16 next gen media buyers to know—and what they want from TV advertising

Many of the top-of-mind questions in TV advertising aren’t concerning the current state of media, but its future. Industry growing pains in platforms, data, technology and automation are solidifying the foundation for the next generation of media buyers to build upon. Ahead of the TV upfronts, Ad Age asked 16 rising media buyers what advice they have for brands to take their approaches to investment into the future. The buyers share what’s exciting them in the current media marketplace and the changes they hope to see as the industry continues to establish future practices. Key trends among young buyers include ethical practices and social responsibility, diverse media investment, gaming and sports. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Justin Bennett Associate director, sports and live investment, GroupM Live sports has long commanded some of the most valuable ad real estate in media. New opportunities to integrate into sports content through sponsored analytics, augmented reality experiences and alternative telecasts are what currently excites Justin Bennett in the space. Bennett said more advertisers should invest in growing sports markets like women’s sports, which saw a surge of ad demand and coverage over the past year. Rather than shell out ad budgets for marquee events such as the March Madness finals, Bennett said greater opportunity exists in developing consistent relationships with these growing franchises. “I’m really excited to see what could happen when we actually put money behind women’s sports and the opportunities that can grow,” such as expanded coverage and peripheral content, said Bennett. Alexandra Cannon Associate client investment lead, Mindshare Alexandra Cannon said advertisers should be more tuned into consumer behaviors and cultural relevance, particularly as audience data capabilities become more robust. “Consumers are more likely to associate brands with their own values,” said Cannon, who also pointed to the recent growth in investment for women’s sports. Cannon said consumers more than ever have their eyes on brands’ practices, and that as ad technologies for targeting continue to develop, “it’s important for advertisers to prioritize data protection, brand safety and always keep in mind consumer privacy.” Sarah Cobuzzi Associate director, video investment, PHD As more streamers attempt to drive viewership to their ad tiers, Sarah Cobuzzi said it’s an exciting time for advertisers to get creative with their TV ads. While digital formats such as pause ads, which places brands onscreen when a show is paused, or binge ads, which allow one advertiser to sponsor an ad-free watch session, are table stakes, Cobuzzi said the limited breaks in streaming offer marketers new ways to think about reaching TV audiences. And the idea extends beyond just the creative itself. Cobuzzi said tech and data companies have become just as important as the media companies themselves and wants to see more attention given to them. In March, measurement company VideoAmp hosted an upfront-esque presentation in New York. “It was the first time that I had seen a data company come in and build a presentation exactly how you would see like an NBCU upfront presentation,” Cobuzzi said. “They presented who they are, why they are important, case studies and why advertisers should be leveraging them and the benefit there is in the marketplace.” Cobuzzi said there’s a benefit to new players in TV advertising playing ball in traditional spaces. For example, this year’s TV upfront week includes presentations from Amazon Prime Video, YouTube and Netflix alongside Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. That competition benefits advertisers because “it forces the digital partners’ hand to think on an upfront basis,” said Cobuzzi. “A lot of times, we get sent last-minute opportunities, and we already went through the upfront and know where everything’s landing,” said Cobuzzi. The upfront “forces partners to think how they can partner with advertisers over the next year, not just the next few months.” Alexandra Cudia Associate director, investment and activation, OMD Alexandra Cudia said more advertisers should consider how their target audience consumes media when setting their investment strategy. Cudia said an example is young consumers using social media as a primary way to search for new products, so a brand wanting to promote a summer clothing line might trade sponsored search results for partnering with a TikTok creator on a summer outfit series and exploring ways to bring that social-first creative to TV. As ad budgets tighten, Cudia said media consolidation will be crucial for both consumers overwhelmed by the amount of choice, as well as for advertisers needing to spend more efficiently. Streaming bundles or packages across platforms could help advertisers be creative in their marketing, according to Cudia. Cudia is also excited to see celebrities at the upfront this year after a largely star-less upfront last year due to the Hollywood strikes. Zoie Hashim Associate director, programmatic, Dentsu Media U.S. As the upfronts become more crowded with media companies across tech, social and TV, Zoie Hashim said the competition gives more power to the buyers. Given the breadth of media partners to strike deals with, Hashim said buyers can strategize as