Max launches contextual targeting and shoppable ad formats

Warner Bros. Discovery is jumping on the shoppable ads craze with a new set of ad formats designed to showcase products that resemble those seen in shows. The ads arrive alongside contextual targeting tools that can help advertisers match marketing with emotionally relevant scenes. Both ad formats are available to advertisers and will begin running on Max this quarter. TV and streaming ad prices in 2024-25 Primetime TV ad prices Cost of ads on Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu TV ad cost trends over the past decade WBD has prioritized exclusive streaming sponsorships for major releases in its marketing strategy, and the new shoppable and contextual targeting capabilities “offer sponsors supporting media tactics to drive mid-funnel and lower-funnel performance,” said Ryan Gould, head of digital ad sales for WBD. Gould said the new products also help diversify the advertising viewers see on Max by offering marketers a mix of standard spot inventory and interactive units. The shoppable and contextual targeting capabilities come from a partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery and Kerv, an AI ad tech company. Using Kerv’s AI, metadata based on the audio and visual content of every scene across Max’s content was stockpiled to match relevant products or ads with a scene. WBD’s contextual targeting tool, called Moments, allows advertisers to target their ads by thematic content rather than more typical audience-based targeting. Max will offer 40 predefined Moments that include content related to cooking, real estate, gaming and science. While advertisers previously might have previously matched their marketing with a specific show or network based on the types of content it airs, Moments is a more advanced iteration of contextual targeting in linear by serving ads in real time based on on-demand viewing. Also read: ‘Friends’ anniversary created new ad opportunities An advertiser that targets the Moment for travel content may see their marketing appear in episodes of “Friends,” “The White Lotus,” “Hacks,” “Succession,” “Full House,” “And Just Like That…,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “90 Day Fiance,” said Gould. But each of those shows may also be contextually relevant for other categories too. “Friends” also supports targeting based on celebration, family and music Moments, and viewers will see different ads aligned with those different moments throughout a series, according to Gould. Multiple media companies, such as Disney and NBCUniversal, have recently launched similar tools as the future of first-party data has become uncertain due to changing privacy regulations and the demise of cookies. The capability is also a way for WBD to further monetize its streaming content as large swaths of its popular franchises feature strong language, sex and gore. Moments allows the media company to pair advertisers in brand-friendly scenes in “House of the Dragon,” “The White Lotus” and other R-rated and TV-MA content. But contextual targeting also helps to identify the nuances of relevant moments—Gould said WBD’s Moments product can differentiate fun, exciting and heartwarming travel moments from tense, or violent ones. The AI-based metadata also allows WBD to catalog items in shows that can be matched with advertiser’s products, and send viewers purchase information on a second screen. This has also become a major trend in streaming with the proliferation of QR-code based advertising across streaming platforms as well as companies such as Paramount creating mobile shopping hubs to pair with TV content. WBD originally pitched its shoppable ads product, called Shop with Max, during its May upfront presentation. Gould said WBD used the upfront to start working with the company’s top advertisers on the shoppable product, which will now be widely available to the ad market. Wayfair is a launch partner for Shop with Max. The capability will be available across all genres and in TV and film. The ad formats will take the form of mid-roll ads that will curate products specifically for the show each viewer is watching, and feature QR codes to connect the viewer with the product. The shoppable ad units are also able to be ported to linear. Wayfair will sponsor Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship,” and will show shoppable ads across linear and streaming. But similar to WBD’s Moments products, streaming viewers will also see different shoppable ad units based on the products in the content they are watching. The QR codes will direct users to a branded landing page created by WBD that can display up to 20 products. While Gould said the “look and feel” of the different shoppable mobile sites will be consistent across partnerships, each will be uniquely curated per the sponsor. Selecting a product sends the user to the advertiser’s website to check out, and WBD will track sales attribution across the pages. “What we’re trying to do is build familiarity and habituality into the user experience,” said Gould. “The perfect end result is someone’s watching ‘The White Lotus’ and [says], ‘Oh my god, I love that outfit,’ they pause and there’s a bunch of product recommendations based on that scene, and they start to shop.” Gould said that they’ve tracked purchase intent tied to their shows before in identifying the demand for shopping on Max. The executive cited increased searches for a Burberry bag featured on “Succession” and increased bookings for the Four Seasons’ San Domenico Palace hotel in Taormina, Sicily, where season two of “The White Lotus” took place. Gould declined to say whether WBD would use shoppable ads for cross-promoting franchise merchandise or licensed and co-branded products that have begun to define film marketing for major releases such as “Barbie” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”

Max launches contextual targeting and shoppable ad formats

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