FreeWheel and OrkaTV Announce Partnership for FAST Channel Market
FreeWheel, a global technology platform for the television advertising industry, and OrkaTV, the top streaming TV marketplace, announced their partnership to give marketers a new option for purchasing advertising in the rapidly expanding free-ad-supported streaming television (FAST) market. Through this partnership, OrkaTV’s streaming TV marketplace will offer more than 3,500 FAST channels to advertisers using FreeWheel.
FAST Ad Inventory
Access to a more varied pool of FAST ad inventory will be the end result. Thus, the market for such ad inventory will become more in demand. More precise contextual advertising and targeting capabilities are another important aspect. At the moment, advertisers can bid on inventory to guarantee that ads are positioned correctly thanks to metadata capabilities. But occasionally, the metadata is inconsistent or absent. By means of OkraTV’s value-added tech layer, the two companies are tackling this problem. OkraTV makes sure the ad buyer has access to consistent contextual video data that can be mapped to relevant audience segments. To reach their well-defined demographics, advertisers can then enable buying through FreeWheel to target consistent channel names.
Read More: Reshaping Mobile Advertising: AdScholars at E4M Screenage Summit
Benefits of the partnership
These new features are being introduced by FreeWheel and OrkaTV to give marketers greater reach and scale in identifying and locating new audiences in the quickly expanding FAST space of today. 3 out of 5 FAST buyers are currently using the medium’s niche programming to target specific audiences, and 84% of advertisers plan to increase spending in this sector in 2024, according to a recent Xumo and Comcast Advertising report. This final component is crucial for advertisers, but it’s getting harder to achieve as viewing habits in a disjointed and complicated media landscape keep changing.
Here’s what they said
Emily Bromley, VP, Growth, FreeWheel said
Improving the viewer experience is a top industry priority for us and this new partnership with OrkaTV will help pave the way for that. With this new integration, advertisers can better reach target audiences at a granular level, while engaging and capturing their interest with a new array of premium FAST channels.
Mike Woods, Founder and CEO, OrkaTV added,
It’s an exciting time to be in the FAST space. With new channels and a growing stream of audiences tuning into this sector, we wanted to create a new way to give advertisers what they need to maximize the impact of their campaigns, while bringing the scale, reach and efficiency of TV to FAST.
Read More: PubMatic Integrates with FreeWheel, Expands CTV Ad Inventory
PubMatic Integrates with FreeWheel, Expands CTV Ad Inventory
PubMatic, an independent technology firm that develops the future supply chain for digital advertising, recently unveiled a new integration relationship with FreeWheel. The latter is a worldwide technology platform for the television advertising sector. Activate is an end-to-end direct buying solution from PubMatic SSP. Its users will now have direct access to exclusive publisher-connected TV (CTV) ad inventory via Comcast-owned FreeWheel thanks to the new connection.
Advantages and fresh potential for the CTV ad environment
A wider, more diverse pool of premium CTV ad inventory will be made accessible to ad buyers working with PubMatic. This is thanks to the agreement, which will also provide FreeWheel publishers access to campaign budgets that are only available through Activate. Two major advantages and new capabilities for the TV ad ecosystem will result from the new alliance.
- With PubMatic, ad buyers will now have improved and easier access to a broader and more varied pool of premium CTV ad inventory.
- Only through Activate will specific marketing budgets that are only available to FreeWheel publishers be made available.
By doing this, the two businesses hope to promote transparency, efficiency, and interoperability for buyers and sellers of premium CTV ad inventory.
Here’s what they said
Nicole Scaglione, VP, CTV/OTT and Video, PubMatic said,
Since launching this year, Activate has gained traction worldwide as the end-to-end supply path optimization solution of choice for agencies and advertisers. FreeWheel has been an important PubMatic partner for many years, and we look forward to deepening our relationship through this integration, giving buyers more control over their CTV investments.
Jon Mansell, VP, U.S. Head of Demand, FreeWheel added,
In integrating with PubMatic’s Activate, our goal is to drive incremental demand for publishers while giving advertisers more control and choice into how publisher inventory can be purchased. We hope that by doing so, we can drive more growth, momentum and innovation in today’s TV ad ecosystem.
Anthony McDonagh, Chief Trading Officer, dentsu stated,
At dentsu, we’re constantly innovating to provide new, technology-enabled media solutions to fuel growth and drive the best possible outcomes for our clients. This partnership between FreeWheel and PubMatic allows our teams to have more insights into where our clients’ advertisements are appearing, giving us the opportunity to improve performance and is meaningful progress in simplifying the supply-chain.
