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7 Must-See Sessions at Programmatic I/O in Las Vegas

It’s hard to believe that Programmatic I/O Las Vegas is just a few days away! This year’s #PROGIO will touch on topics such as CTV trends, privacy, the cookieless future, retail media, and more, featuring speakers from Procter & Gamble, Buzzfeed, Paramount+, TikTok, and Cadent. We are looking forward to participating in conversations around data-driven marketing with leaders from across the industry. The Cadent team will be attending many of the keynotes, panels, and workshops at the conference, so be sure to get in touch if you would like to set up a meeting.  

While we wish we could make it to every deep-dive, breakout, and networking event, there is simply too much happening in just a few short days! Below, we’ve rounded up a list of some of the sessions where you will find members of the Cadent team.  

1. The State of Converged TV Measurement From A Programmer’s Perspective 

When: Tuesday, May 24 – 9:55-10:15 am  
What: Colleen Fahey Rush from Paramount, Lisa Valentino from Disney, and Mark Roblat from Tubi will meet with AdExchanger’s Allison Schiff to discuss how broadcasters are approaching changing consumer viewing behaviors.  

2. Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Data-Driven TV Advertising 

When: Tuesday, May 24 – 2:15-2:40 pm  
What: Marcy Pentoney, VP, Product Management at Cadent will be leading a workshop on how ratings are driving the need for fluidity, the importance of understanding today’s audience strategies, and why now is the time for linear and digital to converge. 

3. What Programmatic TV Buyers Can Learn From the TV OGs 

When: Tuesday, May 24 – 2:45-3:10 pm  
What: Nicole Whitesel, EVP, Advanced TV & Client Success at Publicis Media will share her perspective on the pros and cons of a programmatic approach in TV, what traders can learn from traditional TV buyers, and how to use the right tools to get the job done for your brand’s KPIs. 

4. Lights, Camera, Ad Tech! A Fireside Chat With Paramount+ and Samsung DSP 

When: Wednesday, May 25 – 9:15-9:35 am  
What: Alex Boras and Jackelyn Keller from Samsung Ads and Damon Mercadante from Paramount+ discuss their predictions for where smart TV viewership trends will go. 

5. The Lasting Effects of the Pandemic on TV and Advertising 

When: Wednesday, May 25 – 1:15-1:40 pm 
What: AJ Kintner, VP of Sales at LG Ads will share how advertisers can successfully balance engaging audiences across linear TV and ad-supported streaming.  

6. What Digital Media Can Learn From CTV 

When: Wednesday, May 25 – 1:45-2:10 pm  
What: Mike Richter, VP, Global Ad Revenue Operations, CTV & Digital at Trusted Media Brands will explore how identity, privacy, and tech setups differ across CTV and digital. 

7. Creating The Culture, With TikTok’s Melissa Yang 

When: Wednesday, May 25 – 3:40-4:00 pm  
What: Melissa Yang, Global Head of Ecosystem Partnerships at TikTok will speak with AdExchanger’s Allison Schiff about how TikTok is working to foster a positive environment for creators, advertisers, and users.  

Meet us at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas! 

Meet members of the Cadent team at Programmatic I/O! Jes Santoro, Marcy Pentoney, Tony Yi, and Mari Tangredi will all be at the conference. If you would like to book a meeting, please email [email protected] or send a contact request here.  

Cadent’s Future of TV Summit: Watch Sessions On-Demand

The pandemic has served as an accelerant for many businesses, and TV is no exception, with streaming now accounting for 25% of all TV minutes viewed, according to Nielsen’s latest Total Audience Report.

In October 2020, our Future of TV Summit focused on changing viewership behavior and more in conversations with thought leaders from Post Consumer Brands, H&R Block, Sanofi Consumer Health, Tegna and the TVB. Together with the Cadent team, brand marketers discussed how the consumer journey is evolving, how to reach customers with cross-channel campaigns on broadcast, cable, OTT and CTV and much more.

See below for a roundup of Cadent’s content from the event with links to the on-demand videos for each session.

Learn more about how Cadent connects marketers with the audiences behind the devices.

