Publishers, Platforms, Agencies, and Brands Will Set the Course for 2024, Tackling the Most Pressing Issues in Digital Marketing including: AI, Commerce, Privacy, Streaming, and More

Confirmed Speakers Include Bob Bakish, Senator Marsha Blackburn, Tariq Hassan, and Aaron Sorkin with More to Come 

NEW YORK, October 4, 2023 – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the digital media and marketing trade association, today unveiled details of its Annual Leadership Meeting (ALM), to be held on January 28-30 at the JW Marriott in Marco Island, Florida. As the central thought leadership event for IAB, ALM aims to advance the digital media and marketing industry and set the agenda for the year ahead.

The theme of the event, “It Starts Here”, challenges industry leaders from agencies, publishers, platforms, and brands to strategize, and adapt to ever-changing trends such as generative AI, commerce, privacy, a streaming-first future, responsible media, attention and creativity, and more.

“ALM is inspiration, education, discussion, debate, and where business happens. Attendees come to immerse themselves in the digital challenges and opportunities that will shape our world in the coming years. This year, we have a lot to tackle, from the long-awaited deprecation of third-party cookies to building a vibrant and responsible digital ecosystem. At the end of the day, things get done at ALM. Agendas are set, and we move forward together,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB.

Confirmed speakers this far include:

• Bob Bakish, President, Paramount Global​
• Senator Marsha Blackburn​
• Jon Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer, Comscore
• Stephanie Dobbs Brown, Chief Marketing Officer, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)​
• Victoria Garrick Brown, TED Talk speaker, mental health advocate, podcast host, and former Division I athlete
• Tariq Hassan, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald’s​
• Terence Kawaja, CEO & Founder, LUMA Partners​
• Karthik Rao, Chief Executive Officer, Nielsen
• Jenna Lebel, Chief Marketing Officer, Liberty Mutual​
• Aaron Sorkin, Award-Winning Writer/Producer​
• Josh Stinchcomb, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group

*Please check the ALM website at iab.com/alm for the most up-to-date list of speakers.

Cohen continued, “ALM has expanded beyond its historical composition to now represent the full digital ecosystem. We expect more buy-side constituents than ever including leadership from brands and agencies to complement the impressive gathering of publisher, platform, and ad tech executives.”

ALM is where the advertising industry first tackled the biggest trends and new topics such as the demise of the cookie, growth opportunities around direct-to-consumer, eliminating fraud in the digital ecosystem, the value of responsible journalism, government regulation in the data economy, and making mobile work for advertisers and publishers.

For more information, please visit – https://www.iab.com/events/alm-2024/. Agenda and additional list of speakers to be announced soon.

About IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

IAB Media Contacts
Brittany Tibaldi / Michael Vaughan
347-487-6794 / 813-210-1706
btibaldi@kcsa.com / mvaughan@kcsa.com

The post IAB Announces its Annual Leadership Meeting (ALM 2024), Bringing Industry Leaders to Set the Stage for the Year Ahead appeared first on IAB.

New York – May 3, 2023 – Digital video advertising spend increased 21% in 2022 to $47.1B and is projected to rise an additional 17% to $55.2B in 2023, according to IAB’s “2022 Video Ad Spend & 2023 Outlook: Defining the Next Generation” report.

Released today at the 2023 IAB NewFronts, in conjunction with Standard Media Index (SMI) and Advertiser Perceptions, the report found that while there has been real progress in how the TV/video advertising marketplace is transacted, measured, and defined, a number of key issues still lack consensus.

Premium Content Is Being Redefined

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of TV/video buyers agree that creator-driven video can be considered premium. The largest-spending buyers are even more likely to agree (69%). What’s more, two-in-three buyers (66%) use the same measurement approaches for creator economy video as they do for “Hollywood”-produced video.

“Beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder,” said Eric John, Vice President, Media Center, IAB. “That truism is playing out now in the world of video advertising as we see marketers and brands focusing and optimizing their spend not only in the traditional world of premium content, but also in the diverse, multiplatform world of creator content.”

Buyers Want a Multi-Currency Video Marketplace by 2025

An overwhelming majority (81%) of TV/video buyers say they want two or more unified currencies for impression measurement, and among those, 92% estimate that it will happen in the next two years. Yet the lack of buyer consensus on how to define currency threatens progress. Slightly more than half (52%) want viewable impressions defined by cumulative view-time, while 48% want continuous view-time. The lack of consensus extends to the number of seconds, with 32% wanting three minimum seconds for viewability, 24% wanting five seconds, and 19% wanting four seconds.

“As urgently as buyers want a multi-currency future, there’s no question that changing a market as large as video takes time; however, the clock is ticking,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. “To make significant progress, buyers need to come together and align on what they need, and sellers across the diverse video ecosystem need to be part of the conversation. We are optimistic about the conversations currently taking place and will continue to advocate for universal standards, transparency, interoperability, and collaboration across the industry.”

CTV and Social Video Are Must-Buys

With TV/video buyers prioritizing media channels where audiences are addressable, connected TV (CTV) continues to be one of the fastest growing channels in terms of digital video ad spend — up 22% in 2022, and 37% faster than short-form video from web and app-based publishers. Buyers say CTV is a must-buy (65%), as is social video (64%).

Widespread Efforts to Gauge Attention

TV/video buyers are increasingly focusing on attention metrics, with more than nine-in-ten (93%) using at least one method to gauge consumer attention. Half (51%) of buyers are applying biometric attention metrics to their campaigns. The biometric attention metric most utilized is eye-tracking — being used by one-third (34%) of buyers — but other metrics, including thermal scanning, pulse, heart rate, and beyond, are being leveraged.