Read More: PubMatic Launches ‘Activate’ in Asia-Pacific for Premium Inventory
Basis Tech-FreeWheel Partner for Direct Access to Premium CTV Inventory
Basis Technologies, a supplier of global programmatic advertising and media automation solutions, has announced an interface with FreeWheel. Through the partnership, advertisers will have direct access to the best-connected TV (CTV) ad inventory. FreeWheel and Basis Technologies have been partners for a long time. According to this association, Basis platform customers will have access to programmatic assured buying capabilities on video inventory across publishers in the ad ecosystem. This is thanks to FreeWheel, an international technology network for TV ad businesses.
The interconnected apps that make up the Basis platform automate manual tasks, standardize company procedures, and enhance marketing and advertising effectiveness. Ad purchasing options include programmatic, vendor-direct, search, and social. Addressable TV advertising is powered by its BasisTV+ system with 1,000 targeting parameters and 80 trackable indicators.
Read More: Disney+ Hotstar Amp Brand Outreach With CTV Targeting
Important Elements of Integration
This novel partnership and its attendant capabilities stand out for providing advertisers with guaranteed, upfront-style premium CTV ad inventory obligations. They will be on an even playing field with rivals with bigger ad spend budgets. Furthermore, Basis and FreeWheel are extending CTV advertising’s supply, progress, and capability to a wider range of advertisers. For this, they are streamlining and facilitating access to this kind of ad inventory by making it more direct.
With this agreement, Basis will hold a distinct place among programmatic ad tech companies. The majority of ad space for high-quality CTV programming is now only accessible through direct channels. Deals that have been agreed upon with publishers and processed through IOs, or those that have been brought about via programmatic guaranteed or private marketplace buying, are included. Basis and FreeWheel hope to increase the number of brands that can use CTV advertising by providing additional integrated possibilities.
The CTV Landscape
Streaming services are becoming more and more popular among TV viewers, which has increased the demand for connected TV advertising. In June, CTV advertising made an unprecedented $1 billion in spending. In addition, more programmatic businesses are considering collaborations with CTV-focused businesses as a safeguard against the changing market. Additionally, CTV is anticipated to increase by over 13 percent globally to 25.9 billion in 2023, according to projections made by GroupM. With internet-connected televisions and streaming devices, brand advertisers have the chance to interact with highly engaged and targeted audiences. CTV, as opposed to regular TV, enables more exact behavioral and demographic targeting. This implies that marketers can target users who are engaged with material with tailored messages. Furthermore, it offers advertisers a simpler method for more accurate campaign performance measurement, allowing them to optimize their plans for maximum impact.
Read More: Google Ads Enhances CTV Advertising
Here’s what they said
Jon Mansell, U.S. Head of Marketplace Demand, FreeWheel stated,
When people think of ‘programmatic guaranteed,’ the first association or use case that may come to mind is the upfronts, but nowadays, the potential and opportunity for this medium have expanded beyond that. We’re excited to team up with Basis to democratize, simplify, and open up access to this inventory, as well as drive creative and innovative uses for it, among today’s buyers.
According to Tyler Kelly, President of Basis Technologies, Basis has overcome this difficulty by providing an omnichannel DSP that allows marketers to utilize premium advanced TV inventory in addition to media automation tools that facilitate direct dealmaking with publishers. He said,
There is high demand among marketers trying to reach audiences on CTV today and as such, we’ve teamed up with FreeWheel to remove some of the barriers to growth and to further democratize this channel. FreeWheel is the right partner for this given its track record and commitment to simplifying and creating more direct supply paths to different pools of ad inventory. Our programmatic advertising and media automation platform has been delivering to FreeWheel a critical mass of regional and local advertising demand sourced from our agency and brand customers.
About Basis Technologies
Basis Technologies offers software and services for media automation and programmatic advertising to businesses all around the world. By integrating automated workflows, cross-channel campaign planning, programmatic and direct media buying, universal reporting, and business intelligence, the Basis platform enhances omnichannel marketing performance. It offers a thorough range of purchasing options across all platforms and gadgets, utilizing all significant creative sorts and formats. With a single system of record, seamless team collaboration, and actionable data-driven insights, Basis, whether delivered by a world-class media services team or via a SaaS model, reduces the complexity of digital media and boosts profitability. Basis Technologies, with offices in Chicago and offices serving North America, South America, and Europe, has won multiple awards for its dedication to its workforce and workplace culture.
About FreeWheel
FreeWheel strengthens all facets of The New TV Ecosystem. They are set up to offer the entire range of solutions the advertising sector requires to accomplish its objectives. In order to achieve the ultimate goal – results for marketers – they provide the technology, data enablement, and convergent marketplaces necessary to assure buyers and sellers are able to interact across all screens, data kinds, and sales channels. FreeWheel, a Comcast Company, has offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Beijing, and other cities around the world. Through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video, it advocates for the entire industry.
