This year marks the tenth year of Content Everywhere as the heart of IBC’s coverage of the ever-expanding OTT scene. Over the past decade, Content Everywhere has experienced continuous growth as online distribution has grown to supplement and complement traditional linear broadcasting.

Nearly 150 companies will be exhibiting in Content Everywhere. Exhibitors range from some of the biggest names in tech and media to innovative start-ups. Amazon Web Services, Comcast Technology Solutions, Amagi, LTN Global, SEI Robotics and Zixi occupy the biggest stands in Hall 5. Some forty companies large and small from across the world are making their debuts at IBC as part of the Content Everywhere community.

 A unique feature of this part of the show is the Content Everywhere stage programme: a free-to-attend programme of panel discussions and product demonstrations devised to help IBC visitors explore different aspects of the delivery and consumption of content over the internet. In response to growing demand, this year the programme extends over two show-floor stages in Hall 5. Register now for IBC.

Comcast Technology Solutions at IBC Hall 5, Stand C80

At IBC, Comcast Technology Solutions will showcase its latest solutions in streaming, broadcast, entertainment experiences, and connected living technologies. These innovations include Cloud TV; VideoAI; cloud-based channel origination and distribution; Sky Glass and Entertainment OS, connected living, and more. Visit us at Hall 5, Stand C80 and learn more. 

Deltatre's award-winning, interactive video player

The new generation of Deltatre's OTT video player, DIVA, has been built to enable a simplified SDK integration, configuration, and set-up for clients across their apps. For nearly ten years, DIVA has been regarded as a market-leading, interactive player, empowering rights owners to spark new levels of engagement. Visit us at booth 5.H20 and learn more.

Ride the LTN Wave to intelligent IP versioning

LTN Wave is trusted by media companies worldwide for all of their IP needs. Operating on the industry-leading LTN Network, Wave provides the flexibility, scalability and reliability to reach today’s modern audiences, while maximizing monetization and digital growth. 

AllRights: the ultimate Rights Management solution

Discover the all-encompassing and cloud native SAAS product that enhances rights management by automating processing, unlocking content value and improving monetization. AllRights makes processes more user-centric by speeding up transactions, automating data population and facilitating information ingestion, processing and organization. Visit us at booth 5.F30 - Hall 5 and learn more.

Bitmovin’s Smart Chunking: a new encoding innovation

Bitmovin’s Smart Chunking is the next evolution of the split and stitch algorithm Smart Chunking optimizes chunk lengths and bitrate distribution, delivering an improved visual quality throughout the whole asset that’s visible to audiences and achieving this at an even faster pace than before. Visit us at booth 5.D72 and learn more.

Enhance your video products across the customer journey

Covering all stages of the customer journey, from acquisition to customer retention, and leveraging AI, NPAW’s Product Analytics uncovers content consumption trends and improvement opportunities throughout the user journey, enabling you to better understand your video audience and tailor your video products to their needs. Visit us at booth 5.G56 and learn more.

Varnish Software, a leader in caching, streaming & content delivery

Varnish enables businesses to provide the fastest, most efficient content delivery, anywhere, for unprecedented experiences. Our software helps telcos, broadcasters, and content providers deliver fast, reliable, and high-quality web and streaming experiences. Our technology is relied on by millions of websites and organizations worldwide. Visit us at booth 5.B37 and learn more.

Xperi, Powering Connected Entertainment at IBC

At Xperi, our mission is to create extraordinary experiences. This year at IBC join us to see how our TiVo products and solutions make it easy for people to find, watch and enjoy their favorite movies, tv shows, and sports across streaming services in one simple and intuitive experience across Smart TV, IPTV and the Connected Car. Visit us at booth 5.F36 and learn more.

Brightcove Ad Monetization - Maximize Your Ad Revenue

Brightcove, the world’s most trusted streaming tech company, introduces “Ad Monetization,” a service designed for media companies to better monetize their content and realize maximum, measurable returns on advertising with actionable insights for live/VOD content. The solution integrates into ad servers and includes CSAI/SSAI capabilities. Visit us at booth 5.B90 and learn more.