“Buyers want to know if the audience is paying attention, and they’re making buying decisions accordingly,” added John. “​​Buyers want engaged audiences watching video content of all stripes, including premium and creator-driven video. They want currencies they can trust. That’s where the industry is going — the question now is how fast we will get there.”

IAB’s “2022 Video Ad Spend & 2023 Outlook: Defining the Next Generation” report can be downloaded here.

Methodology

IAB commissioned Advertiser Perceptions and SMI Insights to quantify the size and growth rate of the U.S. digital video advertising spend market and provide a lens into market trends, offering guidance for buyers and sellers on how they can position and differentiate their video initiatives based on where the challenges and opportunities reside. Advertiser Perceptions executed an anonymous online survey among ad agencies and brand marketers who are involved in recommending, specifying, or approving advertising spending in digital video, and spent at least $1M on advertising in 2022. SMI Insights’ digital video ad spend market size and growth rate estimates are based on SMI’s pool of ad billing data, including “forward bookings,” the IAB-commissioned Advertiser Perceptions quantitative survey, interviews with industry leaders, and other market estimates. The SMI Pool’s coverage of the U.S. advertising market is based on deterministic, census-level total media billings for all spending by the largest ad agencies, including all six U.S. major holding groups and most of the largest independents.

About Standard Media Index (SMI)

Standard Media Index (SMI), a Dreamscape company, reports on census-level, complete billing records for placement-level detail of all media transactions in all media types as supplied by the world’s largest media buying groups, as well as leading independents, and organizes that data to create a clear, granular, and easy-to-use database for our clients and agency partners.

Depending on the market, SMI captures between 70% and 95% of all agency spend. By aggregating it, SMI offers detailed ad intelligence across all media types, including television, digital, out-of-home, print, and radio. Depending on the market, data can be broken down by unit cost, media owner, ad type, buy type, advertiser product category, and other dimensions.

Clients use SMI data to determine media mix models, create competitive benchmarks, and gain visibility into pricing level data. The data also allow them to understand marketplace trends on a product category level, evaluate ROI of tent poles and sporting events, and break out ad formats by media type to highlight the effectiveness of different kinds of placements.

SMI’s data supports insights covering 34 countries around the world.

About Advertiser Perceptions

Advertiser Perceptions is the leader in providing research-based strategic market intelligence to the complex and dynamic media, advertising, and ad tech industries. Our curated, proprietary Ad PROS Network and deep relationships with the largest advertisers provide clients with an unbiased view of the market, their brand, and the competition. Our experts provide timely and actionable guidance enabling clients to improve their products and services, strengthen their brands, and drive more revenue. The largest, most innovative global media and ad technology businesses rely on Advertiser Perceptions.

About IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

IAB Media Contacts
Brittany Tibaldi / Michael Vaughan
347-487-6794 / 813-210-1706
btibaldi@kcsa.com / mvaughan@kcsa.com

The post 2022 U.S. Digital Video Ad Spend Grew Twice as Fast as Digital Media Overall, Projected to Hit $55.2B in 2023, According to IAB’s 2022 Video Ad Spend & 2023 Outlook Report appeared first on IAB.

Speakers include Professional Baseball Player and Entrepreneur Alex Rodriguez, Netflix’s Jeremi Gorman, Meta’s Erin Egan, TheSkimm’s Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, Writer, Television and Podcast Host Baratunde Thurston, and more

NEW YORK, January 12, 2023 – Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the digital media and marketing trade association, today unveiled the final schedule for its Annual Leadership Meeting (ALM), taking place from January 22-24 in Marco Island, Florida.

“ALM has been and continues to be the epicenter of the digital economy, surfacing hotly-debated topics facing the ecosystem at large. IAB is the association that brings together the full digital ecosystem. ALM is where we set the year’s agenda, driving the direction of the industry,” said David Cohen, Chief Executive Officer, IAB. “Attendees will gain critical insight and perspective on important topics including measurement, privacy, the streaming revolution, sustainability, and the emerging metaverse. ALM is the time for alignment, consensus, and action from all stakeholders.”

The 2023 conference theme, “It Starts Here,” explores a vision for the industry, and will uncover opportunities, paths forward, new connections, and meaningful ideas for the future. The three-day event will be held in-person at JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort, gathering industry leaders to address significant regulatory changes, challenges around consumer privacy and data use, the explosion of retail media networks, the evolving Metaverse/Web3, trust and transparency, and a host of new ad-supported opportunities.

Speakers will include:

• Matthew Ball, Pioneering Tech Authority, Venture Capitalist, and Bestselling Author, The Metaverse
• Krishan Bhatia, President and Chief Business Officer, NBCUniversal
• Jeffrey Cole, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Center for the Digital Future, USC Annenberg
• Sean Corcoran, U.S. Chief Executive Officer, Mediahub
• Soumya Donkada, Head of Digital, Media, and E-Commerce, Beauty and Well-being, Unilever
• Sean Downey, President, Americas and Global Partners, Google
• Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer, Policy, Meta
• Michele Fino, Head of Branded Entertainment, Crackle Plus
• Jeremi Gorman, President, Worldwide Advertising, Netflix
• Scott Howe, Chief Executive Officer, LiveRamp
• Jay Livingston, Chief Marketing Officer, Shake Shack
• Andy Monfried, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Lotame
• Ryan Moore, Global Chief Revenue Officer, SuperAwesome, an Epic Games Company
• Ian Orefice, President and Chief Operating Officer, TIME and TIME Studios
• John Osborn, U.S. Director, Ad Net Zero
• Christena Pyle, Chief Equity Officer, dentsu
• Alex Rodriguez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, A-Rod Corp
• Athan Stephanopoulos, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, CNN
• Baratunde Thurston, Host, America Outdoors and How To Citizen Podcast
• Deborah Wahl, Global Chief Marketing Officer, General Motors Company
• Kevin Warren, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, UPS
• Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, Co-founders and Co-Chief Executive Officer’s, TheSkimm
• Andrea Zapata, Executive Vice President, Head of Ad Sales Research, Measurement and Insights, Warner Bros. Discovery

