Around the world, people turn to digital solutions to help them work, access education, stay in touch with family and friends, shop or generally be entertained.
The Split Screen
The fragmented world of digital video and CTV advertising in 2022.
While consumer habits and the digitisation of daily life has become common place in major markets, growth for many international countries in the digital video and CTV advertising space has been slow compared to the US, at times hampered by the challenge of which comes first, the supply or the demand. Add to this the various ‘unknowns’ of the space—a lack of universal omnichannel measurement tools or cross-screen audience identifiers, increased concerns over frequency management and brand-safety—and we can understand why some marketers and media buyers remain cautious. As ever with the digital ad industry, things are changing fast, led by the preferences of consumers and advances in technology. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, consumers globally turned their attention to more video formats, seeking out content on demand on any screen, whether this meant consuming short-form content on their smartphones or watching long-form content on their connected TVs. With 2022 well underway, it is becoming clear that post-lockdowns, some habits are here to stay, making the digital video landscape an increasingly compelling proposition for advertisers looking to meet their audience wherever they choose to be.
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At Xandr, we are excited to work with some of the most forward-thinking players around the world, within the programmatic ecosystem who are taking steps to advance the video landscape.
We have asked several of them, from a variety of countries, to provide snapshots of their local CTV and digital video ad markets, identifying the opportunities and challenges particular to each.
Australia
Brazil
France
DACH
Mexico
United States
United Kingdom
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Watch TV shows or movies at home
Engage on social platforms
Browse the internet
Listen to music
Play video games
Generation Z
26%
14%
12%
11%
10%
Find out how different generations rank their favourite entertainment activity around the world. Click below to compare.
18%
7%
13%
16%
29%
5%
8%
39%
2%
3%
Millennials
Generation X
Boomers
Source: Digital media trends, 15th edition
From both a buyer and seller perspective, Australia is an advanced and consolidated marketplace for CTV and digital video advertising. CTV advertising inventory supply is largely dominated by Australia’s five major broadcasters (Seven, Nine, 10, SBS, who all operate their own BVOD services, and pay-TV service Foxtel Media) with deals brokered mainly through a combination of large media holding companies, independent agencies and direct advertisers.
eMarketer reports that the Australian ad marketplace is at an interesting tipping point from a consumer point of view, with digital formats now overtaking most other traditional media. For the first time, more than half (52.5%) of internet users ages 16 to 64 owned a smart TV in H1 2021, versus 48.1% in H1 2020. Online TV and video viewing had already overtaken linear TV viewing among internet users in Australia in 2020 and the trend continued in 2021. 88.6% of respondents aged 16 to 64 had streamed Video-on-Demand (VOD) content as of H1 2021. As a result, BVOD advertising revenue increased by 67.8% YoY, proving that Australian ad-supported streaming services are a compelling proposition.
Internet users ages 16 to 64 that own a smart TV
H1 2021
52.5%
Putting the Consumer First
Australia’s main broadcasters and the adtech community are collaborating on various initiatives to help solve user experience issues within the CTV advertising space. These are mainly focused on providing a lean back, TV-like experience that is free of ad repetition within an ad break. For example, Xandr is currently partnering with local broadcasters to bring its latest product, Prebid Server Premium, to market to help solve this complex challenge. In addition to helping improve user experience across BVOD environments we’ve partnered heavily with our broadcasters to standardise content metadata to help buyers target and report with greater confidence. The major broadcasters are also innovating in other ways to expand their digital video advertising revenues, such as investing in live content, events and direct-to-consumer businesses. For example, in the past year, Foxtel Media has increased its subscribers across its subscription and streaming services (Kayo, Binge and Flash) by 23.9%. Australia’s other BVOD providers are currently focused on making one-to-one data matching a reality for advertisers, where clients can bring their own customer data to match against addressable broadcaster first-party audiences. We’re also seeing the introduction of eCommerce capabilities offered natively via BVOD services, bolstering brand integration opportunities for marketers.
23.9%
Improvements to Managing Demand
A legacy issue unique to the Australian marketplace is that the traditional ‘ratings season’ for linear TV is between February to October/November (catering to traditional Australian holiday periods) meaning tentpole TV shows are rarely scheduled outside of those months. For advertisers, this can lead to supply issues at the end of the year, when digital video consumption and digital ad spend are at a pre-Christmas peak during November and December. Expect to see more innovation around end-of-year programme scheduling in 2022 in order to better match demand. Global ‘walled gardens’, particularly YouTube and Facebook, continued to attract the lion’s share of Australian ad spending on digital video in 2021. However, Australia’s broadcasters are collaborating well to capture a bigger slice of the market. For example, they are actively collaborating on measurement projects such as Virtual OzTAM (VOZ), a world first, which will provide advertisers with a set of reliable metrics that span and incorporate both linear TV and CTV viewership to provide a total TV metric.
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Luke Smith
increase in Foxtel Media’s subscribers in the past year
H1 2020
48.1%
Finecast Video
Brett Islaub
Liv Geen
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The Brazilian market for digital video and CTV advertising is arguably the most advanced among Latin American countries. While still maturing, the local marketplace presents a variety of unique challenges for marketers.