Define This for Me: Advanced TV

Advanced TV refers to how the delivery of television content has evolved beyond the traditional linear models. This includes OTT, indexed linear TV, connected TV and addressable TV, among others. According to the IAB, the term advanced TV was “…first used at the MIT Media Lab in the early 1990s to explain why high definition TV was only an early step in the foreseeable enhancements to the medium.” Consider advanced TV the catchall for all of today’s data-driven forms of television.  

Advanced TV enables advertisers to deliver different ads to different audience segments, across all devices. Whether your target audience is watching on their smart TV, mobile device, tablet, or computer, you can reach them with advanced TV.

What Changed 

Historically, TV was thought of as the “black box” of advertising with little to no measurement possible. Think of the often-referenced John Wanamaker quote: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”  

With advanced TV, marketers can now measure the true impact of their campaign to justify budgets, as well as gain insights on how to optimize spending for future campaigns.   

While applying data to TV planning isn’t a new concept, marketers now have the ability to apply cross-screen datasets to advanced TV activations, then receive campaign performance reports that prove campaign efficacy from their trusted technology partners. By offering improved transparency into TV campaigns, advanced TV has revolutionized the opportunities TV presents advertisers. No matter how your audience watches TV, you can apply strategic audience data to deliver the most relevant messaging. 

When we talk about advanced TV, we also have to talk about how people’s viewership habits have changed. Today’s audiences can watch TV however, whenever and wherever they want. No longer limited to the television set, consumers are increasingly watching TV delivered over the internet. This has created a confusing landscape for advertisers, that once only needed to focus on a wider demographic across two or three TV networks.  

As new technology continues to offer consumers more ways to stream, on more devices, advertisers need to take a more thoughtful approach to TV campaign planning. In the advanced TV landscape, it is increasingly important for advertisers to understand not only where they’re watching, but how best to reach them – all while matching the message to the audience.  

Why IMatters Now 

The pandemic has significantly altered American life. In the past year, many of us have experienced changes in the way we work, learn, parent, travel, and consume media. As daily habits shifted, Nielsen researchers found that video streaming increased from 19% at the end of 2019 to 25% by the middle of 2020.  

In addition to the impact of the pandemic, the U.S. is also experiencing a cultural shift that is putting pressure on countless retail brands to get the best possible ROI from their ad spend. Knowing how to leverage data and collect insights from prior campaigns to improve future campaigns are key components of driving brand success for cross-channel campaigns on advanced TV platforms.   

Imagining advertising beyond 2020, two trends are clear: families will still gather by the TV, whether they’re watching news, movies, or other programming, and advanced TV will continue to evolve and grow in popularity. As viewership ebbs and flows across OTT, indexed linear TV, connected TV, addressable TV and more, marketers will need to embrace the data capabilities available for each medium.  

Ultimately, what sets advanced TV apart from other mediums is the variety of devices on which audiences can consume content, the use of behavioral audience data for targeting, and the capability for closed-loop reporting.  

Learn more about the Cadent Advanced TV Platform 

Advanced TV Offers CPG Marketers the Precision and Scale They Require

Everyone can name a few consumer packaged goods that stir feelings of fierce loyalty: the chip they serve at every Super Bowl party, the laundry detergent that they swear works better than others, or the brand of soup they’ve been eating since childhood.

In recent years the CPG industry has been met with numerous challenges. Some, like the need to compete with two-hour shipping windows, are due to digital transformation, or the use of digital technology to solve problems. Changing consumer behavior is also presenting challenges to the CPG industry. With a recent study showing that more than half of consumers surveyed in the U.S. and UK had reduced the amount of disposable plastic they used in the previous year, a laundry detergent brand may find itself forced to rethink its packaging. Home products brand Seventh Generation, for instance, uses blends of recycled cardboard and newspaper to produce its laundry detergent bottle. 

Beyond sustainable materials, millennials are almost four times more likely than baby boomers to avoid buying products from “the big food companies,” according to McKinsey. Thanks in large part to health concerns, salt-laden soup may no longer be the lunch of choice. Add in the fact that new entrants are disrupting the traditional CPG-customer relationship, and it’s no wonder that 80% of leading CPG brand CEOs are concerned that their business model may be at risk.

In response, many CPG companies are rethinking their portfolios, tailoring new products with wellness and more-sustainable packaging in mind, and creating their own private labels. Others are investing in ways to drive innovation, including venture funds and incubators.

