B2B and TV: It’s a Whole New Playing Field for Advertisers

About the Guest 

David Hohman is the EVP & MD, Demand Side Media for Nielsen. He has over 20 years of experience across multiple industry verticals and has been with Nielsen since 2013. Prior to Nielsen, Dave led the Global Data and Analytics practice for McCann Worldgroup. Dave is also a USMC veteran and currently lives in Westerly, RI, with his wife Jennifer, and they have two sons, Tristen and Stewart.

Connect with David Hohman

Key Takeaways

• Defining Connected TV: Refers to any television that can be connected to the internet, including apps, streaming services, or browsing the internet. CTV includes any device that can access this content, such as a phone, laptop, or tablet. This preferred mode of consumption of media has transformed the landscape, especially in the realm of advertising. 
• The means for measuring viewership and behavioral patterns are constantly evolving in light of the many ways in which CTV has transformed the landscape.
• Nielsen’s legacy position within the television viewership measurement industry.
• The emerging (and accelerating) mandates are associated with viewer privacy.
• Tactics to help B2B marketers maximize their ad buys and strategy.

Quotes

“Creating content that is a part of the story and not disruptive, which is what the ad pod in TV has traditionally been about, makes it more compelling and engaging, and people are less likely to skip.”

Episode Highlights

What are the best-in-class means of measuring/metrics in today’s CTV landscape?

The trends toward cord-cutting and shift-to-streaming have accelerated, particularly since the advent of Covid19. Streaming and over-the-air broadcast now constitute about 45% of all viewing, which challenges the traditional methods for measuring engagement. The goal is to determine the content, the platforms, and the devices people are using. Nielsen is currently trying to bring all those elements together to aggregate ads and content and then de-duplicate down to all-important individual viewership metrics. 

Does Nielsen have an advantage because of its legacy TV industry status?

David explains that a lot of traditional TV content is already being encoded for measurement by Nielsen. They also have privacy-protected panels and a trusted track record, which gives Nielsen a leg up on competitors. They are starting from a privacy position rather than trying to incorporate it after the fact. Nielsen’s relationship with Roku, including access to proprietary user information, offers distinct advantages and an opportunity for innovation.

How will the new privacy-driven ecosystem impact CTV’s future?

First-party data is becoming ever more critical because advertisers are looking for very specific behaviors to create the most well-targeted, well-timed, and effective ad content for the audience they are trying to reach. The emergence of heightened privacy awareness is only accelerating the urgency. David believes it’s a serious issue, and regulations are only going to continue to increase.  

How can B2B marketers best target their desired audiences? 

B2B marketers need to understand that there’s not much of a distinction between the business persona and the consumer. They have interests that span both as well as interests that are specific to one or the other. Taking advantage of the signals you get from a consumer’s personal and professional life and integrating them is the best way to get the fullest possible picture. David believes a holistic approach generates the most effective ads.

What opportunities are there for B2B marketers to make the most of their CTV buys?

The power of television is the sight, sound, and motion capability to tell stories. It’s the content that consumers are chasing. It’s all about what people want to see and how people like to consume information. Creating ads that embed themselves within the content is David’s best recommendation for retaining viewer attention and engagement. He doesn’t currently see any companies doing a particularly good job of B2B marketing. It’s still mostly consumer-driven, but David believes the opportunity exists. Storytelling is one of the best ways to deliver a message!

Recommended Reading/Resources

• Nielsen has a monthly report called The Gauge that tracks habits, defines terminology, and breaks television viewing into its various components: broadcast, cable, streaming, and others.