All times are in EST; Speakers and timing are subject to change, refer to the website for up-to-date information. Note the event will not be live streamed this year, ALM has prioritized the value of in-person connections. 

IAB does not require proof of vaccination to attend events. However, it is strongly recommended that in-person attendees be vaccinated, and that you stay home if symptomatic. IAB’s Event and COVID-19 Policy and Code of Conduct.

About IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

IAB Media Contacts
Brittany Tibaldi / Michael Vaughan
347-487-6794 / 813-210-1706
btibaldi@kcsa.com / mvaughan@kcsa.com

The post IAB Announces Full Agenda for its Annual Leadership Meeting Jan. 22-24 in Marco Island, Florida appeared first on IAB.

NEW YORK, December 14, 2022 – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the digital media and marketing trade association, today announced two new additions to its senior team – Pam Zucker joined IAB as Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, and Jack Koch joined as Senior Vice President, Research & Insights. In addition, IAB announced the evolution of Chris Bruderle’s role as Vice President, Industry Insights and Content Strategy.

Pam will oversee the evolution of the IAB point of view through the creation of industry guidelines, standards, and marketplace education by protecting and enabling growth for an open, ad-supported digital ecosystem. Pam will be responsible for connecting and building relationships with members across the advertising landscape to elevate IAB as the center of discussion, information, and advice to address the greatest challenges of our industry. Pam will be reporting to Sheryl Goldstein, EVP, Chief Industry Growth Officer, IAB.

Leading into the New Year, IAB is enhancing the Centers of Excellence, Research & Insights programs as well as re-launching the Measurement, Addressability & Data (MAD) Center, previously known as the Programmatic+Data Center. This Center provides essential industry guidance and education on changes in underlying technology and privacy regulations in a constantly evolving ecosystem. Under its new name, the center will provide guidance and education on new addressability and measurement solutions to enable revenue growth, efficiency, and scale, with a focus on retail media networks and Advanced TV.

Additionally, Pam will be responsible for directing the other IAB Centers of Excellence (COE):

• Experience Center which focuses on evolving consumer behavior and emerging technologies (AR, VR, Voice and Games/Esports) to help define the advertising experiences of tomorrow.
• Media Center which creates the thought leadership, advocacy, and forums that make and shape the video and audio marketplace; help improve efficiency, consistency, and relevance in how media companies and marketers engage with audiences across all forms of digital video and audio (including CTV and podcasting).

“As the industry evolves, so must our Centers of Excellence to meet member needs,” said Pam Zucker, SVP, Chief Strategy Officer, IAB. “Once a former IAB member, I have benefited greatly from the research, networking, and reports that these centers provide. Now, as their leader, I am looking forward to ensuring that center participants and IAB members at large receive the tools and guidance they need to navigate changes in technology and responsible data use amid a shifting privacy landscape.”

Joining IAB’s leadership team, Jack is responsible for all research related initiatives and overseeing strategic direction and output of products such as the annual IAB PWC Advertising Spend and Revenue Research. He will continuously identify new research areas for IAB, helping future-proof the digital ecosystem and supporting the COE’s strategic priorities.

In 2023, the IAB Research & Insights team will focus on initiatives including ad spending related to gaming, podcasting, and video, as well as IAB’s coveted “State of Data” report. State of Data will be released during IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting in January 2023. This report is designed to help the industry prepare and navigate changes in privacy legislation, the deprecation of third-party identifiers, and platform policies affecting data collection, addressability, measurement, and optimization.

After nearly four years at IAB, Chris Bruderle takes on an expanded role as Vice President, Industry Insights and Content Strategy. In his new role, Chris will work closely with the Centers of Excellence and IAB Tech Lab to create industry education for brands, agencies, publishers, and ad tech participants. Chris will help educate the marketplace by leading member education meetings on various research-based discussions.

“At IAB, we’re focused on addressing industry issues most important for driving growth, educating all stakeholders, and mitigating risks by offering high quality solutions and relevant research to the entire advertising ecosystem,” said Sheryl Goldstein, EVP, Chief Industry Growth Officer, IAB. “Pam, Jack, and Chris each bring unique perspectives to the IAB team. With their years of experience and insights, we are excited to feel their impact – bringing our industry together and continuing to create solutions and educate the marketplace in this highly dynamic time.”

