Addressability on Television is ‘The Great Opportunity’ for Marketers

The explosive growth in connected TV and technology advances that allow the industry to offer a pathway to addressability are the major growth opportunities, according to some of television’s most senior executives. 

Speaking on a panel at the Adnews Media and Marketing Summit last Friday, Kim Portrate, CEO of Think TV, Kurt Burnette, Chief Revenue Officer for Seven West Media, Michael Stephenson, Chief Sales Officer at Nine, and Mark Frain, MCN Sales and Marketing Officer, outlined the steps they had each taken to bring addressability to the Australian market. 

Kurt Burnette noted how a sudden uptake in connected TVs has helped the door open to addressable television. 

“We are seeing forty-seven per cent of devices using our platform are connected televisions,” Burnette said. “That’s a figure which is bigger than mobile, bigger than desktop. Connected TV is here, it’s big and it’s real, and when it comes to addressability it is going to be incredibly powerful.

“What our proposition is about is reach, but now we also have addressability.”

Mark Frain echoed Burnette, saying: “TV will remain the most powerful medium, but it’s just gotten a whole heap better.

“What gives me great confidence that TV will grow with this new technology is that it opens up a whole new pool of advertisers that previously ignored it because it is either a national signal or because the advertising isn’t being geo-targeted for where I’m based as a brand or business. But now you can.” 

According to Kim Portrate, ThinkTV’s the definition of addressable advertising, it is defined as “advertising that uses a unique ID to deliver targeted advertising messages to specific households or specific individuals”. 

Michael Stephenson said the Australian television sector was leading the world in this space. “I’m the eternal optimist, but I think we in Australia are not just in line with the world but in many cases we are leading world in this area. 

He cited Nine’s experience in building the live-streaming and on demand platform 9Now as an example of the strategic decision-making that had gone into preparing the way to offer marketers addressability. 

“At Nine we made a bold decision just over two years ago, when we invested in 9Now, to ask consumers to sign in to that product to consume our content,” Stephenson said. “At the time there were people both internally and externally who were nervous about that, or who thought it was a bit of a crazy decision.

However, time has obviously told the story and we sit here today with millions of Australians who have downloaded the app or signed up to the platform. 

Stephenson said Nine would roll out its addressability solution to market later this year. “It can be our greatest challenge if we over-complicate this, make it too difficult and disappear into discussions about cross-channel attribution. We must keep it simple, make it viable, and show how we can achieve mass brand building.”

Publicis Media CEO Matt James, who was also on the panel, said one of the challenges around addressability was the different expectations in-market about what can be achieved.

“Today there is a utopian expectation, and then there is a pragmatic expectation around addressability,” James said. “From a utopian perspective we are about creating single IDs. That is where we want to get with brands and advertisers, where we can connect exposure to behaviour.

“But then there is the more pragmatic view in terms of addressability. I think we should be cautious in how far we take that in terms of attributing all their purchasing through the (sales) funnel. 

“In the broadcast sense, it’s really trying to find the balance between how you fill the top of the purchase funnel and how you use different levels of addressability, and addressable media, right the way through to purchase intention and conversion. 

“Right now there are limitations, particularly when it comes to scale. We need this collegiate universal measurement around addressability from a broadcast perspective, which I think will be a good game changer to help build that scale when it comes to IDs and customers.”

Kurt Burnette said marketers were already looking to seize on the opportunity offered in the BVOD market. The Seven sales boss noted that investment in linear broadcast TV has already seen a recovery in the past year, and investment in advertising on BVODs is also a major driver of growth.

“In the fiscal year to date, the TV market has grown by a couple of per cent while the broadcast video on demand market is going to be around $90 million on top of that TV growth,” he said.

“By the very nature of the way it is unfolding, we would suggest there is opportunity for growth or to pull money from different areas because it has been planned that way. The view is that if it is $90 million now, in 2023 that BVOD market could be $1.7 billion even if television loses some of that revenue.”

The Biggest Marketing Moments Still to Come

From star power to siren, some of the biggest marketing moments are still to come on Nine in 2018.

Speak to your Nine representative about how you can harness the power of Australia’s most engaging formats and sport properties including The Voice Live Finals, the TV Week Logie Awards, Love Island Australia, Australian Ninja Warrior, State of Origin, Super Netball and more.

 

There Is No Other Sporting Property Like State Of Origin

The 2018 State of Origin series will see Nine make major changes to how one of Australian sport’s greatest rivalries is delivered to consumers.

Nine’s Head of NRL, Simon Fordham, said this year’s changes includes shifts in scheduling designed to open the game up to a wider audience, major technological changes in the broadcast, and an expanded commentary team.

“Across the three-game series, we reached over 10 million Australians, and there is no doubt that State of Origin is at the heart of millions of sporting fans across Australia. It’s mate versus mate, state versus state, you are either blue or maroon, and that’s entrenched from a very young age.”

This year’s State of Origin series will be the first time Nine has the digital rights to broadcast the games. Origin 2018 will also see Nine working with the NRL to broaden the game in terms of scheduling and location.  

“The fact that Nine has the exclusive rights for Origin is very important,” said Fordham, “because you know the Australian public will be glued to their screens.

“There are some big changes to Origin in 2018. This year we return to Melbourne for Game 1 at the MCG on June 6, which is a huge play for the growth of rugby league across the country. In Game 2 we are in Sydney for the first Sunday night Origin clash in more than 15 years. Then Game 3 will be played at “the cauldron” that is  Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

“It is three big games across a six-week period that promises to be a huge success for Nine.”

Fordham said this year Nine would also drive engagement on its broadcast video on demand platform 9Now with five live streams to give viewers a unique perspective on the game.

“As part of the suite of rights Nine has with the NRL, we have exclusive live and free rights to State of Origin on both Nine’s primary channel and 9Now, not to mention additional clips and highlights on WWOS.com.au,” he said.

“At Nine we are all about creating the best seat in the house and this year with Origin it is going to be better than ever before.

“This year on 9Now we are generating five live streams to create a unique viewing experience for people at home. It will be something they have never seen before. In addition to the broadcast feed there will also be Spidercam, so you don’t miss a single minute of the camera screaming around the arena.”

Nine is also ramping up its commentary team for State of Origin.

Watch State of Origin on 9Now or get the news and highlights at Wide World of Sports.

2019 State of Origin team announcements for NSW and QLD.

“The 2018 coverage is unparalleled, and there is no one who can compete with Nine in Origin this year,” Fordham said.

“Our point of difference has always been our commentary team and their knowledge of the game. Nine has the best commentators – they are our experts and entertainers – in Andrew Johns, Darren Lockyer, Peter Sterling, Paul Vautin,Phil Gould, Wally Lewis, and this year we are adding Johnathan Thurston, Paul Gallen and Sam Thaiday to the commentary team.

“If you packaged them all up together there are 240 games of experience as either players or coaches in State of Origin over the past 30 years. It is unparalleled and is what sets us apart in terms of our competitors.”

Commercially, Fordham said few sporting events in Australia could compete with Origin.

“From a commercial perspective, State of Origin in Australia can be compared to the Super Bowl in America. There is no other place for brands to reach such a mass audience of millions of Australians at one place and one time.

“There is no other sporting property like it, with an audience of that size across so many platforms.

“In 2018, we are taking things to another level. The unparalleled rights that Wide World of Sports has with the linear broadcast, the multicast view on 9Now, and the clips and highlights across WWOS.com.au make Origin one of the most powerful sporting events available to marketers.