CTV attribution and measurement is still a work in progress

Addressable TV is undoubtedly the future of data-driven advertising….IF advertisers, “publishers”, and the platforms that connect each side can agree to a framework that delivers transparency for buyer & sellers AND remains compliant with an ever-expanding set of privacy laws.

While digital advertising has been built on the backs of consumer data, the holy grail of advertising has always been full-funnel attribution. When a marketer can understand how the different parts of their media plan impact user acquisition & retention strategy, they can value each participating vendor and optimize accordingly. But television has remained about reach, story-telling, and GRPs.

The advent of addressable television should bring those two worlds together and allow marketers to marry the impact that television has on top-of-funnel metrics with data-driven, mid-to-lower funnel audience targeting. However, without a common framework for how that data is shared and how users are notified about their data being used, addressable television won’t achieve the growth rates that most pundits are predicting.

As publishers build out their CTV content platforms, they are forced to fight with their own distribution partners for advertiser share of wallet. Additionally, because ad technology platforms have pivoted-to-CTV, the “ad tech tax” is still very much in play. Therefore, data-driven advertising (and the higher CPMs that those campaigns are willing to pay) are essential to publishers – without it, the largest CTV platforms will continue to account for most addressable TV ad spend, leaving only open marketplace demand to smaller publishers.

Thankfully, the IAB and their members have taken a leadership role here with their Identifier For Advertising on OTT Platforms framework (https://iabtechlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/OTT-IFA-guidelines.final_Dec2018.pdf). Without getting too technical, this is an attempt to create a common data framework throughout the content/ad delivery chain that ensures MVPDs, content producers, ad tech/serving platforms, SSAI vendors, and advertisers are all trading on a common user identifier.

While still early stage, the development and adoption of an IFA solutions for addressable television is critical in helping publishers achieve the high CPMS and fill rates that they deserve. Wavefront TV is purpose-built to empower publishers to win in the CTV ecosystem, and you can be sure that we are actively monitoring this topic so that our clients will benefit in the long run.