Calling All Cord-Cutters: Advertising Week NY Day 3

As Advertising Week NY wraps up, the conversations that resonated the AMC halls focused on customer choice, streaming content, measurement, trust and authenticity.

During the Calling All Cord Cutters session, executives from Hulu, Vudu, Google and our own CTO of Innovid Tal Chalozin discussed why streaming is the norm and how brands can now create better experiences through TV advertising than ever before.

Moderator Charisse Jones of USA Today opened the session by polling the audience to see who had ‘cut the cord’ and naturally (being an advertising conference) most indicated that they had. Unpacking why this is happening, Jeremy Verba, GM & VP at Vudu said this: “Choice, convenience and cost.” He indicated that customers want choice, to consume content when and where they want it, on demand, and at their convenience. And with the numerous pricing options, customers now have the flexibility to pay for what they want.

Hulu’s VP & Head of Integrated Marketing Nicole Sabatini enlightened the audience on what they are seeing across Hulu’s platform to address ways in which brands can reach consumers at the right time with the right message, even with fragmented viewing behavior. “Primetime is anytime” is how Hulu defines the new behavior, stating it’s not about the content but finding the right audiences, and that the new “primetime” is just now defined by what you want to watch and when – even if it’s classic TV like the Golden Girls series, or the newest show to hit.

Google’s Brian Alpert had a different take on this and stated “Primetime is personal” claiming that their data shows relating to people’s passion is 3x more important than content that features known celebrities.  He went on to say that where linear meets digital you can take advantage of new video ad formats to reach audiences in different ways. Working with ABC for the launch of A Million Little Things, they created a unique campaign where they dropped the 43 min pilot for the show into an ad unit for YouTube CTV viewers. By using data and video sequencing strategies they were able to create different experiences for those that skipped the ad, those that engaged and those that watched the full episode – a never been done before experience within an ad unit.

Jeremy from Vudu dubbed connected TV “Better TV” – better for viewers with unique experiences, relevant messages, and better for advertisers with more data and targeting.

At the end of the day, ads have to be relevant to the customer – targeted yes, but the ad load needs to be reasonable. Chalozin said it best: “Be respectful. I have a lot of choices [as a viewer] on how to spend my time – there’s Instagram, or Facebook or TV. Companies need to be more respectful of consumers to garner their attention.”

Panelists went on to share best practices that brands should utilize when implementing connected TV campaigns. Sabatini encourages brands to think differently about OTT, it’s not exactly like linear and not exactly like digital, as a separate platform it has its own values and nuances. Alpert believes CTV offers brands a much richer canvas from short :06 second ads to :15, :30, :60 all the way up to full episodes.

The writing is on the wall or technically speaking, on the screen. Viewers have limitless options when it comes to fantastic, entertaining content focused on their interests and passions. Brands need to emulate that experience and make the ads better. Value added to the customer changes the relationship with the content and creates a more trusted, valuable relationship.