MarTech Interview with Philip Inghelbrecht, CEO and Co-Founder at Tatari

Tell us about your role and journey into Technology. What inspired you to start Tatari?

Tatari was born from direct experience as a first-time and large TV advertiser while at TrueCar.

We ultimately realized two things:

• TV advertising, when treated with the right data and analytics, can work for any company
• Traditional agencies are simply not equipped for this method.

What is Tatari and how does it make TV advertising intelligent?

Tatari is a data and analytics company focused on media buying and measurement across linear and streaming TV. Through the use of Data Science, we are able to make TV advertising feel more like a digital ad campaign, allowing brands to track, measure, and optimize in near real-time.

How do you focus on bringing TV and Data Analytics together at Tatari? What are the core technologies driving your product?

We focus on improving established approaches (e.g. the use of baseline + lift to measure TV) and pioneering new ones (e.g. the use of IP level data to measure TV). The cornerstone in everything we do is data (at Tatari, we have an insatiable appetite for data) followed by advanced data modeling. Furthermore, while the industry is mostly using data and analytics in TV advertising for measurement purposes only, Tatari equally focuses on the use of it in the buying process (e.g. running bid optimizations).

What do TV Advertisers currently need? Why do they fail despite having access to Analytics and Audience Intelligence?

We find that most of our clients have one thing in common- they have reached the point of diminishing returns on social and search channels. This doesn’t mean they won’t spend there, it means they can’t spend any more to acquire new customers. They need another channel where they can reach audiences at scale- and we help them do that on TV.

Tell us about your Tatari’s purchasing capabilities and how it can impact OTT and Programmatic results?

Tatari buys all types of inventory, from traditional cable and broadcast to syndicated TV shows, satellite, connected TV, OTT, locals, etc. Nothing is really off-limits. Ironically, programmatic buying is still a little farther out since most networks or platforms will typically only make their best inventory available through a direct sale (or IO based purchase). To deal with this “market reality”, Tatari has significantly invested in the systems, processes and workflow automation to be able to transact in this “analog” marketplace.

Tell us about your tune-in media strategies, cross-screen tactics, and creative messaging that could boost TV viewership?

A great creative can easily outperform a good creative with a factor 2x. Over the years, looking across many clients and dollars transacted, we have built deep know-how around the components that make creatives perform (or not). This knowledge is built on data, not instinct. As much as Tatari is a quant shop, the first order of business is ironically to share this creative “playbook” with our clients (and/or their production company) before any buy is placed or measured.

In terms of cross-screen, we will provide the breakdown by device impressions (for streaming TV) and run reach/frequency analysis using IP-level data collected either from streaming platforms of smart TV providers (providing insights in terms of unduplicated reach).

Which Marketing and Sales Automation tools and technologies do you currently use?

We’re new customers to HubSpot. Our head of Marketing previously implemented Marketo at hist last 3 companies but felt Hubspot’s CRM capabilities were worth giving a shot. The implementation was a touch painful, but it has set us up for the future, ready to scale our (new!) Sales organization.

What are your predictions on the most impactful disruptions in AI with TV Advertising technology for 2019-2020?

The term AI is getting thrown around a lot these days. Some companies in the TV space will use this fancy acronym when in reality, at the most they run some basic analytics (i.e. rules decisions, not necessarily self-learning or auto-correction). If I see a first true use of AI, it’s probably more in the world of fraud detection (which unlike linear TV, will increasingly manifest itself in streaming).

What startups in the technology industry are you watching keenly right now?

At a high level, none really. I have learned from my other companies that paying too much attention to other companies or competitors can become very distracting. It’s more important to build a vision and plan for yourself, and try to execute it to your best.  If there are two companies that I pay attention to, it’s Adobe and Google. Adobe has cobbled together good AdTech for TV (e.g. Tubemogul) and they have demonstrated in the past that they can successfully enter and crack existing industries. Google is quietly working very hard to become the TV OS (with Android TV) and reap all the benefits that come with it.

How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a Business Leader?

See above. I think there are bigger and more lucrative pieces to be conquered right now, in particular, the correct measurement of streaming TV and the general automation (and self-serve) in TV buying. 

How do you inspire your people to work with technology?

We are a tech company at heart, so there’s not much I need to do here apart from hiring right 🙂

One word that best describes how you work.

Get it done, no procrastination.

What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?

Google Docs and Google Calendar.

What’s your smartest work-related shortcut or productivity hack?

A continuous list of my to-do items neatly organized short vs long term.

What are you currently reading?

Sadly because of work, I mostly read trade publications. I am reading Scott Galloway’s latest book “The Algebra of Happiness” (a fitting gift from our friends at Luma Partners).

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

“Do something every day that scares you”.

Something you do better than others – the secret of your success?

I work blazing fast.

Tag the one person (or more) in the industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read:

Sahil Jain, founder/CEO of AdStage.

Thank you, Philip! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.