Barriers to Entry
For many rural communities in Brazil, poor internet connectivity remains a barrier to viewing digital video content smoothly. However, the Brazilian government recently awarded contracts for roll-out of 5G services and packaged as part of those contracts, is an obligation to also improve the coverage and quality of 3G and 4G services for underserved communities. This will undoubtedly help to fuel further growth of digital video consumption over the next 24 months. While socio-economic factors have slowed CTV advertising growth, Smart TV penetration is still on the rise. Research revealed smart TV ownership reached 66.6% in H1 2021, compared with 60.8% in H1 2020. As before, ownership correlated directly with higher income, finding that city dwellers are more likely to own a smart TV than individuals in suburban and rural areas. However, Smart TV ownership is expected to get a massive boost in Q4 with the football World Cup, which kicks off in November this year, shortly after Black Friday. New TV sales traditionally spiked during World Cup years in Brazil and this year is expected to produce the greatest uplift in connected TV penetration yet.
The Year Ahead
2022 is also an election year in Brazil. The flexibility and speed of response offered by CTV is expected to start capturing a larger share of campaign ad budgets than ever before. Lingering issues around scale of CTV inventory mean that we at Xandr are working with Brazilian advertisers to marry their buying experience of CTV campaigns with more traditional digital video buys. This approach delivers the reach they need across different devices and a diverse range of high-quality media outlets, expanding their horizons for digital video ads beyond the walled gardens.
In Brazil, TV has long reigned supreme as the main source of information and entertainment for the vast majority of the population. As such, linear TV has traditionally attracted the biggest slice of advertising investment in the country. The major national broadcasters and local media players have moved swiftly to protect their interests in light of international competitors entering the marketplace. For example, Globo TV reacted quickly with the launch of its Globoplay streaming service which, besides proprietary content, also includes international movies and series, ensuring a more complete entertainment solution for its viewers. This is reflected in emarketer’s report where linear broadcast TV remained massively popular and maintained a significant advantage over digital video in terms of viewing time in 2021. Broadcast accounted for an average of two hours, 34 minutes per day in H1 2021, effectively one hour more than time spent watching TV shows or other video content online. In terms of spending on digital advertising in Brazil, programmatic display remains the predominant format of choice, but video is experiencing healthy growth in response to consumer consumption trends. Thanks to the widespread ownership of mobile phones, digital video viewing now enjoys near-universal reach among internet users in Brazil. In H1 2021, research revealed that 97.6% of those surveyed had streamed Video-on-Demand (VOD) content in the month prior. What’s more, as of Q1, a phenomenal 90.3% of the sample had watched subscription VOD (SVOD) services like Amazon Prime Video in the month prior to polling.
Rafael Pallares
Marcelo Souza
Essio Floridi
Smart TV ownership is on the rise
66.6%
60.8%
of those surveyed had watched subscription VOD (SVOD) services
90.3%
Q1 2021
Globo TV launched Globoplay streaming service ensuring a more complete entertainment solution for its viewers.
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Source: eMarketer Global Media Intelligence 2021: Brazil
In France, investment in digital video advertising rose sharply in 2021, providing the region’s main broadcasters with extra motivation to inject more urgency into the development of the country’s nascent CTV ecosystem.
Finding Alternative ‘Gardens’ on the Open Internet
While the bulk of digital video spending is allocated to major walled gardens such as YouTube and Facebook, the number of advertisers that are running their video campaign on the open internet is increasing. French publishers worked hard in recent years to create a video offering that is scalable and a genuine alternative to the walled gardens. For example, three major French publishers: Figaro Media, Prisma Media and 366, have collaborated to launch their own offering, Video Impact, built on the Xandr’s Curate platform, allowing media buyers to programmatically buy inventory across all three publishers with a single deal ID. This coalition delivers efficiencies and improvements for brand advertisers in relation to optimisation factors such as targeting, frequency capping and performance feedback.
The CTV Offering
The boom in digital video advertising is also helping to breathe new life and investment into the domestic CTV advertising market, which has been slow to respond to post-pandemic consumer viewing behaviour. The Global Media Intelligence report 2021 from eMarketer found that over 34% of internet users owned a smart TV in H1 2021, compared with 29.5% a year prior. Yet—as in previous surveys—penetration in France remained well below that of several other Western European countries. A more dramatic shift occurred with subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Between H1 2019 and H1 2020, penetration of paid-for video content rose by more than 12%. The leap was almost as large this year, with 70.5% of respondents in Q1 having watched SVOD in the month prior.
total digital video ads are bought programmatically
77%
new digital video and CTV viewing options are radically shaking up the strategies of US media planners
In 2022
According to research from l’Observatoire de l’E-Pub, French digital advertising revenues grew by 24% in 2021. All display formats experienced strong growth during 2021, but one of the sharpest growth rates was for video (+46%), driven mainly by instream inventory. Video also had a role to play in sharp increases in spending for search and retail search ads. Spending on social ads also continued to rise (+22%), with video ad spending growing by more than 58%. As such, video ads now represent more than a third of the total social ad market (35%) in France. The Observatoire de l’E-Pub study also estimates that programmatic buys accounted for 77% (up from 73% in 2020) of total spending on digital video ads in 2021, demonstrating the rapid evolution of the French adtech marketplace to accommodate media buyers’ increased interest in leveraging this format.
