Cadent Adding Addressable Linear to TV Ad Dashboard

Cadent said it upgraded its software to allow cable operators to manage and analyze addressable linear advertising alongside campaigns using other platforms.

The new Cadent system manages and implements addressable advertising via the cloud, which allows for greater scale by bypassing the limitations of set-top boxes. The new system also provides the kind of advanced analytics and reporting that advertisers get from digital ad platforms in real time.

“The announcement here is about next-generation addressable advertising for linear,” said Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, CTO/COO at Cadent. “But the biggest story here is that our product is integrated with the core software management platform that already manages inventory across multiple screens and multiple platforms.”

Mitchko-Beale said “the benefit to advertisers, inventory owners and operators is that it allows a single view of inventory in the space where people are looking to target audiences by using data, and then managing a campaign across all those platforms to meet the desired campaign requirements.”

Addressable advertising is in demand, and Cadent clients will be able to dynamically insert creative into the local ad inventory sold by cable operators. It will also allow cable operators to insert ads into set-top boxes at the household level into national programming at the behest of the networks, said Les Carter, VP and chief architect at Cadent.

“Delivering the ads through the IP channel of the set-top box in relatively real time and doing decisioning real time in the cloud is architecturally a differentiator and an advantage for the platform,” Mitchko-Beale said.

Cadent’s multiplatform portfolio now consists of traditional VOD, IP VOD, network DVR, OTT, OTT linear and addressable linear platforms.

Cadent says two tier-one operators are using the system. It expects its customers to be live by the end of the year.

The system’s enhanced dashboard lets operators manage campaigns across platforms, sharing goals about frequency, reach and pacing.

The dashboard also provides real-time feedback on a campaign’s performance, highlighting potential problems that might prevent the correct ads from reaching viewers.

Cadent has been granted a patent for the way it handles addressable linear advertising.

“The network-based intelligence defined in our addressable TV patent has also allowed our tech to adapt to legacy infrastructures, integrate with various ecosystem tech players; and has laid the foundation to accommodate future technologies,” said Carter.

(Photo via FamZoo Staff's Flickr. Image taken on May 25, 2016 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 16x9 aspect ratio.)

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.