Norigin Media: BUILD or BUY your CTV Apps in Hall 5

As Connected TV devices get fragmented & Streaming D2C Apps flood app stores, companies choose to BUILD Apps with custom UI/UX or BUY white-labelled CTV Apps. At IBC, demos showcase our TV App SDK for flexible bespoke apps & Brandable Readymade Apps with EPG & Live Players for Linear TV or FAST Channel providers to launch D2C Apps. Book Demos Here.

THEOlive: Real-Time Streaming at Scale

Discover THEOlive, our real-time video API at scale, for providers of sports betting, iGaming and interactive entertainment. This end-to-end cloud-based solution brings high-quality video at sub-second latency, to any audience size. Get started in minutes, through the API or management console. Plus, easily enable studio-approved DRM. Visit us at booth 5.B39 and learn more.

Global connections. Infinite opportunities.

Discover how our team of media industry professionals leverages our high-performance media networks, online & video cloud platforms, world-class satellite services and 24/7 broadcast operations centres to offer end-to-end managed solutions that take your content global. Don’t miss our Media Production Platform & Cinema Distribution over 5G. Visit us at booth 5.B80 and learn more.

Uncover the future of building a TV offering: Join Zattoo at IBC 2023!

Witness how Zattoo's TVaaS empowers telco operators, Internet service, energy, and housing providers by seamlessly integrating 3rd party content sources, and cutting-edge analytics and enabling an integrated subscriber experience - to enhance viewer engagement and unlock new revenue potential. Schedule a time with us and learn how your TV offering can make a difference. Visit us at Hall 5, booth 5.F81 and learn more.

Streaming Made Simple with 24i

24i reduces the complexity of doing business in the fast-moving streaming industry. Find out how 24iQ can improve content discovery by 340% with personalization. Go D2C with our latest broadcast & FAST channel cloud-based streaming solution. And have it all with our TVaaS & FAST solutions for pay TV. Book a meeting to see our demos in action, booth 5.C33 and learn more.

Discover Redge Media - an end-to-end OTT platform

Redge Media, developed by Redge Technologies, offers broadcasters, telcos and content owners an end-to-end OTT platform. Trusted by industry players such as Warner Bros. Discovery, iliad Group, FreeTV and TV3 Group, it optimizes the technology chain, reducing project risks and costs. Redge Media delivers a superior user experience across a range of devices, making it the first choice for scalable and modular OTT solutions. Visit us at booth 5.C24 and learn more.

Equativ Means CTV Monetization

As the leading global independent SSP, Equativ brings 20 years of experience to earning your fair share of revenue from the streaming revolution. The Equativ full-stack CTV solution brings our award winning SSP, Ad Server, and SSAI together with tier 1 demand facilitation to ensure that your video advertising business thrives. Visit us at Booth 5.H79 and learn more.

latakoo: for fast, end-to-end content transfer and collaboration

Find out why broadcasters and content creators everywhere rely on latakoo day in, day out to power their workflow. Experience the fastest content transfers from anywhere to anywhere. Rock-solid security to protect your sensitive media files during the transfer process. Easily work on content with your colleagues, wherever they are. Effortlessly integrates with your existing workflows, systems and MAMs. Visit us at booth 5.C21 and learn more.

Sponsored Content by Matrix

Many broadcasters focus their ad sales efforts on surpassing their perceived competition, such as the cross-town rival in a local broadcast market or a new cable channel that is aimed at a similar audience. In reality, this isn’t the case: for most media companies, the largest source of competition for advertising dollars is from Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other social media and Internet properties. Consider a few statistics:

- New York-based market research firm eMarketer reported that TV ad spending in the USA totaled $71 billion in 2019. 

- Also according to eMarketer, digital ad spending in 2020 totaled $139.8 billion for the U.S., which includes many different forms of advertising, such as banner ads, video ads and social media ads.  The top three recipients of these ad dollars were Google, taking in $40 billion, Facebook, capturing $35 billon, and Amazon which garnered $14 billion.   

- The Interactive Advertising Bureau reported on a survey conducted by Advertiser Perceptions to assess the intentions of larger advertisers and brands for spending in 2021. The survey found that 56% of video budgets are allocated to digital in 2021 as compared to 41% for traditional TV, including broadcast, cable and satellite. The survey also reported that digital video (which includes connected TV) is expected to enjoy double digit growth across all channels in 2021.

