Author: Chris Thomas

Netflix Upfronts:  Big on News Content, Choice and Commercial

Posted on June 12, 2024 by - Digital Media, General News, Insights

CONTENT.

The standout announcement from Netflix was their refreshed commitment to make in-roads into Standalone Event programming. After the successes of Roast of Tom Brady, Drive to Survive and Full Swing, Netflix are doubling down in arguably the most cluttered and lucrative sports – NFL. They have signed the rights to international live broadcast for three years of Christmas NFL games, and at $150m USD per game and at least 4 games included in the package, this isn’t small change.

This commitment indicates Netflix’s evolution – from one-off sports events (EG: the upcoming Tyson vs Paul Boxing match) to partnering with a major sporting code – live streamed. Whilst they do not own the viewing rights of the NFL as a sporting code, as the likes of Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC,ESPN, Amazon and a multitude of others all have NFL rights to certain games, it is clear that Netflix are going to be testing the demand and the commercial opportunity in having major rights in a niche genre, and the advertising that comes from the new depth of involvement.

Aside from in-game/event programme integrations and promotions, Netflix have opportunity to carve out a bespoke customer focused offering that could reduce churn, offer increased commercial opportunity and subsequent content expansion. This has been done before across Broadcast TV; we’ve all heard the term “the home of cricket…” the question is, what could Netflix be the next home of?

CHOICE.

Netflix is revolutionizing its advertising approach by bringing ad serving technology in-house. This strategic shift allows Netflix to offer advertisers more choice, flexibility and advanced targeting options, leveraging top-tier technologies for insights and independent measurement. The details of Netflix’s development of this technology remain under wraps, but it’s rumoured to focus on immersive brand advertising experiences that synergise storytelling and genre, creating a cohesive narrative across a series or season.

Furthermore, Microsoft will maintain advertising rights, now bolstered by partnerships with Google through DV360, Magnite, and TheTradeDesk. This expansion is a tactical move to diversify options in markets where Microsoft’s Xandr technology has limitations, such as Australia. Although Xandr is competent, it’s not without its flaws, often described as cumbersome. The inclusion of TheTradeDesk, Magnite, and Google enriches the advertising ecosystem, offering agencies and clients seamless access to Netflix’s advertising inventory. This, combined with significant integrations with verification and measurement giants like DoubleVerify, IAS, and Nielsen, signifies a move towards a more integrated and varied advertising landscape.

The combination of these two points firmly negates the issues that advertisers have voiced; that targeting, and measurement is limited, and sends a message to the market that Netflix are open for client ad dollars and wanting to respond to industry concerns and feedback.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US.

Canada is slated to be the first to test the Netflix Ad Platform with the US coming into play Q2 2025. AU will likely by 2026.

Google/TTD etc comes to the US, Canda, Mexico and Brazil markets in the next quarter. If all goes well, we can expect Q4 2024 at the earliest for APAC access.

COMMERCIAL.

Netflix’s strategy to attract advertising clients is subtly hinted at, though not explicitly stated. Regardless of the scope of their in-house adserver, Netflix will likely employ a strategy the

not only manage commercial yields but also leverage insights to enhance and grow client usage.

The proposed access points—Netflix’s own Ad Service for premium data insights and platforms like Google/TTD/MSFT/Magnite for varying levels of targeting and measurement—suggest a sophisticated model akin to traditional TV marketplaces. This reflects Netflix’s ambition to become an integral part of the television landscape, aligning with established industry practices.

In summary, Netflix has firmly established itself as a formidable force in the U.S. market and is actively pursuing expansion strategies. Like many digital enterprises, they are advancing by leveraging their extensive data to test, evaluate, and enhance their growth tactics incrementally. Netflix’s momentum can be likened to an unstoppable freight train—approaching gradually, yet inexorably.

What’s next in the ongoing saga of The Cookie-pocalypse?

Posted on February 21, 2024 by - Digital Media, Insights

As global concerns continue to escalate within the landscape of consumer privacy and data protection, the digital advertising ecosystem continues to assess the impact of the phasing out of third-party cookies.

Third-party cookies are Google tracking codes used to track ads and target people so that advertising is seen at the right time in right place by the right person.

Google intends to delete third party cookie-based tracking from Chrome and replace it with their Google Privacy Sandbox, which comprises of a specific set of privacy safe APIs aimed at striking a balance between consumer privacy and the needs publishers and advertisers to continue to deliver relevant and targeted advertising to consumers.

However, the applications (APIs) are completely new in their workings to the industry and as such, they need to be tested versus what is currently available and normal practice.

The APIs use machine learning to group users with similar interests into cohorts which can be used for advertising and content personalisation. How does this differ from current third-party cookies?  Unlike cookies, these grouped cohorts will not contain any personally identifiable information, and users can opt-out if they don’t wish to participate.

However, the roll out of Privacy Sandbox has significant potential to impact ad tech system across revenue, the cost of advertising, and changes to business practises due to the adoption requirements in measurement and reporting.