About Pam Zucker
With more than 30 years of experience, Pam comes to IAB as a highly regarded industry veteran across digital, programmatic, and traditional platforms. She’s known for her innovative approaches to media and marketing challenges that turn the complex media ecosystem into understandable ideas for both the C-Suite and day-to-day tacticians. Pam spent her first 25 years on the agency side at Publicis Media leading clients such as Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Activision, Yahoo, and others. During her time at Publicis Media, Pam built new practices for the agency, including Advanced TV and Experience Design. Pam also spent part of her career leading Media for Starcom Mediavest Group in Russia when that market first opened to media in the mid-1990s. Following her work on the agency side, Pam spent five years consulting for media and technology companies (NBCU, Fox, Viacom, Double Verify) helping them design custom programs and market their digital assets for growth. Most recently, Pam has been at Amobee leading their marketing and sales strategy efforts to bring new identity, performance, and new targeting techniques to the DSP and cross channel planning marketplace. Pam received her BA at Carleton College and resides in Hastings on Hudson, NY.

About Jack Koch
Jack joins IAB with more than 20 years of experience at platforms, brands, and agencies leading global research and insights initiatives that foster smarter business decisions. As an enthusiastic data-driven storyteller, Jack’s passion for pushing the boundaries of research and inspiring action through insights is paramount to elevate industry intelligence. Prior to joining IAB, Jack led and scaled global research, insights, and measurement teams at rapidly emerging digital media platforms including Microsoft, EA, LinkedIn, and Spotify. Most recently, Jack was at Reddit, where he established the Marketing Sciences organization responsible for advancing ad measurement capabilities and partnerships, producing research amplifying industry awareness, and understanding of online communities, uncovering contextual insights, and identifying audience trends that tell the world about their world. Jack earned his BSBA and BFA degrees from the Olin School of Business and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

About IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

IAB Media Contacts
Brittany Tibaldi / Michael Vaughan
347-487-6794 / 813-210-1706
btibaldi@kcsa.com / mvaughan@kcsa.com 

The post IAB Hires Industry Veteran Pam Zucker as SVP, Chief Strategy Officer, to Lead IAB’s Thought Leadership Engine Including Centers of Excellence and Research Team appeared first on IAB.

Returning Bigger and Better, IAB PlayFronts will be a Two-Day Event Addressing the Growing Gaming Industry

New York, December 7, 2022 – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the digital media and marketing trade association, today announced its lineup of events for the first half of 2023. Known for gathering the entire advertising and marketing ecosystem together, IAB’s 2023 events will help agencies, publishers, platforms, ad tech companies, and brands understand the evolving audience and market trends, and provide a game plan for the future of the industry. This year’s event slate promises to bring the biggest names in media, marketing, policy, and culture to provide insights and thought leadership.

“It feels like each year, the industry faces unprecedented change, new consumer expectations, and a shifting economic picture. Next year is no different, and we have developed an event series that will equip buyers, sellers, and the entire digital ecosystem with the tools, insights, and inspiration to thrive in this new reality. It’s an incredibly interesting time in our industry, and we are eager to continue our collective growth trajectory,” said David Cohen, Chief Executive Officer, IAB.

IAB ALM 2023: IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting (ALM) occurring January 22-24, 2023 in Marco Island, Florida will stimulate important discussions and address alignment, consensus, action, and follow-through from all stakeholders. ALM is where the digital industry first debated hot topics such as the rise of mobile video, DTC brands, the demise of the cookie, eliminating fraud in the digital ecosystem, fake news, digital storytelling, government regulation in the data economy, and making mobile work for advertisers and publishers. 2023 is no different as this year’s theme “It Starts Here” explores a vision for the industry, uncovered opportunities, paths forward, new connections, and big ideas.

“This year we have reached an inflection point with significant regulatory changes, challenges around consumer privacy, data use, and a host of new ad-supported opportunities including the explosion of retail media networks and the evolving metaverse. What this ever growing ecosystem tells us is that we must decide what we want the industry to become before it is decided for us. This is the time for proactivity and action, and that is exactly what we will be addressing at ALM 2023,” added Cohen.

Speakers already confirmed for ALM include:

• Matthew Ball, Pioneering Tech Authority, Venture Capitalist, and Bestselling Author, The Metaverse
• Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer, Policy, Meta
• Jeremi Gorman, President, Worldwide Advertising, Netflix
• Michael Kassan, Founder and CEO, MediaLink
• Greg Lyons, Chief Marketing Officer, Pepsi
• Alex Rodriguez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, A-Rod Corp
• Stephanie Ruhle, Host, 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle and Senior Business Analyst, NBC News
• Fiji Simo, Chief Executive Officer, Instacart
• Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, Co-founders and Co-Chief Executive Officer’s, TheSkimm

IAB PlayFronts: Due to the success of the inaugural IAB PlayFronts, the unique buyer marketplace is returning to help advertisers navigate the gaming landscape. IAB’s PlayFronts will be held in-person on March 8-9 in New York City. Leading members of this exciting ecosystem, from game publishers to streaming platforms and ad tech partners will define the gaming landscape, elevate the effectiveness of gaming, and demonstrate creative opportunities for brands.

IAB Public Policy & Legal Summit 2023: With pending regulations, including five state privacy laws taking effect next year, advertisers and publishers need to be ready for all the legal, policy, and technical challenges impacting businesses. IAB’s annual Public Policy & Legal Summit will take place on April 3, 2023, bringing together leaders in advertising, media, technology, and the government to address how to continue building a sustainable consumer-centric media and marketing ecosystem. This event will be held in-person – expanding IAB’s presence in Washington DC.