Collaboration to Shape the Future
Until recently, most French major broadcasters had not done much to develop an attractive CTV offering for advertisers. As 2022 began, only one of France’s ‘big six’ broadcasters had launched their own CTV application. However, there are finally signs that things are changing for the better. For example, the private marketplace (PMP) of the M6 Group channels (M6, W9, 6ter, etc.) is already available in Xandr’s Invest DSP. Thanks to this technological collaboration, advertisers, media agencies and trading desks of all sizes will now have self-service access to the power of the screens of the M6 Group channels in both broadcast TV and segmented TV. Xandr is also working on a closer collaboration with FreeWheel in 2022 to offer the best addressable TV inventory to our buyers programmatically. Other industry collaborations are underway to address advertiser issues including cross-device measurement and audience segmentation and targeting. This evolution within the French CTV ecosystem means that 2022 could see the deployment of segmented TV advertising on a far larger scale than ever before.
Total spending on digital video ads in 2021
of the total social ad market in France is represented by video ads.
>1/3
Karine Mardirossian
Damien Mora
Maxime Andre
Number of internet users that own a smart TV
34%
29.5%
In Brazil, TV has long reigned supreme as the main source of information and entertainment for the vast majority of the population. As such, linear TV has traditionally attracted the biggest slice of advertising investment in the country. The major national broadcasters and local media players have moved swiftly to protect their interests in light of international competitors entering the marketplace. For example, Globo TV reacted quickly with the launch of its Globoplay streaming service which, besides proprietary content, also includes international movies and series, ensuring a more complete entertainment solution for its viewers. This is reflected in emarketer’s report where linear broadcast TV remained massively popular and maintained a significant advantage over digital video in terms of viewing time in 2021. Broadcast accounted for an average of two hours, 34 minutes per day in H1 2021, effectively one hour more than time spent watching TV shows or other video content online.
The boom in digital video advertising is also helping to breathe new life and investment into the domestic CTV advertising market, which has been slow to respond to post-pandemic consumer viewing behaviour. The Global Media Intelligence report 2021 from eMarketer found that over 34% of internet users owned a smart TV in H1 2021, compared with 29.5% a year prior. Yet—as in previous surveys— penetration in France remained well below that of several other Western European countries. A more dramatic shift occurred with subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Between H1 2019 and H1 2020, penetration of paid-for video content rose by more than 12%. The leap was almost as large this year, with 70.5% of respondents in Q1 having watched SVOD in the month prior.
The landscape across the DACH region, provides a perfect example of how media industry fragmentation and dominance of long-established media players are a key contributor to the slow growth in ad spending on digital video and CTV.
On the face of it, German consumer trends are promising. According to eMarketer figures, Germany has an estimated 59 million digital video viewers in 2022, representing over 70% of the country’s population. This figure is still growing and is expected to rise to 60.4 million viewers (72.3%) by 2025. CTV users, meanwhile, are expected to reach 51 million in 2022, amounting to 61% of the population. Streaming has undoubtedly arrived in Germany, thanks to the younger population. While linear television accounts for two-thirds of the total population’s use of video, it accounts for just 22% among the under-30s. However, as internet usage becomes a more dominant part of life for almost all of the population, so too does video content. The current ‘Convergence Monitor 2021’ from AGF Videoforschung supports this, showing that a third of German consumer’s time is devoted to online video content.
2022 Germany consumer trends
CTV users
51 million
Overcoming Fragmentation
The market seems ripe for advertisers to explore new ways to reach consumers with CTV and digital video campaigns, but the reality is that the German market poses some unique challenges. Major TV broadcasters (such as RTL and ProSieben) and large publishing sales houses continue to seriously dominate the marketplace. Access to CTV is mostly governed through supply-side-platforms (SSPs) with exclusive relationships—Smartclip for RTL’s IP Deutschland, YieldLab for ProSieben’s SevenOne Media, FreeWheel for Sky. These big players have built their own tech, creating their own closed ecosystems to protect their valuable supply. While buyers can benefit from the most direct source to premium supply in these environments, there are challenges to operating within them, in terms of measurement and smooth running of omnichannel campaigns. As a result, the DACH media buying landscape is becoming more fragmented and challenging for advertisers looking to scale their campaigns. There is a lack of necessary standardisation to make the different inventories, for example sports content, uniformly available, something which advertisers and their agencies have become used to with other forms of programmatic buying. In addition, there is no uniform cross-channel standard for measurement and, at a time when marketers must account and report back on every dollar spent, it is easy to see why this would be a cause for concern.
Moving Forward
Despite this, demand for CTV and digital video inventory continues to grow, particularly from entertainment, electronics, and automotive brands. A common theme in the past 12 months for our industry has been ‘value in partnerships’ and this is certainly true when we consider advancements in the digital video space. Marketplace fragmentation risks hampering the plans of advertisers around scaling CTV budgets. Major publishers and broadcasters will realise that imperfect market conditions impede programmatic revenue and CPM growth—the money will flow to CTV supply that offers the most frictionless buying experience. In time, closer collaboration between buyers and sellers will win out and harmonisation will erode remaining walled gardens. It is important to remember that this region is at the preliminary stages of its digital video journey and that innovative technology, partnerships and ways of working are yet to be explored.
of German consumer’s time is devoted to online video content.
digital video viewers
59 million
Supply-side platforms governing CTV
1/3
Nicole Ferguson
Annette Dielmann
According to research from l’Observatoire de l’E-Pub, French digital advertising revenues grew by 24% in 2021. All display formats experienced strong growth during 2021, but one of the sharpest growth rates was for video (+46%), driven mainly by instream inventory. Video also had a role to play in sharp increases in spending for search and retail search ads. Spending on social ads also continued to rise (+22%), with video ad spending growing by more than 58%. As such, video ads now represent more than a third of the total social ad market (35%) in France.
