A Primer on Automating TV Buying

Television Update, Q2 2019

Executive Summary

Interest in automating the TV ad buying process is high, but it's still early days for programmatic. This report covers the first steps to infuse automation in legacy TV transaction process systems to move the speed of TV buying closer to digital standards.

How far off is a programmatic TV market that compares with digital?

Programmatic TV ad spending growth is expected to be healthy during the next few years. However, the programmatic TV transaction process is lacking in speed and automation compared with digital ad placement.

What have buyers and sellers done to move TV closer to automation?

Decades-old TV systems that keep track of available ad inventory, order management, and tracking and billing are now being overlaid with technological workarounds to facilitate automation. This transformation will enable more streamlined communication between systems in the process and is expected to significantly speed up workflow.

What aspects of TV ad buying are still not automated?

Local TV ad transactions are most in need of automation to relieve the largely manual processes of buying and selling across 210 markets. One example of automation progress is the centralization of TV station inventory avails through electronic data transfer into a pre-buy repository. Other labor-intensive process points that require technological attention are audience makegoods and audience estimates.

Where is automation furthest along for TV ad buying?

National TV systems for evaluating advanced target audience inventory avails offer some automation, as supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-side platforms (DSPs) are used to transact select amounts of programmatic and linear advanced target TV inventory. Some DSPs also offer systems for cross-platform planning of TV and digital video ad campaigns.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report examines the state of TV buying automation, which enables programmatic TV and advanced TV buys.

$4.73B

Estimated US programmatic TV ad spending in 2020.

eMarketer, July 2018

KEY STAT: We forecast programmatic TV spending will increase 70.9% to $4.73 billion in 2020, compared with $2.77 billion this year.

Here’s what’s in the full report

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14expert perspectives

Insights from industry and company leaders.

Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. The Potential and Reality of Programmatic TV
  3. Automation: Moving Local TV Closer to Programmatic Status
  4. Media Agency Local TV Automation Case Study
  1. Automation: National TV Programmatic Systems
  2. Key Takeaways
  3. eMarketer Interviews
  4. Read Next
  1. Sources
  2. Media Gallery

Interviewed for This Report

Jason Burke
clypd
Vice President, Strategy
Interviewed February 1, 2019
Tracy Chavez
Starcom
Senior Vice President and Director, Local Media
Interviewed January 16, 2019
Joan FitzGerald
PremiumMedia360
Senior Vice President, Advanced TV Global Partnerships
Interviewed February 25, 2019
Tim Hanlon
The Vertere Group
Founder and CEO
Interviewed January 30, 2019
Cara Lewis
Dentsu Aegis Network
Executive Vice President, Video Investment
Interviewed February 4, 2019
Ramsey McGrory
Mediaocean
Chief Revenue Officer
Interviewed February 8, 2019
Karine McMaster
Dentsu Aegis Network
Vice President and Director, Advanced Local Media
Interviewed February 5, 2019
Will Offeman
WideOrbit
Chief Product Officer
Interviewed February 20, 2019
David Prager
FreeWheel
Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development
Interviewed February 22, 2019
James Rooke
FreeWheel
General Manager, FreeWheel Publishers
Interviewed February 13, 2019
Jes Santoro
Adobe
Head of Sales, Ad Cloud TV
Interviewed January 15, 2019
Steve Silvestri
Discovery Communications
Vice President, Advanced Advertising
Interviewed February 8, 2019
James Southern
Frontrow Advisory
Managing Partner
Interviewed February 25, 2019
Manu Warikoo
Mediaocean
Chief Product Officer
Interviewed February 8, 2019

authors

Gerard Broussard

Contributors

Chris Bendtsen
Senior Forecasting Analyst
Blake Droesch
Junior Analyst
Lauren Fisher
Principal Analyst
Sharon Tan
Researcher
Paul Verna
VP, Multimedia