CTV Myth Busting: Breaking Down Silos Between the Upfronts and Programmatic

Key Takeaways:

• Myth: Advertisers cannot plan against both CTV negotiated at the upfronts and programmatic CTV.
• False. Being able to combine broadcaster-premium direct with programmatic is the only way media buyers can truly take advantage of the full scale, targetability, and on-demand flexibility of CTV.

Overall video viewership is surging and CTV ad spend will likely hit $10.8 billion by next year. Many advertisers now see CTV as an essential part of their long-term media strategy, not just a reaction to accelerated adoption caused by Covid or cord-cutting and cord-never upticks.

Attempting to unify media investments across linear TV, streaming platforms, over-the-top (OTT) aggregators, and programmatic creates significant planning and allocation challenges for marketers. But the myth that advertisers cannot plan holistically across these screens is false.  

The CTV value chain is layered and complex

The most desirable slice of the CTV pie is broadcaster premium direct and reserved buys available only through relationship-based upfront or Newfront deals. 

Then there is the CTV inventory that is aggregated through services like Hulu and Roku, the best of which is still sold directly and often bundled into upfront deals. Finally, some CTV can be purchased and fulfilled programmatically through a demand-side platform (DSP), which generally comprises the least premium parts of the CTV market. 

Many buyers struggle to effectively plan and measure audience reach and frequency across the CTV value chain because they lack a unified data set and technology platform. 

Working in silos across these fragmented supply sources results in substantial media overlap, budget waste, and a sometimes paralyzing disconnect between linear TV investment teams and trading desks. But with the right tools and expertise, marketers can combine upfront investments and programmatic and plan uniformly across all media.

Bridge the CTV gap with converged solutions 

With more than half of today’s buyers shifting ad dollars to CTV, being able to combine all CTV investments in a single view is the only way marketers can close the gap in the premium CTV planning and allocation process. 

Marketers need to integrate their planning strategy to amplify and complement their linear TV upfront premium CTV buys to truly take advantage of the full scale, targetability, and on-demand flexibility of CTV. 

This can only be achieved by bringing investment and programmatic teams together within a converged planning and allocation framework across the full range of CTV. Marketers are then able to take control of the full scope of their premium CTV investments with the highest level of confidence that they’re getting the greatest value from all of their partners.

Unify CTV with precision and confidence

Achieving efficient scale with premium CTV is challenging but not impossible with technology solutions that optimize across all of the different CTV deal types.

Amobee’s suite of solutions unifies all CTV inventory, enabling advertisers to plan, buy, and measure holistically across their entire portfolio, whether it’s negotiated directly or bought programmatically. Find out more about Amobee’s CTV planning and allocation solutions. Contact us today at Solutions@amobee.com.

You can also test your knowledge of the CTV marketplace with our Amobee Myth Busting Quiz on Adweek, and watch our recent webinar in partnership with Disney and Zenith Media on Creating Flexibility in Your Upfronts: A New Era of TV Planning.

 

About Amobee

Founded in 2005, Amobee is an advertising platform that understands how people consume content. Our goal is to optimize outcomes for advertisers and media companies, while providing a better consumer experience. Through our platform, we help customers further their audience development, optimize their cross channel performance across all TV, connected TV, and digital media, and drive new customer growth through detailed analytics and reporting. Amobee is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tremor International, a collection of brands built to unite creativity, data and technology across the open internet.

If you’re curious to learn more, watch the on-demand demo or take a deep dive into our Research & Insights section where you can find recent webinars on-demand, media plan insights & activation templates, and more data-driven content. If you’re ready to take the next step into a sustainable, consumer-first advertising future, contact us today.