The market seems ripe for advertisers to explore new ways to reach consumers with CTV and digital video campaigns, but the reality is that the German market poses some unique challenges. Major TV broadcasters (such as RTL and ProSieben) and large publishing sales houses continue to seriously dominate the marketplace. Access to CTV is mostly governed through supply-side-platforms (SSPs) with exclusive relationships— Smartclip for RTL’s IP Deutschland, YieldLab for ProSieben’s SevenOne Media, FreeWheel for Sky. These big players have built their own tech, creating their own closed ecosystems to protect their valuable supply. While buyers can benefit from the most direct source to premium supply in these environments, there are challenges to operating within them, in terms of measurement and smooth running of omnichannel campaigns. As a result, the DACH media buying landscape is becoming more fragmented and challenging for advertisers looking to scale their campaigns. There is a lack of necessary standardisation to make the different inventories, for example sports content, uniformly available, something which advertisers and their agencies have become used to with other forms of programmatic buying. In addition, there is no uniform cross-channel standard for measurement and, at a time when marketers must account and report back on every dollar spent, it is easy to see why this would be a cause for concern.
Mexico’s market for digital video and CTV advertising is developing quickly, largely thanks to the population’s massive appetite for video content consumption via mobile phones.
On-demand Beats Live
The Future is in CTV Commerce
It isn’t just digital video growing in Mexico, online banking is also seeing a surge. Ecommerce and banking giants such as Mercado Libre and Amazon, are evolving from their pure ecommerce roots, to offer a range of financial and banking services in addition to their content. By combining their financial and content offerings, they are able to reach a part of the Mexican population that historically had no access to traditional bank services, and thus, bring even more viewers into the local digital video ecosystem. With innovative ideas like this, the Mexican marketplace for digital video and CTV advertising is ripe for further growth. Ad dollars that were previously allocated for linear TV are increasingly being redirected toward digital video and CTV. Like many emerging CTV markets, the local CTV advertising marketplace has some issues to iron out, such as targeting, measurement and verification methods, but advertisers and media buyers are recognising the irreversible shifts in post-pandemic consumer viewing behaviour and backing the format with increased budgets making it a key part of the future for media planners.
of Mexico’s digital ad spend was accounted for by mobile in 2021.
Mexico’s mobile ad spending share (of total digital ad spending) was the second highest in the world in 2021 at 88.5%—only a few percentage points behind China’s 92.0% share. Mobile ad spending in Mexico rose to $2.09 billion in 2021 (with much of that growth driven by video content), second only to Brazil among LatAm countries. While mobile phone access is practically ubiquitous in Mexico, smart TV ownership is also high by global standards. This year, global factors such as the World Cup as well as shifts to the local landscape such as the launch of Vix & Vix+, a Spanish language streaming platform, is expected to deliver a spike in new TV purchases, further accelerating demand among advertisers for CTV inventory.
Mexico remains one of the few countries where SVOD reached more viewers than live TV in 2021 and viewership is still growing, as e-commerce players continue to bundle offers across commerce, streaming subscriptions and internet banking. Mexico’s proximity to the US means that the development of its digital video and CTV ad markets has outpaced much of Latin America, thanks in part to US media buys which can sometimes include Mexican ad inventory. The local marketplace also benefits from the presence of international media brands such as HBO Max, Netflix, SlingTV and YouTube Premium, Amazon Prime and Roku.
The local market has benefitted from the presence of international media brands
88.5%
In 2021 mobile ad spending in Mexico rose to
$2.09 billion
On the face of it, German consumer trends are promising. According to eMarketer figures, Germany has an estimated 59 million digital video viewers in 2022, representing over 70% of the country’s population. This figure is still growing and is expected to rise to 60.4 million viewers (72.3%) by 2025. CTV users, meanwhile, are expected to reach 51 million in 2022, amounting to 61% of the population.
The UK’s digital video advertising ecosystem is diverse and fast evolving, the gap between linear and digital video advertising spend is closing, with broadcasters taking more of a leadership role in driving the shift to programmatic.
Downward trend in linear TV share of spend by advertisers
The Battle for Attention
The Route to Supply
To-date buyers have run into roadblocks in reaching quality media owners as the proliferation of devices, hardware and services that is driving consumption splinters the capabilities and buying channels. As a result, ensuring a direct route to the right supply is the key to success for all digital video advertisers looking to capitalise on the digital video opportunities. With consumer privacy top-of-mind for advertisers and media owners, the digital video landscape offers an appealing privacy-safe environment to operate in for any of those with the right controls in place. Media owners often have consented, exclusive insight into what their audience is watching, when and how often. This data is essential for buyers and can be effectively wrapped and sold in a privacy-compliant way by the owners. Additionally, insight into user behaviour and preferences mean media owners really understand their audience and can use this insight to generate audience segments and streamline the buying process for specific advertisers. Increasingly buyers are placing greater emphasis on supply path optimisation (SPO) strategies, such as private marketplaces or curated marketplaces to put them in more control and provide more transparency. In strengthening the relationships between buyers and sellers, marketers can agree upon a strategy that works for them and their unique goals. With audience reach and frequency among the top priorities, improved cross-industry collaboration is an effective way to move this space forward while leveraging SPO to maximise buying efficiencies.