IAB NewFronts and IAB Podcast Upfront: IAB NewFronts is a one-stop-shop for media buyers eager to get a first look at the latest digital content taking place from May 1-4, 2023 in New York. In addition to the live events taking place on stages around NYC, for the first time, IAB will have its own stage on Wednesday May 3rd to host a selection of presenting companies. Committed to the creation of valuable partnerships between brands and native digital content, this event hosts some of the biggest names in media and entertainment. Over four days, attendees will have discussions about issues critical to the industry, in person and live streamed to a virtual audience.

Then on May 11, IAB Podcast Upfront will showcase leading voices in podcasting, demonstrating the power of audio to connect brands to consumers. This one-day event returns in-person and virtually, designed for brands, media buyers, and agencies eager to preview what’s next in the ever-expanding podcasting space.

More information and updates regarding IAB’s events can be found at: www.iab.com/events.

About IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

IAB Media Contacts
Brittany Tibaldi / Michael Vaughan
347-487-6794 / 813-210-1706
btibaldi@kcsa.com / mvaughan@kcsa.com

The post IAB Unveils Reimagined Events Schedule for First Half of 2023 appeared first on IAB.

NEW YORK — May 2, 2022 —Digital video advertising spend surged 49% in 2021 and is expected to increase an additional 26% to $49.2B in 2022 according to IAB’s “2021 Video Ad Spend and 2022 Outlook” report.

Released at the 2022 IAB NewFronts, in conjunction with Standard Media Index (SMI) and Advertiser Perceptions, the report found Connected TV (CTV) ad spend increased 57% in 2021 to $15.2B and is expected to grow an additional 39% in 2022 to $21.2B. Between 2020 and 2022, CTV ad spend is projected to more than double (+118%). In fact, three out of four video buyers (76%) label CTV as a ‘must buy’ in their media planning budgets.

“Digital video is a driving force for buyers and will continue to be in 2022,” said Eric John, VP, IAB Media Center. “However while CTV leads the substantial growth of digital video ad spend, the amount of dollars currently allocated to CTV is not proportionate to the amount of viewer time spent with the channel. The time is now for brands and buyers to follow consumer attention.”

Although CTV will account for 36% of total time spent with linear TV and CTV combined in 2022, the amount of dollars currently allocated to CTV is not aligned to this viewership. Only 18% of total video ad dollars are being spent on CTV vs. total video spend, which includes CTV, linear TV, social, and short-form video.

Buyers Cite Many Factors for CTV’s Superiority

When comparing CTV to traditional, linear TV, buyers found data usage, transparency, and no reliance on third-party cookies as distinct advantages:

• CTV enables buyers to leverage many types of data not available within linear TV buys, including first-party brand data (65%), location data (61%), and shopping data (50%).
• Among users of the following KPIs, 57% felt CTV was more effective than linear TV at delivering website/sales actions, and 46% more effective at delivering brand perception.
• Buyers felt CTV provided more transparency into where ads run with 59% of buyers stating it was ‘very clear’ on where their CTV ads ran vs. only 50% and 43% for social video and other digital video, respectively.
• With no reliance on third-party cookies, buyers are turning to CTV as a privacy-safe way to spend ad dollars efficiently and effectively. Nearly three in four (73%) video buyers doing so expect to fund their third-party cookie/MAID deprecation CTV spend increases by reallocating dollars from linear TV.

Challenges Still Remain in CTV

As CTV continues to gain momentum and enable opportunities to better target, reach, and scale, more than a third of video buyers cite multiple challenges in CTV around cross-platform campaign activation, management, and measurement, including:

• Measuring incremental reach across platforms/publishers (48%)
• Managing frequency across platforms/publishers (43%)
• A lack of transparency/interoperability within walled gardens (42%)
• Fragmentation of programmatic supply paths (35%)

To address the challenges of CTV, buyers are preparing for a converged linear TV/CTV market that would ease management of cross-platform and cross-channel video buys. In fact, nearly nine out of ten buyers (88%) anticipate a converged linear TV/CTV marketplace in the coming years, two in three (66%) linear TV/digital video buyers now have a single planning team for the two channels, and another quarter (25%) expect to have one planning team in the future.

“Fragmentation continues to be the achilles heel for buyers,” added John. “From the study, we learned that video buyers most often cite sales lift as their ideal KPI for CTV, but they are not leveraging it due to measurement complexity, sub-par tool functionality, and data lags. As the industry continues to advance and CTV prevails, advertisers are looking toward a converged marketplace that addresses these issues and helps measure the implementation of a variety of creative and targeting tactics.”

“2021 Video Ad Spend and 2022 Outlook” can be downloaded here.

Methodology
IAB commissioned Advertiser Perceptions and SMI Insights to quantify the size and growth rate of the U.S. digital video advertising spend market and provide a lens into market trends, offering guidance for buyers and sellers on how they can position and differentiate their video initiatives based on where the challenges and opportunities reside. Advertiser Perceptions executed an anonymous online survey among ad agency or brand marketers who are involved in recommending, specifying or approving advertising spending in digital video, and spent at least $1M on advertising in 2021. SMI Insights’ digital video ad spend market size and growth rate estimates are based on SMI’s Pool of ad billing data, including “forward bookings”, the IAB-commissioned Advertiser Perceptions quantitative survey, interviews with industry leaders, other market estimates, and expert judgment. The SMI Pool’s coverage of the US advertising market is based on deterministic, census-level total media billings for all spending by the largest ad agencies, including all six US major holding groups and most of the largest independents.

