Collective is making it easier for TV advertisers one, two, or three screens at a time
Collective, a leading programmatic, multiscreen advertising company recently received a patent for its technology to target online advertisements to consumers based on their TV viewing habits.
The technology allows marketers to synchronize ads across multiple devices. This, coupled with Collective’s TV viewing data pool, enables marketers to increase the efficiency of their video campaigns and more confidently reach their target audiences.
Much has changed in the advertising space in the 10 years since Collective was formed, but the company has succeeded largely because of tools like cross-device syncing and its recently-launched self-service data and reporting platform, VISTO.
For more on how Collective – which has worked with 76 of the Advertising Age 100 National Advertisers and boasts more than 400 employees worldwide – plans to stay ahead of its competition while continuing to make cross-device advertising easy for its clients, we spoke with CEO Joe Apprendi:
Found Remote: What are some new things that you've recently launched/developed?
Joe Apprendi: We recently launched VISTO™, which is a fully transparent, self-service data and reporting interface. It enables marketers to measure the effectiveness of their programmatic campaigns across platforms, screens and formats.
VISTO represents a new era for programmatic for two reasons. First, it’s a breakthrough for the companies that are eager for more transparency into their media buys. It also is valuable to such companies because they may not necessarily have the in-house talent needed to do this type of research on their own. Moreover, VISTO is unique because it integrates with multiple platforms across the spectrum of programmatic execution partners, including DSPs, SSPs, Exchanges, and Ad Servers, all in one interface.
FR: How does Collective's cross-device solutions (especially as they relate to TV) differ from competitors like Tapad and Drawbridge?
Apprendi: Tapad and Drawbridge focus exclusively on providing cross-screen targeting across digital devices (Desktop, Tablet and Smartphone). Collective’s innovative TV Accelerator (TVA) bridges the gap between offline and digital and this pioneering solution was awarded a patent earlier this year. It’s part of our multi-screen technology, which encompasses mobile, video, native, display, linear TV, etc., enabling us to orchestrate messaging from TV campaigns across digital devices for additional impact.
Additionally, with ten years of experience developing robust data models including 1-to-1 household matching, building unique audience segments that are continually re-scored and refreshed, and developing a solution that syncs TV and digital in real-time, Collective is uniquely positioned to help clients take advantage of synergies between traditional TV and digital advertising.
FR: Why are you confident that probabilistic solutions can withstand deterministic solutions? Can't players like Facebook and Google (deterministic) enter the market and crush the probabilistic players?
Apprendi: Deterministic solutions are closed and do not share their data with the rest of the online advertising ecosystem. Probabilistic, on the other hand, is better suited for advertising use in the real world given how consumers move around on the Web as well as use devices during the day. It relies on constantly-evolving technology -- some of which is learning as data is shared voluntarily by consumers in their various actions -- so it can better serve marketers’ needs to reach the right consumer at the right time.
FR: Which TV companies are you working with?
Apprendi: Some of the TV data partners we work with include Rentrak, FourthWall, Nielsen, Bluekai, and TRA, as well as set-top-box data providers who provide the seed data that allows us to perform 1-to-1 household matches.
FR: What are some of the biggest challenges marketers are facing?
Apprendi: Issues around transparency and flawed attribution are the biggest problems in digital advertising today. Non-human and non-viewable ad inventory cannot drive ROI, but, without identifying or eliminating these impressions from an attribution model, marketers cannot judge what advertising is valuable and what is worthless. Digital marketing is going through unprecedented transformation as the multitude of technologies, channels, platforms, and publishers that truly create value shake out. Collective’s mission is to help marketers figure this out across the fragmented ecosystem, and provide effective and efficient access to the audiences they need to reach.