BVOD advertising revenue growth
National broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Sky are competing with a range of new entrants, such as YouTube, Rakuten, Netflix, Disney+, as well as device manufacturers such as Samsung and LG, to reach a growing number of consumers who increasingly are looking to access content via digital video, CTV, OTT, SVOD and AVOD services. The scale and reach that UK broadcasters have, their ability to provide a cookieless addressable advertising environment and, their collaborative efforts on unified measurement make them an attractive advertising opportunity for marketers and will no doubt play a pivotal role in shifting budgets further away from traditional TV. Thinkbox research shows that TV set viewing continues to dominate most people’s video consumption with individuals spending on average three hours and 37 minutes per day consuming content on a TV screen. The data goes on to show that the majority of TV set viewing is on Broadcaster TV (including Live, Playback and Broadcaster Video-on-Demand (BVOD)), and Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD), accounting for over 92% of viewing for all UK individuals. Given the evolution in TV habits, it is no surprise that the latest eMarketer forecast shows the continued downward trend in linear TV share of spend by advertisers, estimated to account for just 12.4% of total media ad spending across the UK for 2022, down from 13.3% in 2021. With streaming services taking the spotlight, what are the key considerations of this space that advertisers should be aware of?
The emergence of streaming has changed the way we watch TV today, favoured by viewers for the freedom it affords, watching their content of interest when and where they choose. As the number of services grew, so did the number of paid subscriptions consumers had to sign-up to, to access their favourite shows. Deloitte predicts that 150 million people will unsubscribe from various Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD) services this year. As a result, lower cost, and ad-supported Video-on-Demand services (AVOD) are well placed to grow their share of ad dollars targeting TV viewers. In the UK broadcaster Video-on-Demand (BVOD), where traditional broadcasting networks make their content available online to consumers through their own access platform, provides significant opportunity for digital advertisers many of whom have begun to increase investment in this space. BVOD advertising revenue grew by 26.0% in 2021 (to reach £583.9 million) and is forecast to rise by a further 12.4% in 2022. Non-broadcaster video has seen YouTube capture the lion’s share of digital video ad budgets in previous years. However, advertisers have begun to recognise that the scale of YouTube needs to be traded off against its lack of targeting precision, brand safety and quality issues. Marketers that look to expand their horizons will maximise their reach their key audiences in 2022, allocating more digital video budget to a far wider range of quality media owners on the open web.
Richard Brant
Wieger Holvoet
Sonia Pham
increase in revenue
2021
rise forecasted
2022
12.4%
of total media ad spending
H1 2022
13.3%
of TV viewing is to Broadcaster TV and Subscription Video-on-Demand.
92%
The US digital video and CTV advertising marketplace is undoubtedly the largest and most mature in the world, providing valuable insights into how other less developed markets might evolve over the next few years.
For decades, the TV ad ecosystem was stable, with US nationwide programmers such as CNN controlling 14 of the 16 minutes per show hour available to advertising, and local cable operators managing the remaining two minutes, typically allocated to ads for regional businesses. In 2022, new digital video and CTV viewing options (with more addressability and fewer geographical boundaries than linear TV ad inventory) are radically shaking up the strategies of US media planners. eMarketer forecasts that, this year, video ads will account for more than half of all US programmatic display ad spending. CTV is also benefiting from this general increase in programmatic video advertising. eMarketer forecasts that there will be 105.8 million households with a connected TV by the end of this year (82.4% of the population).
CTV household trends for the US
Collaboration is Essential for Success
In the complex ecosystem of US-based adtech providers, new partnerships, collaborations, and mergers and acquisitions are developing all the time. Adtech consortia such as OpenAP and Project OAR continue to develop shared standards, protocols and taxonomies to tackle the main sticking points for CTV advertisers, in recognition of the fact that ongoing fragmentation may discourage buyers and revenue growth. With household spending likely to be under pressure in 2022 (due to increased energy costs, for example) many of those currently paying for multiple subscription TV services may choose to streamline their paid content providers. In this scenario, free-to-view AVOD services such as imdb.tv Xumo, Pluto TV and Tubi are well positioned to pick up new viewers.
Direct Routes to Supply
In the US CTV marketplace, due to its comparative maturity, the nature of ‘fragmentation’ is different from the rest of the world: rather than access to CTV inventory being restrictive, in the US, there are usually several different pathways to access the same inventory across different publishers, making it difficult for media buyers to determine the best route to value. Historically, this has led many agencies to strike direct deals with major publishers. However, throughout 2021, there was a greater push from US media buyers to diversify against the increased scale of CTV, as more premium publishers made their content available in a programmatic environment. As a midterm election year in the US, 2022 could be another big 12 months for the development of the CTV and digital video ad markets. Research by Cross Screen media and AdImpact estimate that, of the anticipated $9 billion to be spent on political advertising this year, around $1.5 billion will be spent on CTV ads. The cut-and-thrust nature of political campaigning, the need for campaign messaging to be devised and executed at speed, will be an interesting test for the CTV and digital video ecosystem and, potentially, a great showcase to the capabilities of the format.
new digital video and CTV viewing options are radically shaking up the strategies of US media planners.