This week, two industry bodies, the IAB Tech Lab and the UK based CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) produced reports expressing concerns regarding Google’s Privacy Sandbox.

The IAB: “Our findings highlight that the industry isn’t ready yet and identify multiple challenges to implementation due to limitations in accomplishing key advertising objectives. Chrome is focused on providing discrete components that support aspects of use cases, but which ultimately cannot be assembled into a whole that provides a viable business foundation.”

The CMA:  Further progress is needed by Google to resolve our competition concerns ahead of deprecation.  We are particularly keen on resolving any remaining concerns relating to the design of the Privacy Sandbox tools and to ensure that Google does not use the tools in a way that self-preferences its own advertising services.

In short, there remains substantial concern around Privacy Sandbox useability and anti-competitiveness ahead of the proposed cookie phase out.

We will be keeping a close eye on Google’s next steps as they move to address global industry concerns, particularly regarding the owned and operated products Google have been investing in the last 2 years: Google Ad Manager and Performance Max.  These will also be fully controlled by Google and begs the question; is another walled garden being created? 

References:

https://iabtechlab.com/press-releases/iab-tech-lab-releases-in-depth-analysis-of-googles-privacy-sandbox-for-public-comment-revealing-significant-challenges/

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65ba2a504ec51d000dc9f1f5/CMA_Q4_2023_update_report_on_implementation_of_the_Privacy_Sandbox_commitments_PDFA_1.pdf

DOOH – the right thing for the times

Posted on September 9, 2021 by - Out of home (OOH)

Screen Shot 2021-09-16 at 1.21.00 pm

Despite difficult times, Chris Thomas, head of digital at Involved Media says the digital revolution for out-of-home industry is going to turn things around.

Published on Mumbrella, September 9, 2021

During lockdowns we’ve seen pictures of motorways with little traffic and inner-city shopping areas with virtually no people, but elsewhere it is a different story.

Nearly 60% of workers are unable to do their jobs from home and many of the children of essential workers are still attending schools, with neighbourhood stores and local retailers adapting to these times and, in some cases, thriving.

As a country, we have become more local, with people out exercising or shopping close to home, in places they wouldn’t have been before. This means Out-Of-Home (OOH) audiences are still there and the demand for technology to find them is here right now.

Source: OMA

Companies learn from tough times and the past two years have seen the OOH industry busy investing in the technology it needs to deliver smarter, more flexible and better targeted outdoor campaigns, to reach and engage evolving audiences.

The latest PwC Australian Media and Entertainment Outlook report on the surface painted a sobering picture of the effects of COVID-19 on the media industry, in particular, the OOH sector, which saw 2020 spend drop by 39%.

With 2021-22 expected to be a recovery year for outdoor advertising, much of the growth is being driven by digital OOH. This includes digital bus shelters on high streets, huge digital billboards on roadsides, and digital screens in supermarkets, shopping centres, gyms and transport hubs – think airports, train stations and so on. These formats aren’t new, but thanks to ever-evolving technology their application is set to move into a vastly different place than when digital screens first started appearing.

OOH has moved into a new era where it is powered by programmatic technology. It uses the same buying mechanism as online and mobile ads and is similar to how most major currency and stock market trades are now made. Programmatic advertising uses multiple sources of data to execute decision-making in real-time, and across multiple data sets at speed and, importantly, in volume.

OOH as an advertising medium works best when it is noticeable in large numbers, or on big sites for maximum impact, so the ambition of programmatic advertising is to deliver smarter, not smaller, campaigns.

Source: OMA

These smarter campaigns come about from the use of wide-ranging data sets. The combination of sources allows tighter targeting and ensures big budgets are delivered to a greater level of efficiency than was previously possible.

With programmatic OOH, brands have far more control over the context in which their ads appear. A hot chocolate brand, for example, could set up a campaign that only activates when the temperature drops below 15°C, only plays out between midday and 6pm, and is only displayed on screens in close proximity to coffee shops or supermarkets that stock the brand.

Likewise, a campaign for an antihistamine product could be pre-programmed to only buy and display ads when the pollen count hits a certain level throughout the summer months.

The technology allows a certain timeframe and budget to be determined upfront, with the flexibility to target by screen location, time and context, so clients can set and forget.

Using anonymised mobile data also enables targeting based on behavioural characteristics whether it be coffee lovers, gym goers or online gamers for example, ensuring the right audience sees the most relevant ads.

The digital screens we pass by that used to have a handful of ads scrolling in the same order all week may now display 100 different ads across the day, depending on the time and context.

Expect to see ads for coffee brands in the morning, TV news shows from Nine or Seven on the evening commute, alcoholic drinks on weekends, and health products linked to local trends. If they can, brands will be able to change their creative 50 times in one day, in a way that traditional paper posted campaigns can’t, to ensure it is relevant and engaging to the immediate audience.

It is good news for all of us that the DOOH media channel is heading for a bounce back in 2021. As programmatic technology becomes more widely available, DOOH will give marketers and agencies more options, more customisation and therefore more control in their campaigns. It’s a refreshing new take on an old medium.