About Standard Media Index (SMI)
SMI reports on census-level, complete billing records for placement-level detail of all media transactions in all media types as supplied by the world’s largest media buying groups, as well as leading independents, and organizes that data to create a clear, granular, and easy-to-use database for our clients and agency partners.
Depending on the market, SMI captures between 70 and 95% of all agency spend. By aggregating it, SMI offers detailed ad intelligence across all media types, including Television, Digital, Out-of-Home, Print, and Radio. Depending on the market, data can be broken down by unit cost, media owner, ad type, buy type, advertiser product category, and other dimensions.
Clients use SMI data to determine media mix models, create competitive benchmarks, and gain visibility into pricing level data. The data also allow them to understand marketplace trends on a product category level, evaluate ROI of tent poles and sporting events, and break out ad formats by media type to highlight the effectiveness of different kinds of placements.
Our data supports insights covering 34 countries around the world.

About Advertiser Perceptions
Advertiser Perceptions is the global leader in research-based business intelligence for the advertising, marketing, and ad technology industries. Our expert staff delivers an unbiased, research-based view of the advertising market with analysis and solutions tailored to our client’s specific KPIs and business objectives. These insights provide our clients with the confidence to make the very best organizational, sales and/or marketing decisions, driving greater revenue and increased client satisfaction.

About IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

IAB Media Contacts
Kate Tumino / Brittany Tibaldi
212-896-1252 / 347-487-6794
ktumino@kcsa.com / btibaldi@kcsa.com

The post Digital Video Ad Spend Increased 49% in 2021 and Expected to Reach Nearly $50 Billion in 2022, According to IAB’s 2021 Video Ad Spend and 2022 Outlook Report appeared first on IAB.

Held Virtually, IAB Podcast Upfront “Hear and Now” Unlocks the Power of Podcast Advertising to Deliver Great Scale for Brands

NEW YORK — APRIL 14, 2022 — Streaming puts consumers fully in control of everything they see and hear. The 2022 IAB NewFronts and 2022 IAB Podcast Upfront come at a pivotal moment in the evolution of media consumption, with exciting new opportunities for brands, agencies, and media buyers.

More consumers and brands are leaning into streaming video and the 2022 IAB NewFronts aims to demonstrate how rich storytelling can combine with personalized ad experiences to deliver meaningful business outcomes. On May 2-5, 2022, IAB NewFronts will take place at in-person events in NYC and virtually on IAB.com. The event— organized within the unifying theme of “Stream On”—embodies the cultural zeitgeist of consumers’ penchant for digital video content when and how they want it.  The virtual event, hosted by Alex Toussaint, Senior Peloton Instructor, High-Performance Athlete, and Motivational Coach, with Thursday’s co-host Derrell Smith, former NFL athlete turned chef and host of Tastemade’s hit show Mad Good Food, will showcase the best new programming, content, and innovative ways to advertise in video content.

“As the media world continues its rapid digital intensification, the opportunities afforded by ad-supported streaming will invariably become richer and more satisfying for consumers and marketers alike,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. “With streaming at the center of everything, we should be both energized by the possibilities and enthusiastic to rethink legacy practices around planning, activation, currency, measurement, creativity, and diversity.”

The 2022 IAB NewFronts brings the industry together to discuss critical issues, including new approaches to measuring and valuing inventory, smart creative that leverages the power of digital, and ensuring investment in content that reflects audience and owner diversity. IAB will release its annual Video Ad Spend report providing industry trends and projections for the digital video market from the buy-side on May 2. On May 4, the IAB Inclusion Institute will present a series of panels and minority owned media presentations aimed at accelerating ad spend and addressing accountability in DEI including within the creator community.

2022 IAB Podcast Upfront

The 2022 IAB Podcast Upfront will take place virtually May 10-12, providing “first-listen” access to the year’s most exciting releases, as well as previews of creative opportunities, and insights that will define the podcast landscape for the year ahead. The Podcast Upfront will highlight collaborations between content creators and their brand partners, and will feature presentations from tech enablers and measurement partners who will share insights around critically important issues. Topics will include audience-based programmatic buying, advanced approaches for campaign measurement, and brand safety and suitability.

Additionally, on May 10, IAB will release its annual Podcast Ad Revenue report highlighting the latest insights into podcast advertising revenues and trends that drove advertising in the space, and projected future revenues. Themed “Hear and Now”, the 2022 IAB Podcast Upfront will be hosted by Actress, Author, and Comedian Franchesca Ramsey.

“Podcast advertising is a billion-dollar industry, but there are still brands who have yet to fully embrace these advertising opportunities. Podcasting dominates the audio marketplace and influences listeners, content creators, and advertisers alike, while also delivering great scale to brands across all vertical categories,” said Eric John, Vice President, Media Center, IAB. “Powered by a unique and intimate relationship between listener and host, podcasting provides a highly engaging and personalized ad-friendly environment that resonates with consumers and helps deliver high ROI for brands.”

*All times are in EST; Speakers and timing are subject to change; For up-to-the-minute agenda, refer to the website.

*All times are in EST; Speakers and timing are subject to change; For up-to-the-minute agenda, refer to the website.

About IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

IAB Media Contacts
Kate Tumino / Brittany Tibaldi
212-896-1252 / 347-487-6794
ktumino@kcsa.com/ btibaldi@kcsa.com

The post IAB Unveils Agenda for 2022 IAB NewFronts and 2022 IAB Podcast Upfront appeared first on IAB.

NEW YORK — APRIL 12, 2022 — As digital media consumption continues to grow, advertising dollars are following fast. According to the newly released “IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2021,” conducted by PwC, all major channels increased significantly compared with a year ago, particularly across digital video (including CTV/OTT), digital audio, social media, and search.