Free, advertising-based Video-on-Demand services
Erin Landy
Eric Fitzpatrick
Britt Augenfeld
of the population will use connected TV by 2023
82.4%
National broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Sky are competing with a range of new entrants, such as YouTube, Rakuten, Netflix, Disney+, as well as device manufacturers such as Samsung and LG, to reach a growing number of consumers who increasingly are looking to access content via digital video, CTV, OTT, SVOD and AVOD services. The scale and reach that UK broadcasters have, their ability to provide a cookieless addressable advertising environment and, their collaborative efforts on unified measurement make them an attractive advertising opportunity for marketers and will no doubt play a pivotal role in shifting budgets further away from traditional TV. Thinkbox research shows that TV set viewing continues to dominate most people’s video consumption with individuals spending on average three hours and 37 minutes per day consuming content on a TV screen. The data goes on to show that the majority of TV set viewing is on Broadcaster TV (including Live, Playback and Broadcaster Video- on-Demand (BVOD)), and Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD), accounting for over 92% of viewing for all UK individuals. Given the evolution in TV habits, it is no surprise that the latest eMarketer forecast shows the continued downward trend in linear TV share of spend by advertisers, estimated to account for just 12.4% of total media ad spending across the UK for 2022, down from 13.3% in 2021. With streaming services taking the spotlight, what are the key considerations of this space that advertisers should be aware of?
Source: eMarketer
Source: Xandr Platform. August 2021
Xandr caters to the needs of video buyers and sellers with a sophisticated set of high-end technology solutions, inspired by our one-platform approach and crafted for our users to effectively and transparently achieve their desired outcomes. Our combined assets, including trusted partnerships, powerful data-enabled technology, and identity solutions, power one of the world’s largest marketplaces for premium video advertising.
Xandr’s Invest DSP is Built for the Future of Video
Invest DSP is a strategic buying platform built for the future of video advertising. With an integrated platform advantage and a focus on data-driven performance, Invest DSP enables you to engage audiences on all screens and drive business results.
A video-first platform, a with robust video and CTV feature set including video inventory recommendations; video KPI optimisation and reporting; Nielsen DAR activation and reporting. In addition to a wide CTV publisher footprint through the Xandr Marketplace, Invest DSP buyers have expanded access to third-party-curated deals to reach audiences on premium, curated video supply. Building towards convergence, with a roadmap to unify and automate audience-driven premium video advertising.
The CTV landscape globally is a familiar case study of fragmentation, made up of a diverse patchwork of distinct national media ecosystems, digital players and users with multiple devices. The fragmentation issue is partly technical as many sellers organise their monetisation partners in a waterfall, meaning different SSPs have access to different supply at different prices, and buyers may need to buy from all of them to achieve reach and scale. Furthermore, CTV supply can only be bought through a deal in most cases, which means buyers need to negotiate with a long list of suppliers to achieve scale, quickly becoming an operational burden. Curation addresses these challenges. Consolidating premium CTV in a curated marketplace makes it easier for buyers to access relevant inventory at scale in a transparent manner. Curated marketplaces are an effective solution for guiding buyers to the digital video inventory they seek, abstracting away many operational and technical complexities.
Xandr Curate Brings Simplicity to the Complex Worlds of OTT and CTV
Our turnkey solution, Xandr Curate, enables buyers to create a competitive advantage by building strategic, goal-oriented marketplaces. Xandr Curate sits between Xandr’s Monetize SSP and your DSP of choice. Xandr’s CTV curated deals seamlessly aggregate quality, targetable CTV supply via a customisable, multi-seller inventory packaging solution across multiple video exchanges. By launching campaigns against a single deal ID, time and resources are not wasted on publisher sourcing and deal creation nor on buyer campaign set up.
Move from Vanity Metrics to the Outcomes that Matter
Xandr Guaranteed Outcomes, both, Guaranteed Views (100% in-view) and Guaranteed Completes (100% video completion) use advanced view and completion prediction to determine impression value. In this way, video buyers only pay for impressions which achieve a desired outcome. Guaranteed Completes enable a buyer to get more efficient use out of media budgets, develop more workflow efficiencies and provides flexible measurement and reporting opportunities.
An open, end-to-end platform, we are innovators at the intersection of TV and digital.
Prebid Server Premium Helps Deliver Optimal Outcomes for Both Buyers and Sellers
While the future of OTT advertising is programmatic, many broadcasters, distributors and programmers continue to face technical pain points when it comes to inventory monetization. In recent years, header bidding has risen in prominence as it provides:
Programmatic buyers with access to inventory, previously exclusive to direct sold. Greater competition which helps lift fill rates and yields for sellers. Reduced latency via simultaneous bidding.
Xandr continues to invest heavily in moving premium digital video forward with an increased focus on removing transactional friction for buyers and sellers. Prebid Server Premium delivers the full benefits of programmatic advertising to long-form video inventory while unlocking access to growing demand and providing the compliance and controls required by buyers, sellers and viewers.
IAB category-based competitive separation. Ad pod fetching to reduce latency. Creative unwrapping removes redirects and bad creatives prior to returning an ad request.
Content Metadata Delivers Greater Confidence to Buyers and Sellers through Better Targeting and Reporting
Whilst contextual solutions for programmatic have historically been built for the web, where a text-based environment makes it easy for anyone with a URL to understand and classify content, streaming environments do not provide the same advantages. In video, content changes frequently even as the URL or app remains constant. As each publisher has different ways of labeling content, buyers find it challenging to forecast, target, transact and report at scale across premium video inventory. Xandr’s feature standardises content metadata making it simple for both publishers and buyers to better represent and identify video content. Xandr ingests thousands of unique genre values and simplifies these into standardised categories using its fields including duration, delivery type, genre, programme type, rating, network, and language. Xandr also offers multiple integration options to make it easy for publishers to send their metadata, including automated live content mapping to ensure there is comprehensive coverage. Currently, over 50% of transacted CTV impressions on Xandr Monetize include content metadata.
