DV Looks Back at AW2020

This year’s Advertising Week 2020 (AW2020) was a reimagined virtual event that brought together thought leaders across the world from marketing, media, technology, and creative industries to discuss the future of advertising. Given the unprecedented year we’ve had, there were plenty of productive discussions and valuable new insights to learn from.

The team at DV hosted a number of sessions that touched on some of this year’s trending topics such as Connected TV (CTV), brand safety and suitability, the upcoming election and best practices for driving performance in a cookieless world.

In case you missed any of our sessions, below is a brief recap and video recording from AW2020.

2020 Vision and Beyond

In this session, DV’s CCO, Karen Gross, discussed media and consumption trends that have accelerated in 2020 and how they will continue to impact advertisers in 2021. We found that, on average, consumers have doubled the amount of time they spend each day consuming content — approximately three and a half hours, to an average of almost 7 hours. A big portion of that comes from CTV. As a channel, CTV already reaches over 80% of US households and 44% of consumers say they’re using CTV even more during 2020.

As advertisers shift more spend toward CTV, they want to feel assured that their media investment is protected, and they want to be able to evaluate its efficacy in the same manner that they do other digital media channels. DV recommends our Authentic Impression®, which ensures an ad is seen by a real person, in a brand-safe environment, in the intended geography. This provides a consistent measure of effectiveness wherever consumers see their advertising messages online — helping to accelerate the exciting and explosive opportunities on CTV.

For more insights and information on CTV, brand suitability and looking toward 2021, watch the full video recording here.

Driving Performance in the Age of Privacy

Until recently, many advertisers looked to third-party audience data to create a digital profile that allowed for precision targeting and performance measurement across their ad campaigns. However, due to stricter data privacy regulations and the decision by most web browsers to sunset the use of third-party cookies, there is a universal shift away from third-party audience targeting. So where does this leave advertisers looking to target and optimize their campaigns to relevant, highly engaged audiences?

In this session, DV’s CMO, Dan Silvjanovski, discussed how advanced solutions like DV Authentic Performance™ and custom contextual targeting can help drive performance in a cookieless world.

Dan also spoke with Anuj Dahiya, Global Digital Media Lead at Mondelez, about ways in which his company has ensured quality across their media buys, as well as privacy-friendly strategies they’ve adapted to drive performance.

“At Mondelez, we focus on getting the right audiences and creating relevant experiences,” said Dahiya. “Building a centralized data pool plays a very integral role in providing personalized experiences that take into account what the consumers’ views are from a brand perspective and helps us push towards consumers’ purchase and loyalty decisions.”

For more strategic ideas about how to drive performance, what metrics matter, and what the future of targeting and measurement looks like, watch the full video recording here.

The Future of Contextual in a Cookieless World

With the enactment of stricter data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and the decision by most web browsers to sunset the use of third-party cookies and in-app trackers, there is a universal shift away from third-party audience targeting. As such, many advertisers are reconsidering contextual targeting as a way to reach audiences that are consuming content relevant to the brand or campaign.

In this interview, DV’s CPO, Jack Smith, discussed the value of advanced contextual targeting in a cookieless world. “We believe, going forward, companies are going to need to start using privacy-friendly solutions to help maintain performance in their digital campaigns,” Jack noted.

He also uncovered key findings from our “Four Fundamental Shifts in Media & Advertising” report that highlighted the importance of aligning ads with relevant content in order to drive performance.

Watch the full video recording here.

CTV: The Quality Imperative – Creating a Definitive Standard Across Channels

Connected TV (CTV) is by far the most popular platform for digital advertisers, given the nature of its ability to leverage data to create more meaningful moments on the largest screen in the house. In fact, according to a recent Advertiser Perceptions’ survey, 50% of advertisers said they felt it was possible to replace linear TV reach with CTV and digital video ads.

While high demand and inconsistent standards make this channel a target for fraud, our industry has been building solutions for the past few years to address these issues, and continues to evolve its protection to address emerging fraud schemes. In this session, DV’s CEO, Mark Zagorski, discussed how CTV can set the standard and define measurement and quality across all digital channels.

While linear TV remains an attractive medium and is without flaws like fraud, there are some pretty major drawbacks — in particular as it relates to targeting, creative testing and attribution. Mark noted, “Advertisers want the best of both worlds. CTV is the medium that’s mostly likely to get us there. But to do so, the quality imperative must be met.”

Watch the full video recording for a closer look at where quality measurement and protection stands on CTV, and how we’re going to bridge this gap.

Bridging the Gap: Politics in 2020

Speaking of bridging the gap…As the 2020 Election draws closer, the country’s divide further expands. The opinions that used to stay behind closed doors are broadcast for all to read on social media, and viewpoints are so vastly different on both sides of the aisle. In this session, DV’s Zachary Hect, Senior Policy Manager, joined Jason Harris, CEO, Mekanism and Anna Palmer, Senior Correspondent at Politico, to discuss key factors that have divided us to this point, and what needs to change.

“There might be disagreement on political issues, but we have some fundamental commonalities that we all have to agree on,” noted Zachary. “And that’s the democratic system, voting and participating, and trust in information that everybody can verify. We need to be confident that there are certain institutions that are more trustworthy that we need to support and we need to listen to.”

Watch the full video recording here to learn more about how we can address today’s polarization as a society and from an advertiser perspective.