Read More: Loop Media-Microsoft Advertising Forge New CTV OOH Inventory Category
Advertisers Perception Survey: Publishers Positive About Policy Changes
Some publishers are constantly criticizing the changes made in Google ad policies. Although, according to Advertisers Perception Survey of the SSPs, the new policies don’t hurt the publishers in any practical manner.
Image Credit – adexchanger
The report included more than 150 digital ad sales and operational professionals. These websites include approximately 3 million visitors per month.
With Google ad policies switching to the first-price auction, nearly 4% of publishers claim that they are negatively impacted. Around 47% states that they see a positive change in business with the change in policies. Whereas, 43% states that it won’t change anything.
Similarly, Google ad policies changed the rules for unified pricing recently. A similar ratio of 4% of publishers saw negative impacts on business. 30% of publishers found the change appealing and experienced growth. Rest of publishers felt that the change won’t affect their business.
Advertiser Perceptions President and Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Mannion said: “Publishers tend to view with a white hat.” Publishers trust Google due to its innovative approach, end-to-end integration, and for the constant updates/access provided to the Adx demand pool.
Google ad managers demand is continuously increasing among its user. The reports of the third quarter from last year show the strengthening hold and leap in the position of Google in the market.
“Google is more dominant here than in any other ad tech category,” said Mannion.
Google ad manager and Amazon Publisher services compared on the bases of their fondness.
Almost 60% of publishers preferred Google while only 12% were in favour of Amazon.
Image credit -adexchanger.
The other preferred top 10 SSPs like OpenX, SpotX and Verizon media managed with a share of 3% to 6% publishers who think these solutions are the best.
When it came to the user database, Google Ad manager share was the largest at 81%. Around 46% claimed to be using Amazon Publisher Service. The other 14 SSPs have a portion of nearly 11% to 35% of the publishers who were reviewed.
Google locks up its spot of being the finest due to its technological progression. As per 78% of publishers, they pick Google due to “superior technology position.”
Since last year Google’s stature has increased among its publishers. Now, 90% of publishers think that Google Ad manager is a better solution, as compared to 79% last year.
Preference of SSPs among large to medium publishers.
Publishers are differentiated among large, medium and small publishers based on their user database. Google Ad Manager and Amazon Publisher services are preferred among all scale of publishers.
Publishers get compared on the basis of large and medium publishers. The results of the survey made by Advertiser Perceptions of SSPs highlighted some important influential factors.
To understand the working of stacking, and ranking of SSPs based on their popularity, let us take an example of Index exchange.
Index Exchange ranked third among all users. Nearly, 44% of large publishers are using it. Being popular with 44% of large scale publishers is extremely wonderful. However, it’s less preferable among small publishers(14%).
This leads Index Exchange to the third position of the stack.
Verizon media was ranked seventh among the large publishers, whereas it was ranked fourth among the small publishers.
There are other factors that can decide the ranking of SSPs.
Small publishers are those who have less than 20 million unique visitors. Small publishers use nearly 4 SSPs. However, any large publisher with more than 20 million unique visitors uses 6 SSPs.
Image credit – adexchanger.
Rebranding product can cost the user database.
Rebranding the product is not easy, as brands develop with time slowly earning their status in the market.
An example of a brand losing its popularity with rebranding can be seen by observing the decision of Verizon Media. Verizon Media rebranding Oath Media cost a massive loss of user database.
Similarly, AppNexus rebranding itself to Xandr Monetize has seen a tremendous loss of publishers. From 43% it came down to 19%.
Mansion said, “Verizon media is on a rebound.” People perception towards it is improving. There is a net 10 to 20% increase in its market leadership and its technology vision respectively.
OpenX also fell 11 points for its technical superiority. This year OpenX has lost nearly half of its users who thought that it is a market leader. The percentage decreased to just 36%. OpenX is the third most likeable solution according to the report.
This has nothing to do with the factor of rebranding.
Pre-pandemic point of view.
This survey took place in February, which was the starting of COVID pandemic.
During the epidemic users demands from the SSPs for the innovation has increased. The market is reshaping itself, publishers are appealing to SSPs to step up and portray cleaner advertising.
Publishers want to SSPs to work on the following factors:
- Bad ad troubleshooting – 64% of publishers view this as crucial.
- Prevention of counter-fitted inventory via ads -64% considered this crucial.
- Blocking of fraudulent traffic- 68% publisher demands it as a crucial step.
“Publishers tell us that they aim at zero tolerance for fraud and bad ads,” Mannion said. “They want their SSPs to be their trusted partners toward that end.”