Video inventory heavily relies on deals to transact this premium supply type and often help identify demographic or contextual data. Xandr has curated video content to better control brands for a TV-like buying experience. The Xandr Inventory library UI offers an enhanced experience to media planners, inventory managers and traders and is fully designed for today’s video buyer. Coming soon to the US and Canada with other markets to follow.
Inventory Library
Xandr fosters strong partnerships with established and trustworthy data providers focused on contextual video data. Players like Peer39, Grapeshot, DoubleVerify, ComScore and many more are fully integrated in the Xandr Data Marketplace which is a powerful feature of Xandr’s Invest DSP. It simply pops up upon line-Item creation and lets a buyer overlay powerful video targeting. As a buyer on the Xandr Marketplace this data is available via Xandr-curated deals which many of our data providers use to make their premium segments and audiences available to the broader buyer audience.
Data Marketplace
In building out our global premium video marketplace, we have learned that a combination of innovative products, the right talent in the right places and a commitment to improving the system leads to outsized results for advertisers, media owners and consumers. Now more than ever, video buyers and sellers require more than a software solution. They require partners with a proven track record of innovation, customer success and industry leadership. The following themes are important for buyers and sellers to understand prior to their search for a technology partner that will help elevate their digital video advertising.
More than a Platform
01
How well do they understand the local ecosystem (market maturity, privacy regulations, cultural norms)?
integrated platform advantage
focus on data-driven performance
CTV landscape
Broadcast
Free Ad Supported TV (FAST)
CTV Apps
vMVPDs
DSP of Choice
video-completion
100%
Guaranteed Completes
in-view
Guaranteed Views
Click here to find out how to make the most of every video transaction with Xandr’s Invest DSP
Click here to read our guide to curated marketplaces
Click here to read more
of transacted CTV impressions with content metadata"
+50%
Coming Soon
Compliance and Controls
Full Benefits of Programmatic to TV
Optimised revenue and increased efficiency. Intuitive user interface with advanced analytics. Ability to integrate with all major ad servers, SSAI vendors and SSPs. Ongoing collaboration with bidders on informative signals so they can optimise their bidding strategy for ad podded video.
Unlock Demand
Direct access to Xandr’s holistic marketplace which features the world’s largest digital video buyers. Strong demand partner relationships ensure successful delivery.
Do they have a track record in building marketplaces? And do they truly get the fundamentals of a marketplace, such as liquidity, transparency, brand safety, and efficiency?
A.
B.
Deep Industry and Market Knowledge
Do they have experience in bringing together the right stakeholders at the right time to ensure success? This is especially true when managing stakeholders across TV and digital, and direct and programmatic.
02
Facilitate the Right Conversations
Can they build playbooks that help businesses scale?
Will they be there to support you from strategy through to implementation and maintenance?
03
Develop Custom Playbooks
and many more
Xandr's Data Marketplace
Access to exclusive inventory
Greater competition
Reduced latency
Click here to read more about the Next Generation Contextual Playbook
To find our more about Xandr's products and capabilities, click here to get in touch
More Than a DSP
While consumer habits and the digitisation of daily life has become common place in major markets, growth for many international countries in the digital video and CTV advertising space has been slow compared to the US, at times hampered by the challenge of which comes first, the supply or the demand. Add to this the various ‘unknowns’ of the space—a lack of universal omnichannel measurement tools or cross-screen audience identifiers, increased concerns over frequency management and brand-safety— and we can understand why some marketers and media buyers remain cautious. As ever with the digital ad industry, things are changing fast, led by the preferences of consumers and advances in technology. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, consumers globally turned their attention to more video formats, seeking out content on demand on any screen, whether this meant consuming short-form content on their smartphones or watching long-form content on their connected TVs. With 2022 well underway, it is becoming clear that post-lockdowns, some habits are here to stay, making the digital video landscape an increasingly compelling proposition for advertisers looking to meet their audience wherever they choose to be.
Invest DSP is a strategic buying platform built for the future of video advertising. With an integrated platform advantage and a focus on data-driven performance, Invest DSP enables you to engage audiences on all screens and drive business results. A video-first platform, a with robust video and CTV feature set including video inventory recommendations; video KPI optimisation and reporting; Nielsen DAR activation and reporting. In addition to a wide CTV publisher footprint through the Xandr Marketplace, Invest DSP buyers have expanded access to third-party-curated deals to reach audiences on premium, curated video supply. Building towards convergence, with a roadmap to unify and automate audience-driven premium video advertising.
Xandr's Invest DSP is Built for the Future of Video
Our turnkey solution, Xandr Curate, enables buyers to create a competitive advantage by building strategic, goal-oriented marketplaces. Xandr Curate sits between Xandr’s Monetize SSP and your DSP of choice. Xandr’s CTV curated deals seamlessly aggregate quality, targetable CTV supply via a customisable, multi-seller inventory packaging solution across multiple video exchanges. By launching campaigns against a single deal ID, time and resources are not wasted on publisher sourcing and deal creation nor on buyer campaign set up. Available on Xandr’s Invest DSP only.