Broadcasters have good reasons to believe their inventory is more valuable than their digital competition. Television ads continue to have unassailable audience reach, particularly to populations that are not as active online, and they can be scheduled to reach consumers at home during leisure hours, when they have fewer other distractions. In contrast, most Internet usage happens at work during business hours. Broadcasters can also ensure that advertisers’ messages are not juxtaposed with unsafe or undesirable content. Plus, many studies have shown that ads on TV are more trusted by viewers than on other platforms.

Broadcasters do have barriers that make purchasing ads more difficult for buyers. Numerous local, as well as some national media companies, have inefficient internal ad sales processes, due to legacy systems and processes which compare unfavorably to the simple, quick sales transactions offered by online platforms. National marketers trying to place ads for a major TV campaign are confronted with markets that have multiple station groups and independent locals, many of which rely on disjointed sales and reporting systems. These difficulties are many times compounded by inconsistent metrics and reporting tools, making it difficult for advertisers to aggregate and analyze viewership data.

The sore point of lacking common metrics for reporting ad reach/effectiveness across media properties is detrimental for advertisers seeking a simplified ad buy. Although certain types of metrics are only available through interactive channels (such as click-through rates), broadcasters are unable to provide the data that they do have in a format that can be easily compared across multiple stations and markets. Although this improvement might, on the face of it, appear to increase competition between broadcasters, the reality is that traditional media companies are facing a much more significant threat from digital video advertising outlets on multiple facets. By teaming up and providing useful, granular data, broadcasters can help level the playing field against the digital ad giants in not only the ad sales process but in the post-sale attribution process helping to alleviate churn.

Broadcasters as a collective group can help expand the market for television advertisements by teaming up to define common currencies, ad sales platforms, and automated interfaces. By simplifying the ad sales process, broadcasters can reduce transaction costs without dipping into their revenue streams. Shared platforms would be particularly useful for advertisers with large budgets and a national footprint, but will also benefit smaller broadcasters and advertisers by making the TV ad sales process as easy as purchasing digital ads. 

TV advertising continues to represent a unique and powerful way for marketers to reach large and diverse audiences. Unfortunately, current methods and systems used to buy and sell TV advertising tend to suffer from high levels of inefficiency, fragmentation and legacy solutions, putting media companies at a disadvantage relative to digital ad providers. These core and common issues have the potential to be rectified, though, if broadcasters can work together to identify the issues and simplify and streamline the ad sales process, making them even more attractive to today’s marketers.

Explore how you can begin to combat many of these issues by centralizing and leveraging all of your 1st and 3rd party ad sales data to optimize inventory. Read more.

About Matrix

Matrix Solutions is a forward-thinking technology company that empowers the media ad sales world with intelligence, technology, and expertise. It provides the technology back bone for the end-to-end workflow for sales organizations, transacting in the media marketplace. Its flagship solution, Monarch, is the only global ad sales platform built specifically for media, delivering the CRM and business intelligence necessary to optimize inventory, while the Matrix Sales Gateway, serving as a sell-side dedicated platform allows for the ingestion and dissemination of data from all providers in the ecosystem that participate in the negotiation and execution process. Matrix manages more than $13 billion annually in media ad revenue, has over 10K users, maintains over 95% renewal rate, and has founded the annual Media Ad Sales Summit and Media Ad Sales Council (MASC) – both of which bring together industry leaders to advance the future of media ad sales. For more information, please visit matrixformedia.com.

Are the cables your company use part of the licensed and comprehensive HDMI technology eco-system of compliance and assurance?  Sometimes it can be hard to tell as the licensing requirements may not be known to end-users and resellers’ marketing can be confusing. As 4K content distribution becomes widely available and products with the newest HDMI 2.1 specification’s ultra high speed bandwidth-dependent features are in-market, it’s critical that cables and devices work together seamlessly and trouble-free.

The Premium HDMI® Cable Certification Program was launched in 2015 for Premium High Speed HDMI Cables and adds testing and certification to ensure support for 4K@60Hz, 18Gbps bandwidth and HDR. All lengths of cables must be tested at HDMI ATCs and pass EMI testing. With more 4K content being distributed, this cable is vital to both the consumer and commercial sectors especially cable, satellite and IPTV set-top box. It is widely specified globally for use by service providers for in-home installations. It also requires packaging to display the Premium HDMI Cable Certification Label for added verification of compliance and to prevent counterfeiting.

