How OTT and CTV Platforms Monetise First-Party Data
Is zero-party and first-party data emerging as a new revenue generator for OTT platforms in the CTV landscape in Europe and the U.S.? When it comes to collecting data for monetisation purposes–particularly for addressable TV–where do we draw the line vis a vis consumer privacy? Evan Shapiro, CEO, ESHAP, discusses this topic with Ophelie Boucaud, Senior Analyst, Dataxis, in this clip from Streaming Media Connect.
Shapiro says that zero-party and first-party data as revenue generators are new frontiers for OTT companies. He asks Boucaud, “I'm wondering – especially in Europe and Middle East North Africa (MENA), where General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and privacy are taken even more seriously than the United States – are these new revenue areas for the companies that you track?”
Boucard outlines several innovations in addressable TV and demographic-based ad targeting. When the GDPR was implemented in the European Union, she says, it also provided a strong framework for protecting data from individuals outside of the EU territories. “And so this is where the line is drawn from now on when it comes to collecting data and using it for monetisation purposes,” she says.
She highlights some developments in addressable TV within Europe. “In the US, you already have ad replacement on the cable networks because that's something that was done for decades,” she says. “You have political campaign ads that differ from one territory to another, and we don't have that in Europe. So, the ad campaigns on TV are linear and national broadcasts. So you don't get different ads if you're in the north of one country or in the south, for example. But with technology and digital capabilities going on the big screen now, we can do that. So we have ad replacement on linear TV in several European countries, and that's going through the set of boxes itself. It creates a new monetisation opportunity for the publishers. So, the TV broadcasters sell those campaigns at a higher price because you can target them based on demographic or preference data. A lot of things can also be matched with retailers, for example. So we have some cases where individual data from post offices were matched with what the set of boxes can grant, so you get more information on the household size.”
She cites an example of how a furniture retailer may use this data for enhanced audience targeting. “You could match this [data] with a campaign for a furniture seller who would want to know who moved out in the last six months,” she says. “So you get an IKEA ad because your setup box provider knows when you moved in. Those are new things that can be monetised on the big screen.”
She also mentions how unskippable ads are helping the TV ecosystem leverage data and monetise new formats. Before the implementation of unskippable ads, she says, “Advertisers were missing out, because if you skip the ad watching replay and catch up, then you have all those formats that the advertisers just pay for but not consumed. So it's also something that's gaining traction. Also, in countries with a lot of IPTV viewing, for example, in central Europe, it's a big thing. So the technology is actually helping the TV ecosystem leverage everything they can do around data and monetise new formats that were just not accessible before then.”
Boucaud further highlights how these developments in using data for better-optimised advertising are even better suited to OTT since it is digitally native. “The advertising around data itself is what they're building their proposition on already,” she says. “So it's less of an innovation for [OTT], it’s more of a given.”
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