Alongside those other smart moves, they’re also rethinking their marketing strategy. Television, they may come to realize, can provide a solution to many challenges they’re facing.

Out-of-the-Box CPG Strategy

Despite loyalty from some consumers, CPG brands have long been plagued by high market saturation levels and low consumer switching costs. It’s easy to switch from one brand to another, depending on price or availability. 

This makes it vital for a brand to prioritize top-of-mind awareness, and data-driven TV advertising can be an instrumental part of that strategy.

Indexed linear television, for instance, can be used to identify those more likely to be in-market for a particular product. And today’s indexed TV applies modern data sets to TV marketing. By matching data such as purchasing habits or household income to viewing habits, a CPG brand can reach their target audiences efficiently with a relevant message. 

For a more targeted approach, addressable TV advertising allows brands not only to hone in on a receptive audience at a granular level, it also follows the customer journey, using purchase and behavioral data to target current buyers to increase market penetration, boost customer loyalty, identify purchasers of competing brands or products to promote switching, and tap lapsed purchasers to help bridge gaps in purchase history.

The assumption may be that addressable TV advertising is worth the investment only for industries and brands seeking specific customers for costly products or services – middle-aged women seeking to upgrade the family car, for example, or golfers planning their next resort vacation. Following that line of thinking, makers of mass-market items that almost everyone uses – tissues, soap, or sandwich bread – need only to cast the widest possible net and reach the largest audience to prosper.

Targeting a more specific audience at the household level, however, can minimize waste while retaining an effective level of reach. For instance, a CPG brand used addressable to shift share from a competing brand, resulting in a 21% increase in brand penetration. 

Both indexed TV campaigns and addressable TV campaigns offer valuable insights on what worked and what didn’t work with a campaign. For indexed linear, ACR data gives clarity on who watched and what they were exposed to. After an addressable campaign, incremental impact can be measured against a brand’s KPI.

Bottling the Power of TV  

Marc Pritchard, the chief brand officer of Procter & Gamble, a company whose products are used by some 5 billion people globally each day – and one that has been widely celebrated for the success of their mass marketing – told attendees at an ANA gathering that there was a pressing need to reinvent traditional modes of advertising. The ideal would be, he explained, “mass reach with one-to-one precision.”

Indexing and addressable TV advertising, two highly potent mediums, offer both precision and the scale CPG marketers require. 

Read more about our industry solutions.

Advanced TV Marketing Strategies for QSR Success

There’s a lot at stake for quick serve restaurants. 

More than a third of Americans eating fast food every day. Annual revenue in the industry reaches $110 billion.

Today, QSR marketing campaigns have to attract the attention of potential diners wherever they’re consuming content, and that means brands have to use every channel at their disposal – from radio and print to television and digital.

Fernando Machado, Global CMO of Burger King, described the advertising landscape he navigates: “QSR is super-competitive, very promotional. If I’m not on-air on TV, my sales drop. Literally. And we know that immediately,” he explained. Still, he added, the brand knows younger audiences are watching less TV, and if you want to capture the hearts, minds and stomachs of the next generation, “you need to strengthen your presence in digital, and content creation.”

Supersize your marketing with data-driven TV

Because the potential customer base for QSR is so large, a wide-scale TV campaign aimed at increasing brand awareness makes sense in many cases, especially when you consider that visitors to the top-five QSRs in the country watch approximately 12 percent more television than the general population, according to a recent NinthDecimal study

TV can be part of an especially effective strategy when ads are paired with relevant programming (just like those crispy, hot fries taste better alongside an icy soda). Technology partners can identify consumers more likely to be in-market for a particular QSR by matching data on purchasing habits or household income to viewing habits. Someone who binge-watches a family-friendly show like “Modern Family,” for example, might be interested in a kids-meal promotion at a QSR, while a fan of an action-packed drama like “Vikings” might be more likely to go for a deal on a hefty burger. 

Furthermore, through aggregated national supply, QSR marketers can reach a national audience during a TV event like the Super Bowl or Oscars, even if they aren’t an official sponsor, by airing their creative through bundled local inventory.

