FAST

Confusion in CTV isn’t a natural byproduct of a maturing market; it’s an outcome of how distributors protect their pricing power.

CTV, like digital display before it, is facing fraud and mislabeled information. The prevailing advice for advertisers is to go directly to the networks and streaming platforms. However, buying direct comes with a fraud risk itself.

My YouTube creator obsession has me fascinated by an ongoing trend I’ve noticed in the CTV industry: A lot of companies that produce free ad-supported channels rely on content that already exists on YouTube.

While advertisers’ interest in gaming may be growing, their spending commitments seem stuck on pause, judging by Tuesday’s IAB PlayFronts event.

Launching a TV channel typically starts with zeroing in on a specific target audience or a genre. Figuring out how to sell ads comes later – you know, once there’s inventory to pitch. But for Creator TV, things happened the other way around.

Threads will introduce ads to capitalize on users fleeing X; Perplexity tests ads and sponsored queries; and Amazon pulls the plug on Freevee.

A significant amount of the ad inventory distributed to CTV audiences is actually sold via linear. This is especially prevalent with FAST networks, which currently account for 20%-25% of ad-supported streaming.

In today’s newsletter: Netflix drops its ad prices to slightly less outrageous levels; X sues GARM, alleging it led an ad boycott for ideological reasons, not brand safety concerns; and how TV manufacturers have laid the groundwork to take ad dollars from streamers and cable.

Media buyers and ad tech companies are accusing Pluto TV of bid duplication. Plus, Reddit is now only accessible via Google Search.

The next Google Search core update is expected in “the coming weeks.” Plus, The TV industry moves slowly, but it’s going FAST now.

The average CTV platform now authorizes 30 SSPs to sell its inventory. And one of the most noticeable effects of increased SSP saturation in CTV has been higher costs due to SSP reselling.

The more new FAST channels there are, the harder it is for them to stand out to advertisers that have long perceived them as the bargain bin of streaming. One way to grab the attention of advertisers is to provide the data and transparency they’ve long been asking for from CTV partners.

Multiple factors such as buy-side practices, the CTV industry structure and shortcomings in ad tech contribute to CTV’s ad frequency problem. Yet there are several ways to overcome these limitations.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The New Creative Controls Does “alt_copy_copy2_brand_red_hold” mean anything to you? That’s the way most creative units and product ads are titled, and any associated metadata would likely be the brand’s name and the banner ad size. Meh. But a generative AI bot could […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Think FAST ​​Free ad-supported TV (FAST) is more than just traditional TV streamed over the internet. From a marketing perspective, FAST is a complement to both TV and streaming, says Scott Reich, SVP of programming at Paramount-owned Pluto TV, speaking at Paramount Advertising’s […]

Viewers might want to watch trashy shows from time to time, but they certainly don’t want to watch trashy ads. For the solution to what ails CTV, the industry could turn to another rapidly growing marketing favorite: retail media. 

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Rare Wares TV inventory is on track to become an even scarcer resource. US television (linear and streaming combined) will likely lose almost a quarter of its ad inventory volume over the next four years, according to media prognosticator Brian Wieser, writing at […]

US media advertising sales surged 4.4% in Q2 after two weak quarters, beating June expectations of 3.6%. Full-year spend for 2023 is expected to increase by 5.2%, according to a Magna forecast released Monday.

INSP is an example of a TV network that’s more comfortable with linear because it has an older audience. But that doesn’t mean streaming is off the table.

These strikes will impact content generation for the foreseeable future. Media buyers need to think about how that will impact their jobs.

Programmers like free ad-supported TV channels because they’re an onramp to bring more viewers into ad-supported video-on-demand environments.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Looking For ADvice No one likes cruddy TV ads. But how much of a problem are they, really? Enough for Comcast-owned FreeWheel to unveil The Viewer Experience Lab at Cannes in partnership with research company MediaScience. The lab will test consumer responses to […]

More advertisers, especially marketers, who have been slow to embrace AVOD, will increasingly gravitate to primarily AVOD services, writes Greg Smith, Aniview’s GM for North America.

Premium video means just about anything that shows up in front of a consumer. Isn’t it time for a better definition?

Outstream ads, better instream ad targeting and more interactive user interfaces are just a few of the latest developments making it easier for viewers to discover new content and for advertisers to provide content recommendations.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Lost And Found If you’re wondering what happened to all the titles HBO Max just cut, they were rehomed across two other streaming platforms. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it’s making more than 220 canceled titles available on Roku and Tubi […]

“On TV and Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is by Greg Morrow, general manager, streaming media group at Bitcentral. We all know about the value of CTV. But there is rarely any conversation about the spread of audiences and how to reach them.  CTV tends […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. When Even The Whales Are Small Fish Microsoft has new job listings for software engineers to develop a line of “low-cost PCs powered through advertising and subscriptions,” reports Windows Latest. It’s one of many recent cases where Microsoft Advertising supports another business line, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Going Nowhere FAST Streaming TV services want people to pick a show already. Too often, viewers peruse a streaming app for a bit and never actually settle on a show, then try another app.  It’s an underappreciated linear advantage that something is always […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Pronounced She-In, As In “Ooh … She In Trouble Now” The fast-fashion company Shein, a gigantic but secretive Chinese manufacturer of fast fashion, is getting a lot of attention. Which Shein both does and does not want.  On the plus side, Shein has […]