marketplace helps the end-all viewer,” he said.
The panel mentioned how the streamers will be bigger players in sports. “Live sports is a huge, huge piece of the marketplace and content that people crave,” Cassorla said.
Programmatic was also discussed. Gaynor said programmatic “should be considered a process, and not a product.” He mentioned how programmatic “drastically limits our ability to scale in a marketplace,” whether it’s campaigning politicians or car dealers.
The panelists said the FAST category looks to remain hot. “We’re getting a lot of demand from our customers,” said Horowitz. “There’s a hunger for the great content. Free ad-supported content, I expect to see a lot of growth.”
Free is the right price for many in this day and age. “People are only willing to pay for a certain amount of subscriptions,” Cassorla said. “The fragmentation is making us all build our own cable bundles.” ■
