I have been telling anyone who would listen for the last 4 years, that Upfronts will be moving to programmatic at some point. I believe the role in the SSPs is to provide the solution between the Marketers needs (flexibility in budget, transparency, ease of activation, fluidity between publishers, reporting, etc.) and the publishers needs (forecasting dependency, yield management, reservation carve outs, compliance assurance, etc.) I understand that building something that addresses all of these needs is a tall order and a big investment. I’ve had a vision for a product functionality that I tried to bring to life for 4 years and at every place I’ve worked on it, I’m always met with a list of hurdles that exist. But I think that’s the point. These hurdles are the problem with fully making upfronts go all in on programmatic. The fragmentation still exists, the lack of ease of use, the overall buy-in, the mentality of ‘why build something so far in advance when we aren’t being asked.’ These keep advancements at bay. My hope is that in the near future we can move from the outdated traditional upfront process (transaction process) and move to a more modern, flexible, and transparent process supported by the programmatic infrastructure players. To be clear— I have yet to pitch the idea to my current employer, so the above does not represent their sentiment or opinions. ☺️ Sorry to be so ‘upfront’ about this…😉
Ben Abbatiello
1mo
couldn't agree more - Scatter has been here since 2015 and finally being embraced - the HH addressability wars were a headwind and continue to be so.
Andrew Green
1mo
Spot on! The obstacle is the way.....
Programmatic Leader | Digital Strategy & Activation | Performance Expert | CTV - DOOH - YouTube |
1moAbsolutely agree here! Flexibility = greater chance of driving sustainable and predictable business growth. As you eluded to, there will be a need for advancements in both supply and buy side tech to support a full migration of upfronts to be completely biddable. Buyers have been calling for this for the last 2-3 years. With emerging measurement metrics such as ‘attention’ showcasing its value—Marketers must reevaluate their brand building and performance strategy, especially when executing a holistic video strategy. Couple things need to be ironed out and addressed for upfronts to move to Programmatic: 1. Inescapable adtech tax throughout the buying process presents challenges and can impact networks/publishers ability to maintain revenue. There should be incentives / cost savings for any deal that is deemed an upfront. 2. The Reconciliation process needs refinement to ensure if an agreement between brand and network is made, then there is an accreditation solution which maps spend/delivery. 3. SSP & DSP must provide marketers with radical forms of transparency on any upfront categorized impression. Go make this happen Caley Lewis, MBA, MPM ! 😃