consumers as well. For example, Hashim found one streamer served the same ad too many times, and another’s ad-supported subscription was overpriced and made him dislike the brands advertising on it. But as much as Hashim believes the rapid innovation in media capabilities caused by competition is exciting, he said the industry needs to focus more heavily on transparency. While agencies are making efforts to make sure programmatic platforms are serving ads in brand-safe environments, Hashim said digital platforms need to provide advertisers more visibility into where their algorithms are placing brands and allow buyers more choice. Allie Kelly Senior VP, performance media, Publicis Collective Allie Kelly is excited about the collaboration between buying teams that the blurring of lines between different media has caused. “People go to their couch and look at TikTok the same way they would look at a TV before,” said Kelly. “It can be complicated [for media buying], but it’s cool because I’ve been working more with traditional TV buyers and exchanging information and understanding the landscape more than I ever thought I would have been doing paid social.” Kelly said more than ever, she sees influencers and platforms like Reddit on media plans next to traditional TV companies. As advertisers look to include more platforms and partners in their media plans, Kelly said it will become increasingly important to be conscious of the values and ethics of the platforms brands partner with. “At the end of the day, it is an investment,” said Kelly. “It’s money that we’re putting out there. So you want to make sure that it’s going to a platform that has similar values as the brand.” Sean Mathew VP, media director, investments, MediaHub Similarly, Sean Mathew said that as media becomes less siloed, it gives buyers more freedom to collaborate across TV, social and digital teams. However, as media innovates, Mathew said some traditional advertisers have been slow to adopt modern buying practices. In particular, Mathew said there remains a stigma around programmatic buying with traditional TV advertisers, but he hopes more will understand that buyers can now reach top inventory through programmatic deals. Mathew said one hurdle that the industry needs to overcome is better transparency from streaming platforms on where advertising is being served to better inform clients. Morgan McAlister Director, strategy, Initiative In January, Carnival needed to begin promoting a new private island, but the destination wasn’t ready to be filmed on for an ad. Instead, the cruise line partnered with the NFL and Fox to create a virtual island during a game. Morgan McAlister, who works on the Carnival account, said she’s excited to see more advertisers tap into mixed reality tech in their marketing to bring brands into content rather than commercial breaks. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Carnival Cruise Line (@carnival) McAlister said this is a time for tech pioneering in the TV space, and she wants to see more brands take risks with their storytelling. Kyle McNiff Senior manager, national U.S. video investment, Dentsu Media U.S. Kyle McNiff said the growth of retail media has not just impacted advertising with retailers, but has developed new opportunities for advertisers across media. The incorporation of retail data and performance metrics such as purchase data has allowed buyers to be more innovative in media strategies. McNiff said more brands should lean in to how innovation in data can allow marketing across social, CTV, digital out-of-home and more to become more interconnected and creative. And he hopes that media companies will continue to innovate in the “enablement of cleaner data sharing” in order to expand the possibilities of cross-platform advertising. Beau Riva Manager, digital investment, Dentsu Media U.S. Amidst the festivities for TV and streaming companies, Beau Riva said more attention should be given to streaming audio. Riva said there are new opportunities that lend themselves well to merging audio and video strategies that aren’t being utilized enough by advertisers, such as video podcasts. “When you look at how much people engage with audio, the spend isn’t reflected so much in larger media investment and from advertisers,” said Riva. Riva also wants to see processes evolve in the programmatic guaranteed space, or programmatic deals with terms agreed on in advance. “The programmatic guaranteed world needs to innovate more to bring the power back to the buyers,” said Riva. “Right now, we’re heavily reliant on the partners to adjust everything and this can take time … maybe we want to add more money, and that can be a two- or three-day back-and-forth conversation instead of me being able to instantly send them a revision.” Upfronts and NewFronts blog Tracking the latest TV and digital ad pitches Read more here Katie Rodkey VP, integrated investment, UM Katie Rodkey echoed the desire for more advertisers to focus on programmatic buying, because she said it gives buyers more power to direct media investment across partners rather than individually with each. Rodkey said she thinks the most exciting industry push is in AI and how emerging technology can help automate day-to-day tasks for buyers, particularly in aggregating industry news and summarizing events. For clients, Rodkey said AI will be able to help buyers be more reactive to