Dig into digital

A television campaign with powerful creative, when used in conjunction with digital tactics, can help QSR marketers reach their audience at the right time with the right message. But it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not enough just to communicate timely offers or unveil new menu items.

QSRs with huge numbers of social media followers are finding new ways to engage and entertain. Look at Wendy’s Twitter account, which roasts not only its competitors but its customers (who actually request that honor). Burger King gave diners the opportunity to buy a Whopper for one cent if they stopped at a McDonald’s first in a geo-location stunt. Domino’s “Paving for Pizza” campaign involved the chain offering to pave potholed roads for customers so delivery people could get pizzas to them intact. (In its first week alone, the Domino’s campaign garnered 35,000 organic mentions on social media.) These creative, cross-platform strategies are vital to successful QSR marketing today.

An approach that incorporates channels where customers consume content, along with sequential messaging, can keep a brand top-of-mind, which is vital for QSRs seeking to win market share, especially given that repeat visits and incremental revenue are more important in the restaurant industry than in others. After all, people don’t buy cars every day, but they certainly need to eat on a daily basis. Whetting their appetites through their televisions and mobile devices is a reliable recipe for success.    

Learn more about Cadent’s industry solutions.

We Focus on TV First So the Industry Can Win Together

Forrester’s Cross-Channel Video Advertising Platform New Wave report was published today, including an evaluation of Cadent Advanced TV Platform.

This report evaluated the cross-channel video landscape, and in our opinion, it focuses on digital companies broaching the world of TV. Cadent, a pure-play TV platform and not a cross-channel platform, chose to participate because it’s important to take part in the conversation on both sides of the equation about how these worlds are coming together. 

There’s much more to the advanced TV ecosystem than mastering addressable and modernizing linear TV – our platform ties the entire TV ecosystem together into a single solution that streamlines the process of buying and selling of television.

What’s important for a strong product vision is what you choose to focus on and what you don’t choose to focus on. We chose to focus on providing national advertisers episodic, professionally produced video content that offers premium content with advertising considered part of the programming, and we chose not to focus on short-form digital video and social ads. That way, advertisers can maintain quality and impact when reaching their TV audiences in a brand safe manner, delivering a message in the moments people are most immersed in content. 

Today, television is complex – a combination of legacy systems and constantly modernizing technology. In light of this complexity and the challenges of audience fragmentation, we choose to focus on the evolution of TV, always keeping in mind what’s in the best interest of the whole TV ecosystem, including buyers and sellers. Digital companies approaching the business of TV with digital solutions, which as we know, in addition to trying to connect TV into their workflows, also aim to optimize banner ads, mobile apps, social feeds and more. A cross-channel TV strategy requires a thoughtful TV partner and not a retrofitted digital approach.  

The reality is that today, traditional TV is still bought mostly the same way it was 20 years ago. In ten years, there will still be cable boxes and linear TV viewers, even as TV audiences evolve. The platform advertisers need is one that brings those experiences together, from linear TV to addressable and OTT, making it different from a traditionally digital-first DSP platform. Our platform prioritizes integrations and quality engagement that drives performance, builds brands and creates experiences. 

Television is evolving. Its evolution won’t come from the aim of being more like digital – its evolution will come from the desire to bring the best of television and the best of digital together to become better, more automated and more transparent. Engaging audiences in a premium environment is key, as is making it easier to transact and easier for marketers to measure the impact of their campaigns. We focus our innovation only on the needs of the television industry, and we think that’s the best way to help the industry win together. 

In TV buying, it’s our responsibility to protect consumer data and work with partners who protect consumer data. We’re focusing on building an environment where a wide variety of scaled and targeted audiences can be activated, where the value of partners’ respective businesses and the value and needs of advertisers are brought together to help them navigate TV advertising from traditional to advanced buys, across all inventory channels.

For our customers, we want to make it easy to leverage our technology and connect with their audiences in a highly fragmented landscape. We’re entering a data-driven, technology-rich future of TV advertising, and more than ever before, audiences, inventory partners and ecosystem partners require a thoughtful strategy that drives real business results. 

Read more about Cadent Advanced TV Platform.

Cultivating Preference in the Digital Age

[A version of this post originally appeared in MediaVillage.]

