In this edition of the Sell-Side View, Lydia Parker, Head of International Agencies at Samsung Ads, discusses the unique vantage point of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), the expansion of its free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service, and the company’s evolving data strategy.
What is the greatest challenge facing CTV publishers today?
I think we need to consider where Europe fits in the mix. The US was much further ahead in the CTV game, we’re certainly about three or four years behind at the moment. And in the EU that makes a big difference, because we’re finding that the markets, agencies, brands, they’re all trying to understand exactly where CTV fits on a plan. Does that fit with linear, does that fit with digital? But when we’re comparing Europe to other markets, they have these much more defined areas of where CTV fits at the moment.
So in terms of the challenges, from an advertiser’s perspective, the fragmentation across different platforms is huge. There’s a wealth of different content that’s available, there are loads of different platforms suddenly offering CTV in the landscape. You’ve got your SVOD players coming in with new propositions, you’ve got BVOD, traditional linear, AVOD and FAST. So from an advertiser perspective, there are obviously so many different platforms to choose from. And so it’s making sure that the publishers can showcase their strengths, and where they differentiate within the market.
I think where we’re lucky as an OEM is that Samsung has that really nice glass-level view of what’s happening within the market as well. And based on that fragmentation we know that there are lots more players coming into the market. And again, it just means that more education is needed for the advertisers and agencies to lean in and understand what the CTV proposition is and how that differs.
If you could change one thing about the buy side, what would it be?
My background is digital, and I think one of the most exciting things about CTV is the ability to layer on all of that digital data. There is such a wealth of data available for CTV and for those advertisers to take advantage of. So I would really just encourage them to lean into that, ask the right questions, dissect the data, really push for where you can get more out of the data to complement and build your audiences, and use that to the benefit of CTV, versus the other big screen platforms that you could be buying against.
Alongside that, lean into measurement. Again, this is something which is perhaps a bit more exclusive to CTV. Use trusted first-party data sources and CTV measurement solutions to really understand how well your investment is doing across CTV; things like linear reach extension data, understanding the reach of your CTV campaign versus your traditional linear TV campaign, that’s a really, really powerful measurement opportunity.
And then just continued learning and development. We know this is still fairly new, as I say, we’re a few years behind the US. Keep speaking to the publishers that you’re working with to really understand what their USPs are to benefit your big screen buy.
Which content types, third-party channels or ad formats are working best for you today?
We’re in a very fortunate position because we’ve got our own FAST platform, Samsung TV Plus, across Samsung TVs, and we work with a whole range of premium, broadcast-quality content, which is super exciting because it means that there’s something for the whole family when they’re tuning into Samsung TV Plus. It’s not just movies and entertainment, we’ve got news, sports, podcasts, events, family shows. So it’s something that everyone can lean into, and that’s quite unique as a service. And what I like watching on there at the moment is Schitt’s Creek and Graham Norton, two of my favourite shows, so I highly encourage anyone to watch those!
In terms of ad formats, Samsung TV Plus has a range of formats. You’ve got your traditional in-stream mid-roll, but then you’ve also got opportunities like pre-roll and first in break; formats which we can tailor towards the client’s KPIs and what their goals are. And then native formats as well. So again, one of the huge benefits of being the device manufacturer, we’ve got the opportunity to showcase native ad formats on our home screen. So slightly different from the FAST opportunity, but actually being able to reach those users from the moment that they turn on their TV. This is really important for the app and content partners that we work with, because it’s all about content discovery.
But also for those premium luxury brands that want to appear in those big screen formats with 100 percent share of voice, that’s a really exciting place for them to be.
What’s your company’s strongest USP?
Reach is definitely number one. We are the number one smart TV manufacturer globally, which is a position that we’ve held for 19 consecutive years now. So 70 million active ads-enabled TVs across EMEA, with three markets that launched last year: UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which is super exciting as well. So we’re continually looking to grow that as we expand. When we’re talking about an active ads-enabled TV, we’re not talking about our total Samsung TVs in market, we’re talking about the ones which we serve and deliver ads on, so that’s the true to market figure.
And then our other USP is our data. We have a range of different data that we can look at. Everything that we do has a privacy-first approach, so we take that very seriously for our consumers. We’re very vigilant in making sure that they understand what they’re opting into in terms of their data.
We’re able to look at things like automatic content recognition (ACR), which is our proprietary and deterministic data allowing us to understand what’s being viewed on that screen. So for example, we can understand what linear ads have been viewed on screen, which is really important for looking at reach extension, getting down to granular things like gaming data, or even things like fans of the cast. There’s our device data as well, understanding attribution to the TV device itself, alongside streaming data which covers app usage.
What targeting capabilities are you having most success with at the moment?
Say you’re taking a luxury client as an example, you could use our device data by firstly understanding how premium that TV chipset is to understand an affluent audience. You could then use the ACR data to understand if the user has been exposed or not exposed to their linear TV campaign, and extend reach against that. We’ve also then got third-party partnerships, which we value highly, so looking at things like demo data, affluence data, which we could also look to layer on. It’s really about making sure you’re using the data in a smart way, to reach the audience that you’re looking at, but then use that for measurement as well.
What person in the industry inspires you most today?
I’m going to talk about a broader perspective, women in media. I think off the back of International Women’s Day, it’s been really inspiring seeing so many women in leadership roles, and also emerging talent coming into the business. And I think as a woman in media myself, it’s so nice that we’re seeing more women within the industry, and we’re seeing the support around that too. So shout out to all women in media.
What are the biggest changes you expect in CTV advertising over the next year?
I don’t think this is going to come as a huge surprise, but of course the overall increase in streaming. Again, being an OEM, we’re able to look at a lot of different data points in streaming behavior across our TVs, and we’re just seeing it increase day by day. And that really comes down to the amazing content that’s out there; there’s more and more brilliant content being released across multiple different platforms. So that’s really going to draw users in, and then drive more users into CTV advertising.
And it would be wrong of me not to talk about the growth of AVOD and FAST in particular. I think what’s really exciting there is the content I’ve already talked about, but also having that lean back experience, which will continue to attract not just consumers, but also those content providers leaning into that space; more viewers, more ad spend.
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