The new Ultra High Speed HDMI® Cable Certification Program supports the new Ultra High Speed HDMI Cables from the HDMI 2.1 specification. It’s the only cable that complies with stringent specifications designed to ensure support for all HDMI 2.1 features including uncompressed 8k@60, 4K@120 and the increased bandwidth of 48Gbps. This mandatory program ensures quality cables reach the market and support 4K and 8K video, HDR, VRR, eARC, and all other HDMI 2.1 features. All certified cable lengths must pass certification testing at an HDMI Forum ATC and be tested to meet current EMI requirements to minimize wireless interference. Cables are required to affix an Ultra High Speed HDMI Certification Label to each package.

Both certification programs utilize the proprietary HDMI LA cable certification scanning app available to end-users to verify certification and check the reseller brand and cable length. Also, both programs include HDMI LA audits of marketplace cables to ensure that production cables continue to pass certification testing during their product lifetime. 

What is the Licensed HDMI Technology Eco-System of Compliance? 

It starts with manufacturers who must be licensed HDMI Adopters in order to access the HDMI specifications and use the HDMI trademarks and logos. And where do the specs originate? The HDMI Founders produced the 1.4b Specification and Compliance Test Specifications; and since 2013 the HDMI Forum all subsequent versions including the latest Specification Version 2.1 and its Compliance Test Specifications. The HDMI Forum works in collaboration with authorized test equipment manufacturers whose equipment is used for testing, and HDMI Forum Authorized Test Centers (Forum ATCs) where the testing and certification takes place. This rock-solid system pertains to all HDMI product categories including cables.

HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc. (HDMI LA) is the only organization that licenses the HDMI specifications. HDMI LA is the agent appointed by the HDMI Forum to license Version 2.1 of the HDMI Specification and is also the agent appointed by the HDMI Founders to license the 1.4b HDMI Specification. HDMI LA is tasked with enforcing compliance to the HDMI specifications and the HDMI adopted trademarks and logos. With misinformation spread about HDMI features, testing and certification, HDMI LA is the exclusive source for factual information. For more information go to HDMI.org

The terms HDMI, HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface, Premium HDMI Cable Certification Program, Ultra High Speed HDMI, Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable Certification Program, and the Premium HDMI Cable Certification Label, Ultra High Speed HDMI Certification Label, the Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable Logo and HDMI Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc.

Sometimes it’s hard to know if your advertising strategy is really worth the investment. How do you know you’re getting the right message to the right consumers regardless of where, when or how they watch TV?

For a growing number of advertisers, one particular strategy is offering a solution: addressable advertising.

DISH Media has re-engineered and re-defined addressable advertising into an interactive and cost-effective initiative that can help successfully navigate the enormous gap between brand building and actually securing a sale. 

DISH Media has also taken a leadership position in establishing key funnel components — three in total — that are necessary for any ad buyer who is looking to define and build a successful advertising buy.

Those three audience components — Core, Brand and Custom — offer direction and insight for ad buyers. These three components ensure that advertisers receive more precise targeting, enhanced advertising relevancy, rolling consumer penetration, targeted data capabilities and quantifiable visibility metrics.

All of this has made it easier for buyers to understand exactly how addressable can be used to their advantage.

Addressable Advertising Redefined

Take for example, the national bank that wanted to boost account applications and grow high-yield investments. The bank used a Brand Audience addressable option to target first-party prospects with specific qualifications: they had to be high earners with at least $250,000 annual income and a college degree. The bank ran an advertising campaign two times a week for one quarter using analysis from a data aggregation company.

The result: $2.4 million in additional invested dollars in a 30-day attribution window.

Consider, too, the national life insurance company that utilized Sling TV to boost the number of completed applications through its website. Using the Core Audience solution and Sling first party data, the company targeted adults aged 25-54 a few times a week for four weeks. The result was an 89% lift in completed insurance applications. 

For both of these companies, addressable advertising was the answer because it provided the ability to successfully target a key audience in a way that achieved the right balance between efficiency and scale.

The result is game-changing, according to Kevin Arrix, senior vice president at DISH Media.