With the rise of digital media, advertisers seem to focus less on communicating to potential buyers during the middle stages of their journey – the education and consideration stages – and more on the awareness and purchase stages.

That hasn’t always been the case.  More advertising used to be focused on showcasing product attributes and differentiation, such as taking on “the other leading brand.”  This classic Volkswagen ad, for instance, notes that the Beetle got 25 miles per gallon, “a lot more than the average domestic car.”  Ads for Thomas’ English Muffins used to go on about its “nooks and crannies” and the fact that they were “fork-split” (whatever that meant).

These days, social media and ubiquitous internet access mean prospects can now research whatever they’re thinking of buying at a time of their choosing.  While most in-market shoppers conduct online research before making a purchase, the majority of that research is not produced by the brand.

Enter TV advertising as an education and consideration tool.  Because people pay more attention to TV ads than any other type of advertising, running TV ads in the awareness stage is crucial in setting up the criteria for the buyer and connecting at an emotional level.  That emotional statement is especially important because it weeds out people who aren’t philosophically aligned with your brand.

What Consumers are Looking For

For the consumer, the preference stage is about doing homework, setting criteria and finding the product or service.  Think about the mindset of a consumer in the consideration phase.  By this time, he or she has already recognized a need or desire.  (“Time for new running shoes.”)  The thought process then leads to a search for information about shoes in a certain price range that is recommended for the person’s needs.  That leads them to make a list of options in the market.

The evaluation process isn’t as linear and logical as you might think.  Someone may research a certain brand of shoe and home in on a particular model, then loop back to researching brands.

Affinity plays a big role in the preference stage of the journey; that’s why TV advertising can be very effective at this stage.  By reaching an interested consumer in an immersive way with high quality messaging, advertisers can help create an emotional connection between a buyer and a brand that augments (and in some cases, supersedes) the features checklist they’ve made.

One reason for this is that consumers pay more attention to alternatives when they’re searching for alternatives.  This is a variation on the “observational selection bias” in which we buy a new car and suddenly notice that the same car is everywhere.  In hunting and gathering mode, we are more aware of alternatives.

But isn’t finding consumers in-market for your product only something digital media can do?  Not anymore.  Advanced TV, particularly household addressable, now can use the same datasets as digital media, enabling advertisers to reach consumers on the big screen in their home as they research and set their buying criteria.

When that targeting capability is combined with first- and third-party datasets, advertisers can layer on relevant data to personalize their campaigns by showing ads only to segments where specific, preference-forming messages will resonate.  Set-top-box data paired with behavioral, purchase and demographic data helps marketers target highly specific household audience segments.

The other reason TV is effective in the consideration stage is that TV advertising creates a trigger effect.  Sixty-eight percent of Millennials use a smartphone or laptop while they watch TV, according to eMarketer.  Google’s research shows two-thirds of smartphone owners use their phones to learn more about something they saw in a TV commercial.  If you’re thinking of buying new running shoes, then an ad for running shoes will get your attention, but one that focuses on a specific need (like your level of pronation) will really get your attention.

How This Looks in the Real World

Ideally, TV and digital messaging coalesce in this phase to move the consumer through the purchase journey.  If a consumer is searching for a new winter jacket, the advertiser could run banner ads for the jackets, then use addressable TV to target specific audience segments such as adventure seekers to show those households a spot demonstrating how the jacket performs best in an active lifestyle.  The sight, sound and motion of television, combined with smart messaging, would provide the consumer with the emotional statement and information to choose that brand over a competitor.

The upshot is that TV advertising is more adaptable than in the past.  Now, advertisers can find those consumers in-market for a product or service and reach them during the consideration phase.  That will move them to the ultimate goal, taking action.

See the intro to our customer journey series and our post on the awareness stage.

Meet Cadent Advanced TV Platform

Today, we launched an advanced TV platform that will make addressable television planning, execution and attribution easier for advertisers.

From experience, I can tell you that Addressable television is not hard to understand. The concept is pretty simple: identify the right households, send messages only those high-value audiences and have the ability to measure each campaigns impact against a brand’s KPI. Yet for all its promise, addressable television still does not get even close to its fair share of an advertiser’s media budget to date.