current trends and events by automating media planning. “One thing I’ve heard from a lot of clients is wanting speed to market, and I think they really want to be agile and be able to quickly identify what’s going on and have their message in market as part of that,” said Rodkey. “Of course, there’s all of the planning work in the background that needs to be done in order to do that, so it will be interesting to see AI play a bigger role in cutting down those steps.” Carlos Sanchez VP, groupe media and inclusive buying solutions, Publicis Media “What is exciting me the most in the current media marketplace is how much appetite, desire and action has been coming from brands” for investment in diverse media, said Carlos Sanchez. “I can attest that the accounts and clients I’ve seen and engaged with have had real measurable, trackable change around investment as it pertains to inclusiveness.” Sanchez said as advertisers in TV shift to be more audience-focused in buying practices, the same idea has to be applied to the ad creative. He said as brands consider where to reach their target audiences during the upfronts, brands need to “recognize that specific audiences need to be spoken to in a specific way.” For example, Sanchez said advertisers have been quick to be inclusive of Black and Hispanic audiences, but have excluded other diverse segments such as Asian American and Native Hawaiin/Pacific Islander audiences. “When you think of the AAPI audience, it can be intimidating—they represent around six different countries of origin with six different languages, not including dialects,” said Sanchez. “As an industry, we’ve run away from that, and we’ve kicked the can down the road. We need to really reevaluate how we show up in that space.”More: A celebration of creative excellence for AANHPI Month 2024 Jehanzeb Shakoor Manager of digital investment, Wavemaker Gaming is an underutilized space for advertisers, said Jehanzeb Shakoor. “There’s a stigma with gaming that there’s a high barrier of entry,” said Shakoor. “People think they need to sit down with a gaming developer and create different creative.” Instead, Shakoor said gaming ads can take many different forms beyond developing a custom metaverse platform. For example, Shakoor said in-game ads can be bought programmatically and look like an extension of regular out-of-home ads. Sponsoring a video game streamer can be an evolution of social marketing, where the creator is a partner in immersing brands with their niche-interest audience. Shakoor said he hopes advertisers pay greater attention to the ways marketing can extend beyond one platform and carry a brand story to different types of gaming. “Not only can we reach the consumer within the game, but we can also reach them when they’re outside of the game consuming gaming content by running digital advertising across those like tentpole releases” and around large, TV-like events such as esports tournaments. Griffin Timoney Associate director, video investment, Hearts & Science With the influx of tech streamers into traditional TV spaces, Griffin Timoney is excited about the greater amount of choice in TV advertising. As buying moves away from the upfront cycle with greater emphasis on audience-based buying, marketers are able to find opportunities in TV throughout the year rather than setting commitments all at once. But to shift advertisers’ focus from linear TV to CTV, Timoney said streamers need to offer more transparency into what content ads are running during. While some platforms, such as Peacock, are working with agencies to do so, Timoney said it needs to be a standard across the industry. Gina Waterman Director, commerce investment, EssenceMediacom Gina Waterman said the accessibility of retail data to advertisers has brought immense change to practices across all media. The ability to attribute media spend to direct business results has brought new advertisers into both retail media and traditional TV media. In the growing retail media space, Waterman said, a lack of standardization in data and measurement is hindering adoption. “This is creating siloed measurement practices and hindering our ability to look at a holistic shopper buy and measure the performance across platforms and partners.” Lauren Wilcox Senior associate, OOH, Dentsu Media U.S. As the worlds of different media collide, Lauren Wilcox said advertisers shouldn’t miss out on new opportunities in out-of-home marketing. Specifically, Wilcox said she wants to see more brands find interesting intersections between OOH and social media. Wilcox pointed to a recent Cheetos campaign in which OOH signs pointed to the mishaps that may happen as a result of Cheetos eaters using their dominant hand to snack. One example in Brooklyn, New York, read, “99% of people eat Cheetos with their dominant hand. Even drivers.” Parked in front of the sign were two cars stacked on top of one another. Cheetos then developed social content around the reactions of pedestrians encountering the pileup. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chester Cheetah (@cheetos) More possibilities are emerging in the format itself, Wilcox said, including the implementation of data that will allow advertisers to develop changing creative based on location or local weather.

16 next gen media buyers to know—and what they want from TV advertising

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