“Jumping into addressable used to seem like an overwhelming and expensive hurdle, especially for smaller agencies," Arrix said. “But we’ve broken down addressable into three core segments that can be manipulated for different levels of commitment and targeting in a cost-effective way. Now, brands are viewing addressable as a small step instead of a leap.”

The Core, Brand and Custom Audience solutions leverage different data sources to find the right balance between efficiency and scale in the following ways:

Core Audience leverages DISH and Sling TV subscriber information and targets viewers through metrics such as daypart, device used, genre and location.

Brand Audience allows buyers to reach proprietary audiences using the advertisers’ first-party data sources that gather together customer data, details on loyalty programs and direct mail list information.

Custom Audience allows users to create custom targets with third-party data that leverages lifestyle data, predictive modeling, advanced demographics and competitive conquests.

All of these options form an addressable solution that is unencumbered by issues of scale or concerns about limited inventory which have stymied other addressable ventures.

National numbers tell a compelling story, too. Over the last two years, the U.S. addressable TV audience grew from 127.7 million to 162.2 million, with spending on addressable TV advertising expected to reach $3.3 billion next year (a 343% increase over the last three years).*

Addressable TV: Why Advertisers Need It Now

All this leads to specific benefits for buyers, according to Arrix.

"We understand the importance of seamless activation, real-time speed with dynamic ad insertion, and transparency into delivery and ROI,” he said. 

“Address for Success: How Addressable TV Delivers Full-Funnel Outcomes,” 

That’s why today, buyers are realizing that the most effective means of bridging the gap between building a brand and securing a sale is through addressable advertising. It’s proven to be an interactive and cost-effective initiative that’s managed — in a world of fractured and distracted viewing — to make sure the right consumers are seeing the right content at the right time, regardless of where, when or how they’re watching.

If addressable is tomorrow’s holy grail for television advertising, what is keeping ad agencies and buyers from tapping into this transformative technology?

It could be confusion, complexity or even lack of awareness.

Addressable advertising has been an intimidating technology for traditional TV buyers. The learning curve associated with understanding CPMs, backend attribution and data analytics can sometimes make buyers hesitant to pursue addressable. It can be tricky to formulate a set of target consumer segmentations, understand how advanced targeting works and grasp which key determinants should be priority in a highly targeted ad buy.

But if you’re a hesitant buyer who has not yet invested in addressable advertising, you’re missing some of the most compelling opportunities to optimize your buying strategy and reach key consumers.

Addressable TV: Why Advertisers Need It Now

Addressable advertising allows for the creation of customized, relevant and impactful campaigns. It can track usage in near real time; deliver relevant, actionable data and comprehensive ROI from consumers; and target individual demographics in a way that no traditional campaign can.

To demonstrate the strength and abilities of addressable advertising, let’s examine the efforts of two brands who have two different missions. In one case, an insurance company wanted to boost the percentage of applications completed on its website and push its brand to a wider audience. In the other, a national retailer needed to increase sales and market share during the fall holiday season. The brand from the insurance vertical wanted to go broad but still achieve verifiable measurable backend results. The retail brand wanted to pinpoint exact audiences utilizing first-party data.

With addressable advertising, both brands achieved maximum impact. The insurance firm saw an 89% boost in completed applications. The retailer received a 92% lift in market penetration, a 62% boost in sales and a 2:1 ROI. As a result, both advertisers have invested more into the addressable space, after realizing its true potential in their own advertising campaigns.

With over seven years of addressable experience, DISH Media has built an impressive addressable initiative that eases the entry process for agencies utilizing addressable advertising. These developments give buyers detailed control over frequency and reach, while increasing effectiveness of customized messaging. The initiative uses patented analytics to build audience insights that can also be applied to linear buying. It calculates the effectiveness of viewing across multiple platforms and uses proprietary data analytics to maximize ROI.

Comscore and DISH Media Surpass 100 DISH and Sling TV Cross-Platform Addressable Ad Campaigns

In order to simplify addressable execution, DISH Media redefined addressable targeting for the marketplace with three comprehensive, data-driven solutions.

Core Audience Addressable is a wide-reaching tool that unlocks access to household-level targeting via DISH and Sling TV subscriber data. This includes viewership behavior, demo, device and/or location.

