PubMatic Launches Show-Level Targeting in CTV
PubMatic, together with Silverpush, has launched episode-level contextual targeting in CTV. WPP sees conversion 20% above the benchmark.
PubMatic on Thursday announced the launch of contextual targeting at the episode level for buyers of streaming TV ad inventory via its supply-side platform. The feature works in partnership with Silverpush, a company that uses artificial intelligence to analyze metadata of TV and video content.
Advertisers in Connected TV have for years demanded programmatic platforms offer control at the show and series level. PubMatic has joined the short list of adtech vendors building out show-level data to attract greater ad budgets.
What the problem was
Publishers describe their own content in different ways, and these signals are not standardized, explained Abbie Reichner, vice president of client services at PubMatic. One rights holder tags the first episode of the first season as "S1E1," another as "Sea1 Ep1." Because of this, show-level programs essentially didn't work.
Silverpush is meant to bring order to this data. PubMatic is embedding Silverpush's contextual segments into its platform: buyers can see what's happening in a program before bidding at auction — and assemble inventory by context.
Example: a travel brand wanting to reach viewers in a "travel" mood buys ads in travel shows — say, on the Smithsonian Channel on Paramount+.
Context versus audiences
Previously, travel brands on PubMatic solved a similar problem using third-party audiences such as "travel enthusiasts," Reichner noted. But activating such an audience is "not connected to the context of the show at all," she said.
The standard scheme looks like this: consumers are assigned to ready-made segments based on interest and behavior data — for example, purchase histories with airlines and hotels. CTV advertisers then try to reach these segments by linking IP addresses to other identifiers. The approach doesn't reveal what content the consumer is watching, which is a valuable signal both for relevant advertising and for frequency control.
Audience targeting hasn't lost its importance for TV buyers. But brands still want programmatic targeting — the norm of linear-TV-era media plans.
"We believe you can learn much more about a person by understanding what they watch rather than tracking their IP address," said Jeff Rich, executive vice president and managing director of Silverpush. According to him, it's important to match the viewer's mood at the moment of content consumption.
Agencies' assessment
PubMatic will continue to offer audience targeting to streaming buyers as well. But using both approaches simultaneously in the same media plan can limit reach scale, Reichner warned.
Agencies agree. "We don't layer a lot of audience targeting on top of contextual segments," said Jay O'Brien, group director at WPP Media. According to him, it isn't always necessary: contextual targeting is a "top performer" in the agency's CTV strategy and often delivers higher ROAS than audience-based targeting.
WPP, in particular, ran a contextual CTV campaign for a major educational institution: according to Lumen Research, conversion was 20% above the industry benchmark. O'Brien called such incremental lift one of the key metrics for growing ROAS and generating "higher-quality leads" — ad contacts with people inclined to convert.
Reichner's conclusion: the more data marketers get about the environment around an ad, the better the results.
Source: AdExchanger
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