Planning for the future- Emergence of Addressable TV

A panel discussion, titled ‘Planning for the future- Emergence of Addressable TV’, was held on the second day of ad:tech 2023 which saw players from the advertising agencies delve deep into the nitty gritty of Addressable TV and express a glaring need for a constant currency for measurement on the same in India.

Moderated by Shiney Eapen, Head of Content, ad:tech, the panel discussion began with Sudipto Das, VP- Advertiser Solutions (APAC), PubMatic, pointing out that PubMatic and Finecast have partnered for the past few years in Asia Pacific, and nearly one-and-a-half year in India, to champion the biddable, addressable and transparent narrative within the CTV environment.

As per Rajiv Rajagopal, Head of Client Development and Engagement, Finecast, with the evolution of the TV landscape, the CTV growth rate coupled with the adoption of smart TVs has gone up and as a result, what has happened is the fragmentation of audience - because now content on TV can be accessed through multiple touchpoints, unlike the traditional way of viewing content.

Upon being questioned as to how CTV really augments or compliments TV, Rajagopal replied that it all started with the evolution of TV and its users have fragmented to micro buckets now and with the advent of CTV new categories like cord cutters, cord nevers and cord shavers have emerged.

“The one thing that we all need to understand is that CTV is not standalone but is an extension of TV and recognising that, we at GroupM have adopted a Total TV planning approach and methodology for all our brands and clients,” he added.

He further also explained that the first part of this is recognising that the modern audience is shifting and switching between the content across TV and therefore, in that way, one needs to make their brands target the more relevant bands by reducing spillage and ensure that one is able to reach the maximum audience. 

“We have developed three use cases for the same. One is to see how probably by adding CTV in linear can unify the reach and frequency to drive incremental reach. Second is to target a super-premium audience and the third one is hyperlocal targeting,” he said.

Throwing light on the addressability part of the same, PubMatic’s Das also said that consumer patterns have changed in the modern time frame and audiences are moving between platforms, which is why addressing the right audience with the right messaging in the right context is crucial and is only possible with technology which makes the right signals like ACR or content signals which allow the buyer to then dip in a more transparent and efficient manner.

“The intent is to make this audience much more addressable and accessible in a more transparent manner,” he added.

He also went on to add that unlike the yesteryears when targeting was limited to more pin-board targeting like age, gender, it has become pretty localised and complicated.

Commenting as to what is the difference between consumers in India and those abroad, Rajagopal stated that not just the consumers in mature markets like the UK, and Australia, but the access to data and technology is also much more evolved in the developed countries.

Concludingly, Das also went on to raise the demand for a common currency to evaluate the reach and frequency, because in the absence of it, every player wants to have their own solutions. 

“India needs to develop a constant currency for measurement,” he said.

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