Custom Audience Addressable combines third-party data sources to reach highly advanced targets. Data companies like Experian, LiveRamp, Polk — just to name a few — aggregate and anonymize data, creating audience profiles that can be mapped to addressable universes. An example is targeting people likely to live an active lifestyle or those in the market for a new car.

Brand Audience Addressable, the most widely used tool, utilizes first-party data to reach customers, formers, prospects or those on mailing lists. It allows clients to hit the exact households in a brand’s database for detailed precision and effectiveness.

With this efficiency funnel, addressable can be broken down into terms that are easier for agencies to digest. For brands looking to test addressable, consider taking the first step with Core Audience Addressable, which gives a brand access to household-level targets via verified subscriber data. After that campaign, one might consider a move into Brand Audience Addressable.

This breakdown simplifies addressable for agencies and buyers, making it easier to understand and integrate seamlessly into their buying strategy.

"Brands are now viewing addressable advertising as a small step instead of a leap" says Kevin Arrix, senior vice president at DISH Media. "You don't need to go to a 3rd party data provider to activate addressability — we have rich 1st party subscriber data across DISH and Sling TV, which brands can utilize."

That’s why more brands, agencies and vendors looking for a way to reach target viewers are turning to the addressable advertising initiative developed by DISH Media. Whether those audiences are a broad, core or micro-targeted group, the cross-platform addressable initiative helps buyers blaze a trail that is both powerful and impactful.

The media market is being upended, not only by its own ingenuity, but also by advancing technology. These advancements expand options for advertisers and create increasing demand for data-driven campaign KPIs, putting agencies and brands in a tough spot.

This seismic shift that is pulling viewers away from traditional linear national television viewership and towards OTT consumption is the same one that is disrupting the ad market: Fickle, choosy, demanding viewers who are consuming media across an ever expanding choice of platforms at varied times. 

So how do brands and agencies better cement brand loyalty, employ household-level targeting and get a clearer picture of their total effective reach? The answer lies in addressable advertising.

Back in 2010, the majority of U.S. eyeballs remained fixed on national over-the-air television programming. But even then, consumers were beginning to turn to other viewing options such as streamed digital programming. Along the way, they cut ties with cable and moved away from over-the-air programming to a more on-demand viewing experience.

And, as we know, where viewers go, so go the ad dollars. 

Spending on digital ads grew from $16 billion in 2010 to $92 billion in 2019 — an impressive +475% jump (yes, you read that right) in less than a decade. 

So Go the Ad Dollars

By 2020, the peak amount spent on national TV ad dollars is estimated to be $56.4 billion. Compare that to the OTT ad market, which is expected to top $109 million, with no downturn in sight. For the first time ever, digital ad spending in 2019 will account for more than 50% of the total US ad market. 

Address the Pain Points of TV Advertising

What’s driving that growth? Video.

So how do agencies and brands tap into this burgeoning market — even in the midst of unpredictable viewers and ever-expanding content options? The ways that viewers consume video have been evolving over the last 10 years, prompted by the sheer number of choices that now exist in the streaming space. And at the same time, new tools have been created for brands and agencies looking to tap into tracking audience engagement and cementing brand loyalty. 

Identifying the Tool of Choice

For many, the tool of choice is addressable advertising. Addressable advertising gives buyers a guaranteed way to target individual households watching live or on-demand TV programming. Ads are prepacked for a specific, authenticated household that is verified by IP address or user ID. Not only are ads on an addressable OTT platform delivered in a brand-safe, fraud-free environment, these ads – delivered with targeting advertising capability — report higher engagement and unduplicated reach.

Addressable advertising also offers household-level targeting. That means that the right ad is delivered to the right consumer at the right time — regardless of how, when or where the viewer begins watching content. 

Targeted advertising also offers brands and agencies a deeper and wider choice of “behind-the-screens” tools, including advanced measurement capabilities, targeted personalization abilities, improved cross-platform capabilities, unduplicated reach and vast scale.

Creating a Clearer Picture

There are not many national content providers offering such options. DISH Media has devoted efforts over the last two years to measure and track addressable advertising. According to a 2018 Ad Age article, when DISH Network first announced its Sling TV bundle, the offer came with the innovative ability to target very specific audiences while giving marketers, brands and agencies a clearer picture of total reach.

