Programmatic Master Report

Why has the APAC Market Missed out on Programmatic TV?NBCUniversal said it was expanding its programmatic media product by launching NBCUx for linear TV.Advertisers can use data and automation to build media plans that include premium linear TV inventory across NBCUniversal’s entire portfolio of cable and broadcast entertainment networks. Currently, only a select group of advertisers and their agency partners in US are able to utilise this new offering. NBCUniversal told Marketing that it had no plans to extend the service into Singapore but did not clarify further.NBCUniversal simply said: “While, as a company, we prioritise harnessing internal expertise and innovations – across all areas of the business – we have no announcements to make in Asia at this time.”The future of TVAccording to Basil Chua, CEO of AsiaMX, TV advertising in Asia Pacific is projected to reach US$53 billion in 2019. Data from PricewaterhouseCoopers also says that growth is expected to continue in the foreseeable future.AsiaMX is pioneering the development of the business with Asia’s first programmatic TV advertising exchange. Programmatic TV advertising is the use of software platforms and algorithms to automate the buying and selling of TV advertising. Its exchange looks to improve the effectiveness of advertising by using audience data and gives advertisers privileged access to high-value linear TV advertising assets.“Today in Asia Pacific, TV advertising is sold primarily through the direct sales channel to media agencies and advertisers,” he said.“In some cases, it is sold through media representatives. The buying process is typically tedious and time-consuming, involving lots of paperwork and phone calls. Consider that each campaign involves negotiating with multiple TV channels, perhaps from different countries, and you begin to fathom the enormity of the job.”He added there was an urgent need to bring efficiency to the TV advertising trading process by taking a leaf out of the digital advertising book. This was a trend noted by AsiaMX as it brought on board clients such as A+E Networks Asia, Turner Asia Pacific, as well as Thailand’s BEC-Tero Entertainment and Nation Broadcasting Corporation. These were the first wave of TV networks offering premium advertising assets from 11 highly rated channels such as Warner TV, Cartoon Network, History Channel, Nation TV and Channel 3.“With the softening of the macroeconomics in the region, TV companies and advertisers are looking hard at new ways to extract value for their businesses, providing a perfect environment for the adoption of programmatic TV.”Presently, AsiaMX has access to more than US$60 million in programmatic advertising assets on behalf of leading pay-TV and free-to-air networks. These assets include premium prime-time, off prime-time, online video and mobile advertising inventory.“Advertisers will now have privileged access to high-value ‘first-look’ advertising assets that are brand-safe and have 100% viewability.”Thinking of programmatic? Here's what you should knowProgrammatic is being used by more marketers to bring efficiency and efficacy to their advertising efforts. It is predicted that 83% of all display advertising will be purchased programmatically by 2017.However, more than half of the marketers surveyed by the Boston Consulting Group in July 2015 said their understanding of programmatic was very poor, poor or average. While marketers are increasing their adoption of programmatic technology, understanding of exactly what it is and how it works remains unclear.Case study: From traditional marketing to programmatic marketingThis well-recognised brand had first established their business over a century ago, beginning as a mail-order catalogue-driven company. Today, they are a national merchant specialising in outdoor gear and apparel, selling merchandise via catalogue, online and in-store.The client first began their journey to programmatic in 2013 with the main goal of gaining ownership and control of their own data to better address their audiences online. They wanted to translate the same level of targeted reach and penetration they saw from their catalogue business and achieve that in the digital space.This was a sponsored post by Mediamath under the Master Report series.