“We fully expected 2021 to be an exceptional year for digital ad growth, but even we were surprised at the degree of acceleration. Not only was every single digital channel up, but some were up more than 50% year on year,” said Libby Morgan, SVP, Chief Strategy Officer, IAB. “This year’s increase is 3x what it was last year.”

The growth is consistent with a recent study by Deighton Associates, commissioned by IAB, which showed the internet economy has grown seven times faster than the U.S. economy over the past four years and now accounts for 12% of the U.S. GDP.

“What’s underneath these numbers is a very clear narrative. We are witnessing the total and complete democratization of access afforded by ad-supported digital channels,” said David Cohen, Chief Executive Officer, IAB. “Increased consumer usage coupled with extraordinary growth of small and mid-sized businesses during the pandemic has fueled growth across all digital — but especially digital audio and video. We expect this digital migration to drive the continued growth of a healthy and competitive digital marketplace driven by innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Streaming media is significantly outpacing the overall industry in growth

Although the industry continues to face uncertainty surrounding privacy regulation, the deprecation of third-party cookies and identifiers, measurement challenges and supply-chain transparency, brands have spoken and digital is where they are putting their dollars:

• Digital video continues to be one of the fastest growing channels, up 50.8% compared to last year, with total revenues of $39.5B.
• Digital audio captured the highest YoY growth, up 57.9% to $4.9B.
• Social media advertising was up 39.3% to $57.7 billion, as consumers continue to engage with Meta platforms, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter.
• While search revenue grew substantially (32.8%) in 2021, it did not grow as strong as other areas, leading to a slight decrease in total revenue share (reduction of 0.8 percentage points).

“According to the Census Bureau, 2021 saw the greatest business growth in history with 5.4 million new businesses created,” said Cohen. “Those businesses rely upon the ad-supported internet to attract new customers and provide products and services to the American public. We believe this small business engine will be a key contributor to fuelling ongoing digital media and marketing ecosystem growth.”

What’s next for digital advertising?

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2022, IAB and PwC forecast continued digital ad growth, driven by significant innovation in retail media, CTV/OTT, gaming, and digital audio. The continued rise of AR/VR, the metaverse, and Web3 technologies is expected to spark innovation — and continue to drive ad revenue in the years ahead.

The IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2021 can be downloaded here. And please join us for a special webinar today, Tuesday, April 12th from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET for more insights on the report findings and trends.

Methodology 

Commissioned by the IAB and conducted by PwC Advisory Services LLC (“PwC”) on an ongoing basis, with results released quarterly, the “IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report” was initiated by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in 1996. This report uses data and information reported directly to PwC from companies selling advertising on the internet as well as publicly available corporate data. The results reported are considered to be a reasonable measurement of internet/ online/mobile advertising revenues because much of the data is compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising online. The report includes data reflecting desktop and mobile online advertising revenues from websites, commercial online services, ad networks and exchanges, mobile devices, and email providers, as well as other companies selling online advertising. The report is conducted independently by PwC, including research by their in-house market research team, on behalf of the IAB. PwC does not audit the information and provides no opinion or other form of assurance with respect to the information. Only aggregate results are published and individual company information is held in strict confidence with PwC. Further details regarding scope and methodology are provided in the appendix of this report.

About IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

IAB Media Contacts
Kate Tumino / Brittany Tibaldi
212-896-1252 / 347-487-6794
ktumino@kcsa.com/ btibaldi@kcsa.com

The post Digital Advertising Soared 35% to $189 Billion in 2021 According to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report appeared first on IAB.

By: Nina Muñoz

Not too long ago, I was having dinner with my 5- and 7-year-old nephews. With their roaming and curious minds, you never know where the conversation might go but to my surprise, they were excited to tell me about a CTV commercial they saw with their family at home. The ad was for a popular theme park, and they were given the option to select a specific aspect of the vacation experience in the park. As they were sharing the excitement of the ability to choose their own adventure in the ad, it struck me that I was hearing out of the “mouths of babes” why CTV represents an extraordinary opportunity to create a better advertising experience – one that is relevant with a compelling story that matters to the specific household and even allows the consumer to take action in a way that is non-intrusive and fosters a closer relationship with the brand. I share this story because it points to what I believe is true. Consumers do not hate advertising. They hate bad advertising.

There is plenty to be excited about for the streaming future of television. Almost 83% of households now own a connected TV and the banquet of quality content drove 30 billion minutes of streaming in Q1 2021 — which is up 122% from Q1 2018 where consumers watched 13.5 billion minutes. ¹ If we do not get the consumer ad experience right, this upward trajectory for CTV could be stifled.  That is one of the biggest questions today—how can we provide the best possible ad experience to support this growth moving forward? The good news is that connected TV provides an entirely new canvas for marketers with new content capabilities, creative formats, and audiences with new expectations. The more concerning news is that as personalization becomes increasingly challenged in a more privacy-focused era, the need for creative that performs, scales and is privacy compliant across platforms has never been more important. The industry has the opportunity to abandon legacy approaches and reinvent the medium by putting the consumer and the creative ad experience at the center.