“Dish Network Can Now Measure all its Addressable Ads No Matter Where they Air;” AdAge; January 2018

At the heart of this addressable advertising offer is DISH Media’s ability to target and reach individual households no matter when or where a viewer watches a program. The proof of success is this: Advanced TV ad sales have remained a key priority for the content creator and the advertising community. 

Though it remains to be seen exactly where the ad dollars go in 2020, video content is expected to be the single major driver of growth next year and beyond. 

When it comes to attracting engaged and highly attentive viewers, there is nothing better than live sports. Ads that can be viewed during the biggest games gain premium exposure to a highly valuable, deeply engaged audience. This is especially true for highly-sought-after annual playoff games. 

These days there is more competition to capture sports fans who can choose from a range of devices and platforms. Fans can now flit from screen to screen, diverting their attention and impacting overall engagement and attention. For brands and agencies looking to stand out among the crowd, the answer is simple – advanced advertising.

There are two key questions to to think about when considering an advanced advertising solution:

• Can your campaign target your brand’s audience across multiple devices at just the right moments? 
• Can you quickly and efficiently execute against your target audience in real-time?

Live TV Streaming Online with DISH Anywhere.

The Addressable Advantage in Athletics

You may ask, “How can I ensure that my ads are being seen by the right viewers at the right times? After all, live sports garner thousands of hours of attention from audiences throughout every year.” The reply is that addressable advertising gives brands an opportunity to be strategic, relevant and dynamic with their ad budgets, connecting to custom audiences through selected demos, devices, platforms, locations and even behavioral attributions. 

It all starts with the technology. With addressable advertising, the ad is sent to a DISH set-top box or dynamically inserted into a live stream via Sling TV, and delivered only when the TV or device is on and turned to the channel. This eliminates wasted impressions and offers greater efficacy and precision than linear buying, so you can be confident that you are fishing only where the fish are.

With addressable, not only can you advertise in-game during the most-watched sporting events, you can also reach your avid sports viewer regardless of when, where or how they are watching across devices. Plus, brands and agencies can receive robust campaign analytics and visibility into true attribution and ROI.

The Programmatic Push in the Playoffs

Programmatic advertising is another area of great value to advertisers. It offers bidding on live inventory in real-time, through private, automated contextual auctions on Sling TV. Advertisers can buy live impressions in the NBA games, college football, Monday Night Football – you name it – within seconds. Programmatic buying helps eliminate below-the-fold or wasted impressions, as well as fraud and safety concerns. Ads are dynamically served full-screen across multiple devices in an efficient, simple and brand-safe manner.

The AdPro (Addressable-Programmatic) Potential

Programmatic buying offers advertisers real-time access to live sports, including NBA finals or college Bowl games, as well as premium programming such as red-carpet events or hit TV shows.

An agency can target live sports viewers through AdPro auctions regardless of network, daypart or device. Combining the power of real-time automation with advanced addressable technology, it’s easier than ever to reach the right audience with the right ad at the right time through controlled, brand-safe private marketplaces.

Navigating Live Sports On CTV: A Programmatic Playbook

Programmatic addressable is a way to hit the highly engaged viewers that everyone is looking to reach at scale and in real time. It’s a winning strategy.

Be Smarter with Sports

While there are a myriad of challenges for brands, agencies and data vendors looking to tap into the passion for live sports, there are solutions – new, proven ways to better reach the +17 million devoted fans who watch the NBA tournament and other immensely popular sporting events. Reach the highly-engaged sports enthusiast with advanced advertising.

When it comes to losing cable TV subscribers, the first quarter of 2017 was devastating. According toLeichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG), the top six U.S. cable MVPDs lost about 410,000 net video subscribers in 1Q 2017, compared to gaining about 10,000 subscribers in 1Q 2016.

Worse yet, “This marked the first time that the industry has ever had net subscriber losses in the first quarter of a year," said Bruce Leichtman, LRG’s president and principal analyst.

In the same time period, OTT streaming service Netflix gained 1.4 million subscribers domestically, growing its U.S. subscriber base to 50.85 million. Known for its popular original series House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, Netflix’s U.S. subscriber base has doubled in the last five years, according to a report by Fortune magazine. According to LRG, Netflix now has more U.S. video subscribers than the top six U.S. cable MVPDs, which have over 48.6 million.