Over the last 5 years, our team has executed more than 3,000 addressable television campaigns. From that experience, I can also tell you that historically properly executing an addressable television campaign at scale was an extremely complex and very manual pain in the a$$.   

However, the application of technology finally makes addressable television a scalable media channel for advertisers. Data enabled TV is starting to gain more significant traction with advertisers – according to an ANA and Forrester study, a third of advertisers plan to leverage addressable TV this year. As the medium gains ground with advertisers, Cadent is helping meet demand by making addressable easy via our advanced TV platform.

Simply put, addressable without technology is hard. Cadent Advanced TV Platform solves for all of challenges our team has worked through over the last five years. Our historical data, predictive analytics and algorithms help brands optimize campaigns against their desired business outcomes.

Here’s how we can help:

Deliver unified targeting at scale. Cadent Platform lets the user define target audiences that can be uniformly executed across all 70 million addressable TV households. Same data set, same target audience, across all screens – the platform is data agnostic.

An intuitive workflow that simplifies processes. Our simple step-by-step wizard guides users through the process. Campaign specs are entered, including budget, flight dates, targeting selections. Most importantly, campaigns are optimized based a client’s campaign objective. Optimal budget, reach and frequency are recommended by understanding the specific goal for each campaign.

Learn from our mistakes. Our platform brings proprietary algorithms for more informed addressable buying and the ability to forecast audience delivery/reach by each supplier and recommend optimal frequency to drive results.   

Aggregated results with actionable insights.  The platform has consolidated reporting. Campaign pacing, media delivery and advanced analytics are brought together in a single view.  Post campaign, an interactive report is sent to agencies or advertisers – clients are able to access easy-to-understand charts, gain insights against specific KPIs and fully understand performance.

Recommendations for optimization. Because simply knowing a campaign worked is not sufficient for clients who want to constantly improve performance, our platform goes past results and provides recommendations to optimize future addressable campaigns, linear television media effectiveness or targeting audience allocation.  

Read more about our Addressable Platform.

Advertising Week 2018: Embracing Technology, Consistency and Optimization

Advertising Week holds a special place among our roster of industry events simply for its ability and willingness to be free and flexible with the content.

Many media, technology and advertising-related events hone in on a specific subject, media type or ad format. Advertising Week truly covers the map of our great industry, and this year’s conference was no exception. I personally ended the week with a feeling excitement that all constituents are genuinely coming together and embracing data, technology, automation, consistency and optimization in one way or the other.

One common theme expressed by many was that everyone is looking at data to help fulfill their goals, enrich the value of their product or service, or help achieve an honest return on their investment. Reading between the lines, it was clear that advertisers and media owners are using data to hold one another accountable in their partnerships. And they’re doing it more openly than ever before, and that’s a huge step toward a business where we all win.

In a discussion, it was also acknowledged that in order to truly shift from a demographic and GRP-based media, we need to embrace the technological solutions available today, and collectively collaborate to refine and build those of the future. It was encouraging to hear industry leaders admit that everyone’s individual solution, architecture and offering must give way to a consistent and transparent method of transacting.

Part of that solution includes price, which is often one of the more challenging elements to discuss in an open forum. Efficiency will always be a key driver however, being efficient doesn’t always mean buying the most for the least or selling less for more. A responsible application of data and the appropriate use of technology will allow us to optimize our way out of the traditional cat and mouse game and solve for some of the hurdles behind fragmented viewing and dwindling reach.

Another important message that came across loud and clear is that this next phase in the evolution of advertising will come with significant challenges. While I don’t disagree, I believe many of the challenges that exist at a macro level, including solving for data, automation and optimization issues, don’t exist at the micro, tactical, or campaign levels. Distinguishing the difference between industry challenges and the kind of challenges marketers face on a day-to-day basis is of the utmost importance. An example is how we approach Addressable television at the household level. There may be systematic challenges at the top, but there’s nothing standing in the way of identifying a segment within a population of 65MM, dynamically serving a spot to the desired portion, and measuring the conversion of that exposure.

A final observation from this week is that most leaders agree that waiting for the perfect solution is not the answer. We have been down that road before and to little benefit. The tools and insights to move the needle are right in front of us. How we use them and to what extent is up to us.