One way the industry is looking at up-leveling the CTV ad experience is by leveraging creative innovation to facilitate more engaging connections with consumers that drive entertainment as well as utility. Danielle Brown, SVP, Data Enablement and Category Strategy, Disney Advertising Sales stated, “Consumers will no longer accept a bad experience. The future of CTV advertising will more heavily leverage non-intrusive innovative ad formats. Consumers continue to want choice and storytelling, and to deliver on this, Disney is enabling a myriad of solutions such as the ability to choose to watch longer form brand content, learn more about products that interest consumers and deliver sequential messaging to create a unique ad experience across our platforms.” Kevin Lappen SVP, Peacock Sales, NBCU echoed that sentiment, “These innovative CTV ad formats aren’t just being discussed as custom one-offs. These formats are being discussed as part of our Upfront efforts this year and we expect that trend to continue in the years to come.”

However, the industry agrees that we do not need an infinite number of innovative ad formats to select. Rather, to scale, publishers and advertisers need to adopt a handful of innovative and effective CTV ad formats that leverage existing technologies to become more turnkey and scalable. In IAB’s recent Video Ad Spend Study (released in May 2021), advertisers expressed interest and enthusiasm in investing in the following CTV ad formats: dynamic overlays, choice-based ads, shoppable ads, and voice integrated ads. In additional IAB member interviews, leveraging creative extensions/end cards and sequential CTV creative emerged as other important CTV creative tactics. The formats are defined as:

• Dynamic Overlay: Marketers can take existing video creative and use data to add an overlay that is personalized to the viewer.
• Choice Based Ads: Allows the user to control the ad experience by choosing the ad they want to see.
• Shoppable and Actionable Video: Interactive ads designed to connect consumers with products, services, or merchants within the ad itself. The ads can provide product learning and exploration, links to additional information, and could enable click-to-buy capabilities within the ad unit itself.
• Voice-Integrated Video Ads: Allows audiences to use their voice to interact with a brand by following on-screen prompts to speak into their remote.
• Sequential CTV Creative: Allows marketers to tell a story that unfolds across several CTV creatives, instead of trying to tell a story within a single ad.
• Creative Extensions & End Cards: Short-form content that is displayed before or at the end of an existing CTV creative.

This is why IAB, in partnership with contributing members, created the “CTV Creative Best Practices” guide. Our goal, along with highlighting creative innovation, is to educate publishers, agencies, and marketers on how to create the best possible consumer ad experience in CTV. A good consumer ad experience ultimately helps the whole ecosystem. It gives publishers the runway to better monetize their content and marketers/agencies the ability to reach their audiences and achieve their campaign goals. This guide identifies overall best practices for the CTV consumer ad experience, highlights the innovative CTV ad formats the industry is leaning into, and shares creative examples that showcase marketers’ success with those formats (creative examples). We also share insights from industry interviews conducted by the IAB Media Center that highlight where the industry needs to focus in the future to ensure we aren’t repeating mistakes of the past.

Below are eight key tips and advice for creating an optimal consumer CTV ad experience. To read the full guide, click here.

1. Reduced and sustainable CTV ad loads are important to the consumer experience but must be balanced with other components of the ad experience like delivering the right creative with the right resolution that’s matched to the viewer’s screen size, improving reach and frequency management, etc.
   

   In long-form content, the industry shouldn’t solely focus on serving less ads to improve overall viewing experience. They should also be thinking about how to make those ads less intrusive. – David Dworin, VP, Advisory Services And Trust, FreeWheel

2. Creating multiple creative variants helps avoid creative burnout and is important for effective storytelling. With the help of publisher and ad tech partners, multivariant CTV creative does not need to be cost prohibitive.
3. Frequency Control: While overall frequency certainly matters at the campaign level, it is critical to ensure the same creative is not repeated back-to-back in the same pod or delivered in the exact same position in an ad pod that is later in a program (for example, in the first position of every mid-roll break of a full episode.)
4. Get on board with the latest technical video ad serving standards: To avoid latency and buffering, it is critical to get the basics of video ad serving right (with guidelines like IAB’s Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines and VAST 4.x which support the highest quality CTV ad experience) before you move on to more advanced ad innovations.
   

   If everyone in the industry was following IAB video guidelines, the number of problems we see in executing video campaigns would greatly decrease. Getting the basics of video ad serving right is crucial for the consumer ad experience. – Jarred Wilichinsky, SVP, Global Ad Monetization and Operations, ViacomCBS

5. Leverage standard creative ad registries like Ad-ID (support for which is built into VAST 4.x) to enable better creative asset management, ad frequency, and better tracking/reporting.
6. CTV ads can be interactive (but do not think of it like display):Interactive ads on CTV leverage a different engagement model than other platforms. They may use the user’s remote to serve up additional product information or image galleries. Voice activation may also be available to activate calls-to-action that enable product information requests or purchase direct from the screen. Be sure to include specific calls to action to educate and direct consumers.
7. Shoppable QR Codes: We saw during the pandemic how restaurants leveraged QR codes for menu viewing. The same mobile scanning technology can be used to bring the store to CTV screens — enabling purchase directly from CTV ads. Make it easy for consumers to use the QR codes by ensuring the code is large enough to scan from the couch and visible for the duration of the ad.
8. Experiment (but within reason): It’s important to test and learn which creative innovations work best to reach and engage with your specific audience while supporting your defined KPIs. However, don’t overuse capabilities as that can be counterproductive to engagement goals.

The creative pallet in CTV is continually evolving. Be sure to visit IAB.com for future updates, research, standards, and best practices. If you have thoughts on this document/CTV creative or would like to get involved further, please reach out to committees@iab.com.

¹Source: eMarketer, Feb 2021 & Nielsen, June 2021

CTV Creative Best Practices Guide

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