Within the Related TV (CTV) panorama, it may be tempting to fall again on show promoting’s methods and nomenclature. However CTV is solely its personal factor. Doggedly following show practices can value you money and time.
A very good instance of that is header bidding, a time period that’s discovered its strategy to CTV despite the fact that CTV has no headers. Because of this, because the observe applies to CTV, we want to name it unified decisioning.
Like header bidding, unified decisioning can enhance vendor yield by enabling programmatic and conventional, direct-sold offers to compete on the identical taking part in discipline. However making it work in CTV has its nuances.
Extra SSPs will not be at all times higher
First off, keep away from onboarding too many SSPs with out a clear purpose. Whereas bringing on 5, 10 or extra SSPs is comparatively frequent on the earth of show header bidding (and of more and more debatable worth there), doing so in CTV can include some severe pitfalls:
- Commoditizing stock entry can impression pricing: Every incremental name to an SSP drives duplication within the bid stream, inflating the perceived quantity of stock out there for buy. When DSPs are introduced with advert alternatives from the identical media proprietor at totally different value factors, it might probably erode CPMs, usually main consumers towards the bottom value entry level.
However when a vendor operates by way of a single or concentrated structure of trusted companions, DSPs see a extra correct and clear stock illustration whereas decreasing the prospect of market confusion associated to pricing.
- Extra factors of failure: In a closely deal-driven surroundings equivalent to CTV, every incremental SSP accomplice provides considerably extra technical variables. Extra variables imply extra issues can go incorrect, and extra programs you want to practice your crew to navigate once they do. This is very difficult in CTV, the place the stakes are notably greater round person expertise.
- DSPs more and more dislike redundancy: Including a bunch of duplicative paths to your stock flies within the face of the business’s provide path optimization (SPO) efforts. Greater than ever, DSPs are cracking down on bid duplication and the incremental prices carried with it.
- Sustainability is gaining prominence: Every duplicative path you add to your unified decisioning configuration will increase the business’s carbon footprint. Not solely is that this a severe environmental consideration, however in a world the place consumers more and more make choices primarily based on sustainability, it’s additionally dangerous for enterprise.
Ask SSPs the arduous questions
Earlier than onboarding an SSP, ask the potential accomplice to stipulate the distinctive, incremental worth it is going to carry, and carry out the required due diligence and reference checks on these claims.
For example, ask the way it will assist drive actually incremental demand with particular use instances, keep value integrity alongside your broader relationships with advertisers and assist essential efforts to guard person privateness.
For a lot of main media firms, this implies managing open public sale exercise in a different way than programmatic assured (PG), non-public marketplaces (PMPs) and data-enhanced stock by tailoring and thoroughly managing the method throughout totally different transaction fashions. The best companions can present deep steerage and the required instruments to execute on this successfully.
Put aside the show playbook
Header bidding can educate us so much, however CTV requires a bespoke method, one which values unified decisioning, takes a nuanced view of prices and advantages when onboarding incremental companions and embraces proactive ways to attenuate conflicts and navigate challenges distinctive to the streaming ecosystem.
“On TV & Video” is a column exploring alternatives and challenges in superior TV and video.
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