Evan Kavanagh is Director of Sales at Simpli.fi, a leading programmatic advertising platform. He’s taking part in the NYC TV Week Streaming TV session examining the future of ad-supported streaming television services. Below he talks about what attendees can expect from this panel, and cites the biggest challenges facing the adoption of programmatic buying when it comes to the TV marketplace. To get the full picture, register now, either for the full conference or this specialized Streaming TV content track. 

 

Simpli.fi has been a leader in the programmatic space for some time. What are the biggest challenges in applying programmatic buying to the current marketplace for OTT and linear TV?

 

The biggest hurdle in the programmatic TV space – which I would define in 2019 as long-form video content, whether it be consumed through a connected or linear TV – is the necessity of private marketplace or direct deals with network publishers to secure the inventory upfront, rather than an open RTB market like the digital display and short-form video market. This has created confusion in the buying community over which vendors have the most access to the inventory they want. Put another way, the question is, who has the most scale, particularly in local markets? This takes away from advancements in areas like targeting, reporting, fraud prevention and attribution, all of which I think can be improved with programmatic technology.

 

What do you expect people will come away from this panel with, in terms of new insights or best practices? If you were an attendee, what hot button issues do you think the panel should be addressing?

 

I expect the audience to come away with a better understanding of what advertisers are expecting in the OTT/CTV market currently, what most vendors are capable of providing, and potential ideas on what to expect in the next five years. If I was an attendee, I would hope this panel addresses the question of how the success of programmatic in digital can be replicated in OTT/CTV.