Adobe have introduced a new feature called ‘Simulcast’ to their Project Primetime platform, which they say helps to bridge the gap between TV and online video advertising. Simulcast enables broadcasters to dynamically insert ads into a linear broadcast stream that is also being delivered over the Internet, so the ads shown to the online audience can be different to those served to the broadcast audience.
Adobe say they are the first company to enable video publishers to insert dynamic ads into broadcast content and deliver both content and ads to iOS, Android and desktop platforms. Adobe released this video that explains the thinking behind Simulcast earlier today:
A Step Forward for Multichannel Marketing
On the face of it, Simulcast offers broadcasters and content producers the chance to make their online advertising more effective in a variety of ways. For example, if a broadcaster knows their iOS audience tends to be different to their TV or desktop audience, they might want to sell that inventory to a more suitable advertiser.
Or perhaps an advertiser who is paying for a TV spot would also like to buy the same inventory online, but would rather serve an ad that was created for online rather than TV i.e. one that might be more interactive and/or be capable of providing a richer set of analytics data.
For the multichannel marketer, Simulcast will be of interest as it brings live online streaming into the realm of cross-channel optimisation, so the performance of linear, TV-style advertising can be compared with other channels such as search, mobile and display.
While we’re told every other week about another ‘Holy Grail for the advertising industry’, being able to optimise spend across the various digital channels really is one of the industry’s main goals. And at first glance Simulcast appears to be a step in the right direction.
