If you asked ten ad tech veterans what constitutes first-party data, you’d likely get ten responses that all map back to identity. From email addresses to demography, the industry’s view on what defines first-party data tends to focus exclusively on audience data. But are we missing part of the point? What about context and all of the data associated with it too? Shouldn't we be paying attention to that too?

Live sporting events were the last exclusive part of the cable bundle; new box office releases were similarly exclusive. Their arrival to streaming signals that we have arrived at a tipping point. 

“If you are just looking to buy inventory, then you can do that directly from the various programmers and you can buy that inventory very cheaply. But you are not getting any sort of targeting,” notes Raghu Kodige, CEO of LG Ads. “Whereas when you buy directly from LG ads, you are buying a specific audience based on a very strong layer of data. We can give you data about viewers across linear TV and across all the other apps, because we can capture what is on the glass.”

Between new streaming services, massive increases in CTV ad spending, and growing investments from major tech players, the digital video ecosystem is moving quickly and showing no signs of slowing down. Amidst this turmoil, however, YouTube stands above the fray as a seemingly immovable giant. The company’s revenue increased by 84% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2021, driven in large part by a rebound in online advertising.

With third-party cookies and other “traditional” means of identifying customers slowly fading into obscurity, marketers are looking ahead to the next generation of targeting tools.

As part of our upcoming series of Special Reports on the Emerging Smart TV Ecosystem, we sat down with Raghu Kodige, CEO at LG Ads, to discuss why owning both the hardware and the software makes smart TVs a perfect vehicle for content discovery, something that benefits programmers and viewers alike.

With cameras ready to roll on the long-awaited sequel in the “Bill & Ted” franchise, no one knew a global pandemic would force Orion pictures to “Face the Music” in more ways than one. In addition, no one could predict that “Bill and Ted Face the Music” would become a playbook for the future of not just Premium Video on Demand (PVOD), but launches across the board, from PVOD to theatrical.

As part of our upcoming series of Special Reports on the Emerging Smart TV Ecosystem, we sat down with Adam Bergman, Vice President of National Ad Sales at VIZIO, to discuss why having their own built-in data sets via ACR gives smart TV OEMs a real advantage over other programmers in the connected TV space.

From our upcoming series on the emerging smart TV ecosystem, Justin Evans, Samsung Ads' Global Head of Analytics and Insights, talks about why smart TV's are having a moment and why ad-supported streaming having a major growth spurt.

Samsung Ads' Justin Evans explains why streaming is such an important and exciting environment for addressable advertising and why ad-supported streaming is now rivaling ad-free streaming.

At the Brand Innovators Media Buying Summit, we spoke with Petco's Jay Altschuler about the innovative ways Petco is using data.

Tubular Labs CRO Denis Crushell discusses how TV -- streaming and linear -- is utilizing social video to grow viewership in 2021.

“We, along with other smart TV manufacturers are uniquely positioned because we own both the hardware and the operating system, and ultimately the glass that the consumer sees,” says Mike O’Donnell, Chief Revenue Officer of VIZIO’s platform business and the person responsible for the manufacturer’s growing advertising business.

As part of TV[R]EV's new special report on the FASTs, Tubi CEO Farhad Massoud shares his thoughts of where Tubi fits into the new TV ecosystem.