The rise of Big Tech-backed video services has given us more content than ever, but Jon Manning, Director of Advanced TV at Medialab, argues that domestic broadcasters help shape our cultural identity – and if our media habits are dictated by tech giants, that identity is at risk.
In this edition of the Buy-Side View, Manning discusses the strategies broadcasters are using to compete with the tech platforms, the rise of addressable TV, and the frustrations of non-standardised metrics and definitions in CTV.
What is your biggest bugbear when it comes to video and CTV advertising?
No one really has an agreed definition of what it is. I think when you say CTV and video advertising, the digital natives go more to the online display video formats, and the TV natives automatically think BVOD and ad-supported SVOD. And the two aren’t really interplaying very nicely at the moment. The two worlds are colliding, and we need to get on board with a common currency or a common language. We need to find a way to bridge the gap between the old-school offline operators and the digital natives. That’s the biggest impasse at the moment, which creates a bit of frustration.
How do you think the role of the agency has changed over the past ten years?
I would say it’s the rise of digital, and within that specifically the rise of programmatic. And really that means the widespread use of massive data. We’ve been talking about big data for a long time, but we’re actually seeing it come to fruition now – not just in the larger agencies, but in the smaller agencies as well. We’re seeing it being realised in a useful way.
But I also think what that big data is really fuelling is this drive and strive towards outcomes. I think they’re all interlinked, it’s just the evolution of what we can do with the data, and we’re seeing that change all the time. It was attention, which seems to be waning as outcomes seem to be the next big thing. But it’s all powered by the data. Agencies are always trying to find the next big sell for clients, and it seems to be the data story at the moment.
Which do you think video advertising is the most effective for – generating awareness and brand-building, or driving short-term sales?
I think it can do both. I think you can’t put it in one box, just like you can’t put any one video platform in one box either. YouTube is entirely different to an AVOD service, such as Amazon or Netflix. And within that there are different ways in which you can utilise those channels. You can look at how you could push more of a brand awareness job on YouTube, but you can also drive performance. Same for Amazon, you can get a really nice performance campaign, especially if you’re selling on Amazon. But equally, if you just want a brand awareness job, they’ve got eyeballs in spades. So I don’t think it’s one or the other. I think it’s entirely dependent on what you’re trying to achieve as a brand or the brief that you’ve got.
Amazon and YouTube are kind of unique in that they cover both ends of the funnel. But there are some that play better in one end or the other. And it’s the job of the agency to help navigate for the client, to make sure that it’s using the right media owners for the right brief.
But video advertising can do both equally well – especially with the rise of attribution that we’re seeing in the CTV space. Where it was a bit of a blind spot, we can now be quite deterministic to know exactly what it’s driving, which I think is really helping its performance credentials, whereas maybe traditionally it was seen as more of a branding medium only. So it’s definitely growing in that space, and I think it can do both equally well.
What team within your agency handles CTV, and why?
The AV team, which we purposefully call an AV team, but its origins are a TV team. I think it’s silly to really delineate the difference now between TV, AV and CTV. Elliott Millard at Thinkbox has said it a few times, the consumer doesn’t differentiate. We should be thinking about it in the way that the consumer is thinking about it; CTV is just how we classify it, but the consumer doesn’t. So we need to be in the spaces where the consumer is interacting with a video format. So it falls under the jurisdiction of the AV team.
How is the growth of CTV changing your TV buying strategy?
With the rise of addressable and programmatic, you have to wonder how long the linear market can continue to operate in the way that it is – be that because the industry is crying out for something else, or because the technical ability of the way in which the content is getting to the TV set will change how we trade. With the likes of Freely being an IP-delivered medium, surely that’s the start of addressable TV. So it has fundamentally changed how we trade.
We do still trade traditionally, but we are trading more in a digital way – whether that’s programmatic or self-serve, whatever it might be, it’s becoming increasingly a digital buy. But there is obviously a big part of our agency which is still traditional linear. We have to really think about how long that model will continue to exist, and we need to be future-facing to adapt to what that will become in the future as well.
What could agencies do better to help clean up the industry?
There are a few things, but I think the one that sticks out to me is that more agencies could commit to proving the impact of every marketing pound they spend for their clients. That could be through a unified measurement approach with each client, or more effective direct attribution. Experimentation to identify the impact of particular channels, like CTV, can help too.
Which ad tech solution has delivered the most impact for your business?
Apollo, Medialab’s proprietary operating system, has been a massive reason why Medialab has had such a growth journey since its creation. It’s a key differentiator for us. It’s a way to aggregate all the different media metrics that we have across channels, as well as APIs for anything else that we might think would be a contributing factor to the success of a campaign, and we can then make actions based on that. So it’s our own bespoke platform, but clients can log into it anytime they want to, and they see everything that we see – nothing is hidden. So for us that’s been the biggest driver from a tech perspective in terms of generating new business.
Which metrics do you value the most when it comes to video and CTV advertising?
It’s a hard question because the metrics aren’t universally consistent. You would hope that reach and frequency would be universal, but they are not. What I would value is a universally agreed metric but that doesn’t exist. So theoretically, I can’t answer the question. But my panacea, if it existed, would be a universally agreed metric for impressions, views, reach and frequency. But the reality is everybody has their own definition of those things, which means that it’s really hard to compare.
What could publishers, broadcasters and pay-TV companies do to compete more effectively with the tech giants?
I think we are going to see more collaboration and consolidation, and we’re starting to see that with the potential acquisition of ITV by Sky, plus the whole Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and Netflix debacle. So it’s not just happening at the domestic level, it’s happening globally.
The other thing that we’re seeing is not necessarily competition but almost submission, with the likes of Sky allowing certain inventory to be traded by DV360, and the BBC having their content available on YouTube – even though it’s not necessarily a commercial broadcaster, we’re seeing a trend of, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Whether that’s the right strategy remains to be seen.
But I do think there is a real unique thing about our domestic broadcasters which we are at risk of losing, and that is our identity. I think a lot of our cultural identity and our values are driven by what we see in the media. And if we allow that to just get swallowed up into a tech giant, we potentially start seeing the world through their lens.
Which person in the industry inspires you the most today?
He’ll hate me for saying this, but Jeff Eales [Director of Systems Strategy at Sky Media]. I think what he has achieved would be enough for him to hang up his boots and feel very satisfied with what he’s accomplished in the industry. But what he continues to strive for I think is admirable, when he could easily retire tomorrow. He still feels passionately about the industry and he still continues to fight for it.
Out of all the video and TV advertising campaigns you’ve been involved with, which are you most proud of?
A real career-defining moment for me was working on Lidl, when we took them from basically nothing to £50 million of TV spend in a year. That was back in 2014, and now it’s hard to really imagine Lidl never being on TV.
More recently though, it’s not one particular client but the entire journey that we’ve been on at Medialab in the last two years. We’ve seen the take-up of CTV grow hugely, and I’m proud that I’ve had a contribution to that growth and the success of the agency.