For more on the future of advanced TV, see the latest post from one2one Addressable COO Jamie Power, “Standardized Addressable Reporting Creates Smarter Marketing.”

Navigating the New TV Landscape

The advertising industry’s fascination with addressable advertising has been around for years. Finally, the industry is taking notice and moving forward, and this movement is only going to accelerate.

Thanks to technological advances, there has been concrete progress toward the next generation of finding audiences and buying media. That’s good news for marketers because video is arguably the best and strongest vehicle for getting a message out to consumers, across any device. Reaching the right customer is everything.

The market is fragmented and confusing right now. We have all witnessed broadcast and network ratings declining and pricing going up for ads in those mediums. Consumers are viewing content across multiple screens and devices, using over the top services, and relying on VOD and DVR content.

As CTO and COO of Cadent, I keep a wide-angle view of the ad-buying landscape. Cohesion and organization are possible—we must make the decision to move in this direction as an industry.

Our platform technology focuses on removing friction from buying television, which traditionally lacks the seamless tools of digital marketing. So even when it’s complicated to execute, we meet the challenge by auditing processes, maintaining integrations with inventory partners, and clear reporting.

Cadent’s vision has long been to enable our clients to convey their message in an addressable way, whether they’re inventory owners, content owners, advertisers, or brands. We’re strongly committed to bringing new technology and new companies into our portfolio to meet the challenge of using data and automation to achieve addressability across all platforms.

The industry wants to take things even further by bringing digital elements to video platforms, including workflow, data attribution, and reporting. There are challenges ahead, with so much information available through set-top box data, cookie collection, and cross-device identification on mobile, the currency has to shift to something more relevant to modern marketers—something tied more closely to business impact, so brands can measure the results of campaigns and relate them to actual sales and transactions.

The Next Generation of TV

We’re seeing a lot of companies using data in ways that haven’t been used before. This is a transformative time. Audience-based, addressable advertising is pushing the industry forward, and once the currency normalizes, a marketer will be able to find an audience wherever they are. New technology is already starting to automate and change the way we do business, and big data and analytics tools are helping free marketers and content creators from manual processes and the Excel sheets of yesterday so they can focus on what really matters.

In the age of digital, change is the only constant. That’s why it’s so important that the TV business doesn’t just evolve to meet current challenges; we have to actively anticipate and build for the challenges of tomorrow.

Cadent is uniquely positioned because of our deep industry roots and wealth of experience. We simplify the industry for clients with a remarkable degree of transparency, so marketers can easily see the effectiveness of spend and measure ROI. We’re constantly looking at new ways to innovate and apply data, and we’re leveraging digital methods to make TV seamless to buy and execute, and most importantly, prove business impact and ROI.

A Simplified, Unified, TV Industry Will Help Marketers Win

A version of this post originally appeared on Ad Age

TV’s evolution is accelerating with a flurry of M&A activity in the marketplace. Disney and Comcast are pursuing 21st Century Fox in an effort to add a wealth of content to their already potent arsenals; IPG is acquiring Acxiom Marketing Solutions in a nod to the increasing importance of data, and AT&T is fortifying itself with ad tech from AppNexus after completing its acquisition of Time Warner.

This activity, driven by a need to simplify advertising by strengthening the connections between content, data and platform, is a clear signal that TV has begun to evolve. We are entering the data-driven, technology-rich future of TV advertising.

But mergers and acquisitions in and among themselves are only one step toward this next-generation, vibrant ecosystem. While consolidation will promise scale and simplicity to a data-driven buying experience, delivering on that integration will take time. More importantly, a thriving marketplace is more than just a consolidated one; it’s one where agencies and advertisers have an abundance of innovations from which to choose as they create next-generation, data-driven brand campaigns to engage modern audiences.

The current dynamics in the TV industry should be viewed as an opportunity for more open collaboration, a moment to initiate change to make all pieces of the ecosystem work better together in service of the advertiser. After all, those who know the benefits of television are in the best position to initiate change and bring new partners into the mix.

TV Advertisers require choice

No two brand campaigns are alike. Audience targets differ, messaging changes, offers vary based on seasonality, measurement of success is connected to the business imperative of a given time. What will serve the industry best is introducing new ideas through a marketer’s lens and prioritizing accordingly.

