Targeting video ads at scale with brand safety and premium brand adjacency
For big brands, a core advertising goal is reaching target audiences at scale, in high-quality, brand-safe environments. Recent data and brand safety scares have prompted advertisers to search for ad environments that offer higher brand safety standards — a re-evaluation that raises new options, publishers and brand partnerships.
Cross-screen advertising opportunities are available to advertisers via supply-side platforms and ad servers, such as SpotX.
Luckily, the amount of quality, brand-safe digital video content available to advertisers in Asia is rapidly increasing. With advances in automated buying, targeting even niche audiences at scale is becoming more readily achievable. Premium content from owned-and-operated publishers (that authenticate their audiences!) can now provide the same scale and targeting capabilities of the walled garden web giants. Plus, buying from publishers instead of walled gardens gives advertisers the benefit of added transparency and more insights into the environments where ads are being played.
Premium publishers like Astro, Viva, and MCOT distribute owned-and-operated premium digital video content across desktop, mobile, connected TV/OTT and more. These cross-screen advertising opportunities are made available to advertisers via supply-side platforms and ad servers, like SpotX. This TV-quality content is delivered to verified audiences, eliminating the possibility of bot traffic or fraud.
Partnering premium publishers to leverage brand adjacency
Looking outside of walled gardens not only improves brand safety and transparency, but it can boost a campaign by linking it with a strong publisher brand. For example, a publisher may have a reputation for being engaged with the world, socially responsible and a creator of smart, trustworthy news. As a result, its audience is likely to be more engaged with the content, and think favourably of brands that advertise within its content.
Advertisers purchasing inventory via SpotX gain the following brand safety reassurances (many of which are not offered by walled gardens):
- Anti-fraud monitoring: Partnerships with key brand safety vendors like Zvelo, IAS, SimilarWeb, DoubleVerify and MOAT to help protect inventory. Every impression that runs through our platform is verified on a pre-bid basis.
- Private deals: SpotX will structure custom private marketplace and Curated Marketplace deals for transparent, efficient and controlled access to premium inventory.
- Direct integration: Publishers are directly integrated with SpotX’s platform via SDKs and plugins, bringing greater transparency and verification to the programmatic sales process.
- Reporting and analytics: SpotX provides transparent and actionable data and reporting, delivering audience verification and site-level reporting to ensure the right ad is matched with the right audience on the right screen.
- In-house brand safety team: Teams of people are needed to monitor data, and block problematic URLs and/or channels. SpotX employs a team to vet new publishers and continually monitor for low quality supply.
Verified audiences engaged with a strong publisher brand and provide a premium user experience provide better value for ad spend than consumers passively binging on unknown digital or user-generated content. Advertisers seeking to make favorable impressions with engaged, high-earning millennials should look to diversify their media plans, across publisher brands and screens that walled gardens can’t reach, like online gaming, connected TV and Over-The-Top (OTT).
Consumers are watching more online video content than ever before. Ensuring you can reach them across the entire range of video formats, channels and devices is key to driving real results for your business. And it means you’re supporting the local publishers that are actually creating the content -- media companies which are the backbone of our industry and society.
Kat McHugh, director demand facilitation, SpotX Asia
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