That fierce online competition may explain why Comcast spent $39.6 billion over the past six years upgrading its cable network and CPE (consumer-premises equipment) to its proprietary XFINITY X1 (X1) IP-based delivery platform. The X1 platform is designed to deliver traditional cable channels, OTT content, Video on Demand, DVR recordings, internet access and telephone service to subscribers over IP.

The payoff was substantial: In 2016, Comcast’s subscriber base grew by 160,000, while most MVPDs saw their subscriber bases decline—all thanks to IP-delivered X1 content. By enabling IP distribution, X1 now also features apps, like Netflix and Pandora, directly on the X1 platform, making consumption of content across services easier than ever for viewers.

Of course, smaller Tier 2 and Tier 3 MVPDs cannot likely afford to invest Comcast-sized sums to move into IP. Fortunately, there are affordable IP video solutions that have been adopted by smaller U.S. MVPDs, such as General Communication Inc. (GCI), WOW!, Mediacom Communications, Blue Stream and Vast Broadband, with Evolution Digital’s highly acclaimed and cost-effective offerings: eBOX IP Hybrid Set-Top Box, powered by TiVo, (eBOX) and eVUE-TV IP Video Platform (eVUE-TV).

Evolution Digital’s solutions give MVPDs the ability to begin the graceful migration to all-IP distribution and move as many or as few of their existing video services to IP carriage as they want (keeping the rest on conventional QAM). eVUE-TV, available on eBOX, offers a deep library of IP Video on Demand content with capability for IP linear, network DVR and Pay-Per-View programming that can be viewed at home or on the go. At the same time, with TiVo’s world-renowned interface and functionalities on eBOX, these MVPDs can offer customers OTT services such as Netflix and Hulu.

“eBOX and eVUE-TV offer so many benefits to Tier 2 and Tier 3 MVPDs,” said Eric Hybertson, Evolution Digital VP of product development. “Both technologies harness the power and economy of IP to let MVPDs deliver more services more economically to their subscribers. Add the fact that IP delivery doesn’t suffer from the tight bandwidth limits that bind QAM—and that the Internet’s capacity keeps increasing substantially year after year—moving to IP is the smart play for Tier 2 and Tier 3 MVPDs to make.”

This is certainly the conclusion of GCI.

This MVPD, which services residents across the state of Alaska, is deploying the eVUE-TV platform and eBOX CPEs to provide GCI subscribers with an integrated selection of traditional cable channels, OTT content and the best Video on Demand and Pay-Per-View content. GCI, through eBOX, offers all of this content as a single point of user contact through eBOX with TiVo’s familiar and easy-to-use interface. Consumers can seamlessly navigate and discover programs through universal search across the entire ecosystem.

The provider is looking forward to leveraging the expertise and ability to provide a low-cost solution “to deliver GCI’s next generation IP Video on Demand service,” said Eric Powelson, GCI senior product manager of video.

Collectively, eBOX and eVUE-TV give mid-sized operators looking to deliver a competitive and robust viewing experience a cost-effective, practical migration path to IP, and the chance to start growing their subscriber bases as larger cable operators have, though without the prohibitive $39.6 billion price tag. 

Managed IP Video Solution for Cable Operators

This short video provides a simple, understandable summary of Evolution Digital’s eBOX and eVUE-TV solutions.

Additional Resources

Migrating to IP Video: How Cable Can Remain Competitive

This white paper explains why cable MVPDs need to move to IP now, what the process entails and how eBOX and eVUE-TV can help.

Understanding the Big Challenges Facing the Cable Industry

This article drills down into the reasons why cable TV is so besieged by OTT and other competing services and how IP delivery can keep cable competitive.

Case Study: Why and How WOW! Internet Cable Phone Is Moving to IP Delivery

This case study examines how adopting IP-enabled delivery can restore a cable MVPD’s competitive edge.

Evolution Digital CEO Chris Egan Explains How IP Can Save Small Cable

A video interview of Egan, recorded by the Denver Business Journal, which labeled Evolution Digital as one of the “Saviors of Small Cable.”