And marketers’ priorities are clear–they require a unified view of television. As Comcast’s Marcien Jenckes said recently, something needs to happen in order to unify television so marketers can buy in an easier way than they have in the past. “The idea that the industry coalesces on standards and technology, that for certain is a necessity,” he added.

Marketers’ data-driven campaigns call for integrations with campaign systems and TV order systems to provide one view of audiences and campaigns. They need supply sources to enable a single planning, ad execution and reporting workflow. Marketers must have access to innovative options from which to build the best campaign for a particular goal, whether it’s testing a new data segment or refining a media mix between audience-indexed and addressable inventory types.

The new TV economy will grow. And as it grows, assets will be monetized when advertisers have the creative freedom to pick and choose the data and technology building blocks that are right for them. No one platform does everything.

There will be no single partner or stack to solve every brand’s marketing challenges. Instead, the collective innovation and experience across a unified set of partners can provide choice and customization options that allow advertiser creativity to extend into this new era of TV.

While there will likely be winners and losers as the industry evolves, the next generation of TV is not a zero-sum game. So as parts of the industry consolidate, let’s use this time of coming together as a chance to strengthen the connections in the ecosystem with a singular goal of meeting advertisers’ needs. Advertisers need collaborative solutions, not single stacks.

For more on the TV’s evolution, see Cadent CEO Nick Troiano’s post, “The Next Chapter of TV Is Just Beginning.”

One for TV

A month ago, we announced that Cross MediaWorks, Cadent Network, Cadent Technology, and one2one media have come together as a single brand, Cadent.

At Cadent, we believe our people and technology make us uniquely prepared to guide advertisers through the evolution of television. Below, our offices in New York, San Jose and Philadelphia wear their new “One for TV” shirts. Interested in joining our team? See our open roles here.

We’ll continue sharing about our culture, technology, partnerships and more on our blog – check back for more.

5 Takeaways from Our 2018 Upfront

Our upfront event this year, “Brand Advertising in a Data-Driven World,” was all about the evolution of brand advertising, the current media landscape and the future of advanced TV.

The industry is facing challenges such as audience fragmentation, media inflation and more. But as Cadent CEO Nick Troiano said, we’re excited for the evolution of TV advertising and what’s to come – and we’re here to help clients each step of the way.

Below are five highlights from the event, along with videos done in partnership with  Beet TV.

  • TV remains a viable and valuable medium, Cadent CEO Nick Troiano said. While the use and influx of data is forcing evolution within the industry, Troiano says, “if we keep true to the value of television, what it means for our advertisers and for our clients, and find ways to take advantage of what technology and data offers, we’ve got a bright future.”

  • Addressable advertising has evolved from test to proven media plan component, Cadent COO Jamie Power told the audience. The medium  will increase from 63 million cable and satellite households to 70 million by the end of 2018 and praises the fact that addressable is now adding transparency to TV marketing. Because post-campaign analysis can indicate return on ad spend, it’s possible to see what works and what doesn’t, discover appropriate pricing by category and advertiser, and make needed adjustments on future campaigns.

  • The industry is pushing for a common currency, but there’s work to do. We need to do better, Initiative Chief Partnerships Officer Maureen Bosetti said, or money will shift to other screens as clients demand more transparent measurement.

  • Marketers are looking for three things: scalability, consistency, and simplicity—all of which are possible if companies effectively harness the power of robust measurement, precision targeting, and rich (aggregated, anonymized, and privacy compliant) data. “Nobody doubts the sound strategy of using richer data to more precisely deliver audiences and measurement those audiences in more robust ways,” said According to Andrew Ward, VP, Comcast Media 360. “But we’ve got to encase that transaction in elegant architecture from pitch to pay, such that the process is simplified.”

  • Trust between buyers and sellers is the key, VideoAmp chief strategy officer Jay Prasad said. He added that he looks beyond the upfronts to discuss how strong and intelligent scatter market opportunities can be leveraged during the season. If a premium broadcaster is already doing a lot of business with an agency or brand and is committed to them, the situation can be beneficial to all.

See our entire video series with Beet TV here, and learn more about how we support TV’s transformation in a blog from our CEO, Nick Troiano.