Click here to read
Content Metadata Delivers Great Confidence to Buyers and Sellers through Better Targeting and Reporting
Whilst contextual solutions for programmatic have historically been built for the web, where a text-based environment makes it easy for anyone with a URL to understand and classify content, streaming environments do not provide the same advantages. In video, content changes frequently even as the URL or app remains constant. As each publisher has different ways of labeling content, buyers find it challenging to forecast, target, transact and report at scale across premium video inventory. Xandr’s feature standardises content metadata making it simple for both publishers and buyers to better represent and identify video content.
Video Data Marketplace
vMVPDs, CTV Apps, and Device Manufacturers
Device Manufacturers
Over-the-Top (OTT) The Access Layer—Previously, TV was delivered via airwaves, cable or satellite to receivers or set-top boxes. Increasingly, the internet is the access mechanism through which programming is obtained. Services like Netflix, Pluto and Hulu deliver “over the top” of the internet. Can include online video distributors like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, plus virtual multi-platform video distributors (vMVPDs) like Sling TV and fuboTV. Connected TV (CTV) The Delivery Device—CTV devices are the hardware used to access content over the top. They include dedicated streaming dongles (eg. Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV), games consoles like Xbox and Playstation and integrated smart TV sets.
Key Pillars Understanding the definitions is the first step to moving forward.
Video-on-Demand (VOD) Consumers’ ability to select and view shows at a time of their choosing has revolutionised consumption. In the UK, for example, just 46% of viewing was attributed to live TV in April 2020. Live Streaming Live viewing is not over. Content can also be streamed in real-time over the internet. Broadcast VOD (BVOD) Programming made available by broadcast networks, through their own access platforms, usually following live transmission. Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) Whilst all these methods involve IP, IPTV often refers to programming delivered over broadband via an internet service provider’s own TV service, rather than OTT third parties. Operating in a closed circuit means they cannot communicate with third-party ad servers like other CTV services, adding operational complexity. Hybrid Broadcast-Broadband TV (HbbTV) An international consortium and standard aimed at combining digital terrestrial broadcast and broadband delivery of programming.
Delivery Method Digital video capabilities allow you to reach your audience in a variety of ways.
Subscription Video-on-Demand (VOD) A premium, ad-free experience for a monthly fee from services like Netflix, BritBox or Binge. Advertising-Supported VOD (AVOD) An alternative to SVOD, AVOD offers free streaming with advertising. Services include traditional broadcasters’ BVOD players (eg. ITV Player) and a new wave of digital-native AVODs (e.g. Tubi). Hybrid SVOD/AVOD Services that combine subscription and ad support tiers—for example, offering a lower subscription with ad support or a premium, ad-free experience. Transactional VOD (TVOD) A digital manifestation of pay-per-view (PPV), TVOD services like Apple’s iTunes enable one-off purchases and often time-limited access. Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) FAST channels extend the service of traditional linear TV channels, to internet-connected devices like CTV by dynamically inserting ads into the would-be ad break at no cost to the viewer.
Access Models Paid or free? Monetisation methods will shape the future of OTT.
Household-Level Targeting Two households may watch the same show via CTV but may be served different ads based on various identifiers. Device-Level Targeting More-granular targeting that identifies, profiles, and reaches a specific device, whether it is a smart TV, mobile phone or desktop computer. Unique App Identifier The mechanism through which devices allow apps to pass user identifiers to audiences. Historically unavailable to CTV apps and, therefore, buyers. Identifier for Advertising (IFA) Provides device-level identification whilst giving users control over information accessed by apps. Deterministic ID Audience profiles built from verified known subscriber or user data, authenticated from TV services. Probabilistic ID Inferred audience profiles based on previous behaviour and statistical analysis, risking imprecision when compared with deterministic IDs. Contextual Targeting Buying ads against the TV show, rather than the audience, based on certain descriptive metadata like genre, mood or subject matter. Identity Graph Third-party sources of viewer data against which to buy, often compiled from combining multiple viewer signals, in lieu of on-device identifiers.
Targeting Viewers How publishers and ad buyers can use software to enable smart targeting audiences.
Competitive Separation Ensues a publisher’s ad pod does not include conflicting brands or categories, thereby reducing competition and consumer ad fatigue, and increasing the value of the spot. Frequency Capping Allows brands to guard against agitating viewers with repeat exposures, by specifying a maximum threshold for playback. Back-to-Back Ads Playing out the same ad repeatedly kills effectiveness. Back-to-back play-out control limits the risk of repeat exposures. Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) Ads are delivered by publishers in the content stream itself, rather than called separately by viewing devices. Increases ad delivery speed but reduces buyers’ visibility into campaign performance. Dynamic Ad Insertion The ability to swap out an ad in a TV show, based on audience targeting signals or buyer strategy. Originated in VOD, but now emerging in live digital linear streams.
Control and Capability Go beyond standard targeting.
Omni-Channel Audience Reach Advertisers can track engagement across all digital devices, including CTV devices, to gain campaign-wide insights. Multi-Channel Attribution The ability to follow known audience viewing behaviour after the fact—for example, using smartphone location data or website analytics to correlate outcomes back to ad exposure. Converged Buying As traditional TV evolves, CTV grows and media continue to fragment, the industry wants to combine buying and selling activities across the ecosystem, to enable unified planning, buying and measurement across media channels.
Cross-screen Campaigns Planning, buying and measuring across TV and other devices is a key imperative.
Cross-screen Campaigns
Control and Capability
Targeting Viewers
Access Models
Delivery Method
Key Pillars
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