3 Big Takeaways From 20 Companies Shaping the Future of TV Advertising

According to the IAB, digital video will pass linear in ad spend in 2024. And with this new age of TV comes new strategies for reaching consumers.

“Digital video is the future of video,” David Cohen, IAB’s president and CEO, said during the NewFronts Main Stage at Convene 225 Liberty on Wednesday. “Understanding next-generation solutions through NewFronts is as relevant and as important as ever before.”

Like last year, IAB brought back its Main Stage event for the 2024 NewFronts, allowing 20 companies to present throughout the day on what’s next in TV advertising. (See a list of presenters here.)

These are three big takeaways from the presentations on where the future of TV is headed:

Pay attention to new measurement methods

With companies desperately trying to reach consumers in an increasingly fragmented marketplace, presenters emphasized attention as a key metric for success.

For example, GSTV, a data-driven, national video network across fuel retailers, noted during its presentation that a new study conducted with Lumen found that 95% of its impressions (a.k.a. the people stopping to fuel up) delivered eyes-to-screen. The finding showcased how the platform receives three times the attention of CTV ads and 2.5 times that of linear ads when compared to data from TVision.

And despite the short duration of stops at the fuel pump, the company said impressions delivered 91% more attentive viewing time than a 30-second spot on CTV.

Additionally, Teads, a global advertising platform, announced CTV with TVision and Omnichannel with Adelaide as strategies for ensuring campaigns are optimized for attention to drive outcomes. According to Teads, the partnerships introduce new omnichannel capabilities and let advertisers dictate the impact of campaigns with precision.

“The strategic use of attention metrics forms the foundation for planning robust omnichannel campaigns,” Neala Brown, svp, strategy and operations at Teads, said. “It will lead to better outcomes as it allows for us to manage and adjust the level of attention needed for your campaign while also ensuring scalability.”

Taking attention a step further, Telly, a two-screened, ad-supported smart TV (which serves hundreds of ads per day), may have made the most notable measurement impression.

During Telly’s presentation, Dallas Lawrence, the company’s chief strategy officer, noted that Telly delivers ads based on customer-volunteered data and can tell when consumers are sitting in front of the screen, giving advertisers more accurate measurement and eliminating wasted impressions from when a device is running and viewers aren’t in the room.

Stay authentic with growing audiences

Growth in the U.S. is coming from multicultural audiences, and reaching those audiences authentically is how brands can grow alongside them.

Throughout the day, several presenters, including Canela Media, Estrella Media and My Code, showcased how advertisers could reach multicultural audiences in ways that both are authentic and brand safe.

Among the highlights, LGBTQ+ streamer Revry came with a choreographed song and dance about reaching growing LGBTQ+ audiences and doing it safely through its PrismRiot ad network. This allows brands to purchase programmatically for LGBTQ+ content and audiences, with a reach spanning over 110 million U.S. households across multiple CTV and mobile platforms.

Additionally, LATV announced a new parent brand, LatiNation Media, which will expand the company’s content and services for its audience of bilingual and bicultural Latinos in the U.S.

“The full menu of what LatiNation Media offers includes original content, innovative advertising solutions and expansive distribution,” CEO Andrés Palencia said. “This pivotal moment marks the culmination of our journey toward launching an all-encompassing media entity powered by authentic bilingual Latino content.”

AI solutions aren’t the future. They’re happening now.

AI has been a buzzword throughout the NewFronts, with everyone from Google to Samsung Ads offering their own unique AI targeting and solutions. And the IAB Main Stage wasn’t any different.

The theme makes sense, with Cohen pointing out ahead of the day’s presentations that one-third of brands, agencies and publishers are using AI to enhance their first-party datasets.

Among the highlights, Rembrand showcased its regenerative AI, which can automatically generate brand-safe creative for creator-led video campaigns without the cumbersome back-and-forth of traditional creator deals.

Meanwhile, LG Ad Solutions revealed how it’s leveraging AI and machine learning techniques to provide more personalized experiences, including its creative AI to swap ads based on real-time audience, location and even weather data.

Samba TV also announced new generative AI for real-time analysis of on-screen content, including facial recognition, logo detection, sentiment analysis and brand safety checks.

Ashwin Navin, Samba TV’s CEO and co-founder, said in a statement that the tech “provides advertisers and publishers more meaningful insights into the context of what’s happening on TV, demonstrating that context is as crucial as the content itself.”