FreeWheel’s Blockgraph Outlines New Path for Building the Future of Data-Driven TV

By PRNewswire On May 31, 2019

Presents New Research That Shows Advertisers Eager to Apply Data to TV Advertising; Survey Finds Advertisers Expect 40% of Their TV Advertising Will Be Data-Enabled by 2020

Blockgraph, an industry initiative spearheaded to date by FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, in partnership with industry partners, released a new whitepaper entitled Building the Future of Data Driven TV: The Quest to Create a Safe Identity Layer for the Industry.

The paper offers practical advice for companies moving towards the data-driven future and explores the current approaches for data sharing in the TV industry. The publication also presents the findings from a new research survey of over 150 advertisers and agencies, commissioned from Advertiser Perceptions, on the challenges, opportunities and importance of bringing advanced data to television advertising.

According to the survey, the mean percentage of advertisers’ total TV spend that is data-enabled (using data to improve planning, targeting and/or analyze attribution) has grown at a 42% three-year compound annual growth rate. Moreover, it appears that data-enabled TV growth is about to accelerate in 2020, as evidenced by these key findings from the whitepaper below:

2018: 20% TV spend data-enabled
2019: 29% TV spend data-enabled
2020: 40% TV spend expected to be data-enabled

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Yet historically, the TV advertising ecosystem has faced a number of challenges, as substantiated by the survey:

Identity Resolution (Low Match Rates) in The New TV Ecosystem: An increase in content options and distribution channels makes it difficult to build a 360-degree view of an advertiser’s targeted audience. Among advertisers, over one-third (36%) said identity resolution was one of the top three barriers preventing them from using data to build audience profiles; only 20% said that they could “easily develop a 360-degree view” of their audience.
Industry Dynamics in the Media Supply Chain: Audience relationships and advertising rights are split between a number of distributors and content owners, creating a complex ecosystem of data ownership and sharing. Our survey indicated that 54% of advertisers were concerned about competitive leaks when sharing information with media partners (even via a trusted third-party provider), and only 5% had no concerns about sharing data with media partners.
Privacy, Compliance and Data Security: This supply chain complexity places greater demands on companies to ensure consumer privacy and data security. Among advertisers, 79% said protecting consumer privacy was a top concern in 2019, up 10% over 2018.
Data Matching and Operational Inefficiencies: As mentioned above, data matching is facilitated by trusted third-party providers outside of the supply chain; however, operational and coordination challenges can make this process inefficient in terms of turnaround time and expenses. In fact, 38% of advertisers cited this as a top-three barrier preventing them from using data to build audience segments for TV.

“The findings confirmed that advertisers are eager to bring additional data to TV, similar to their use of data in digital media. Yet, there is also the recognition that TV is different,” said Jason Manningham, General Manager, Blockgraph. “So, while they are bringing more data to TV, the growth, albeit strong, is actually tempered a bit by today’s challenges.”

“At Blockgraph, we spend our days helping the TV industry realize its full data-driven potential. Chief among our objectives is making data both easy to use by marketers and safe for data owners and their audiences,” he added. “But it’s always helpful to understand how advertisers are thinking about data holistically, and the challenges that they are facing when it comes to data-driven TV. That was the impetus for our research.”

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The whitepaper explains how Blockgraph creates industry-wide value in The New TV ecosystem by addressing many of the key challenges of data sharing and identity resolution. By connecting data across the entire TV ecosystem while protecting data ownership and safeguarding consumers’ privacy, Blockgraph will enable TV to pair its exceptional ability to reach and engage mass audiences efficiently, with the breadth and depth of data insights necessary for robust data-driven TV planning, execution, measurement and attribution.

“Considering that data is the cornerstone to almost all of the innovation that will make TV a smarter, more efficient, more effective advertising vehicle, we need to solve the sizable challenges that still surround data sharing and activation,” said Dave Clark, General Manager, FreeWheel. “What’s so exciting is that when I talk to clients, and hear their challenges and concerns around data, I know that FreeWheel is uniquely positioned to collaboratively provide solutions on behalf of the entire TV ecosystem. Our Blockgraph initiative offers both an example of our collaborative approach, and a path that can accelerate the growth trajectory of data-driven TV advertising. And it’s here.”

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