The digital environment is growing increasingly challenging for advertisers as fragmentation mounts and it becomes increasingly difficult for advertisers to accurately identify and connect with their audiences. Advanced TV is one area that is facing these challenges because there has been a shift from traditional linear TV to digital TV across multiple screens. We see that the time spent viewing video through streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, etc.) is growing and will soon be over 50% of where people spend their time watching content. Traditional TV (aka Linear TV) is projected to decline 18% by 2022 and CTV will double by 2024.

These changes mean messages need to follow individuals across multiple devices, and advertisers need cross-screen capabilities and support. Marketers need to feel confident in the accuracy and reach of their addressable media spend, and seek transparency into campaign performance and audience reach, in order to optimize campaigns to drive better business outcomes. Maintaining addressability means a change in how we collect and use data to provide relevant products and messages to users while also respecting their privacy.

In the past, companies have relied on the 3rd party cookie to provide important data to help understand how to reach specific audiences, but their eventual deprecation will leave large gaps in data sets and further silo platforms, hindering addressability. In addition to moving away from 3rd party cookies, there has also been an intense focus on data privacy and consumer protection in the digital space. Due to consumers growing concerns about how their personal information is being collected and used online, there are now regulations and restrictions on how advertisers are collecting data and identifying audiences. So how are Advanced TV advertisers going to adjust to this evolving landscape and have success reaching their audiences with relevance and respect across multiple platforms and drive business goals and build relationships with customers?

This is where Identity Marketing and Identity Mapping can help bridge the gap. Identity Marketing is understanding individual users, how to interact with them, and how to present specific messaging to them across multiple platforms. This way of marketing empowers brands to have relevant interactions with their audience and build on existing relationships. Identity Mapping is taking the important consumer data and building a profile to help advertisers better understand individual consumers and how to reach them across multiple screens.

Currently, the identity-based strategy for Advanced TV happens in the activation stage when syndication is used for reach against a particular audience, but this method has limitations. It relies on historical data for match rates for the future, there’s limited support for cross-screen planning, and syndication happens in the activation stage which isn’t ideal for optimization. With the growing need for cross-screen support and a better audience strategy, what is the solution?

To be successful, an identity solution for Advanced TV marketers should be focused on cross-screen planning and budget management. This means that in the planning stage we are evaluating outcome-based audience strategies using identity mapping. When campaigns are activated, they have already been optimized during the planning stage, so messages are getting in front of the right audience, and accurate insights and analysis are available. Through established proprietary partnerships in the ATV space for data accuracy, efficiency with budget, and guaranteed reach, Kinesso and Matterkind are leading this charge. Through our partnerships, we are bringing together data and inventory to overhaul the planning and activation stages for the best possible campaign performance.

We are helping marketers adapt quickly in this changing ecosystem. With the projected growth of ATV and the consumer data and privacy regulations, we truly believe that technology and strategic partnerships will provide a better way for marketers to monitor campaign performance and deliver relevant messages to the right audiences across multiple channels. Combined with a focus on identity, marketers will have a better understanding of their audience and will have accurate analytics for optimization and future planning.