Hot List: The Week In TV

Data & MeasurementAdvertising
Written By Jason Damata

"The future ain’t what it used to be." -Yogi Berra

Today’s newsletter has 8 columns, 3 exclusive interviews and dozens of links to get you caught up. But first, some food for thought that applies to all of it.

The Constant in the Changing TV Equation

Underneath all the complicated changes in entertainment and advertising is the simple, constant demand from people who love stories, gathering to be entertained, influenced and impacted.

And for all the anxiousness and transformation in the business systems of distribution and monetization of the industry, the drive for money and marketshare often overshadows the conversation about what is really going on: there is competition for the right to entertain, persuade and earn the trust of people who just want to feel something and maybe learn more about themselves or the world around them.

Every once in a while, a transformation takes place that helps the industry unlock a deeper understanding about how the content drives impact in people’s lives but it’s hiding in plain sight and obscured by buzzwords. Watch time. Outcomes. Churn rates.

This week, FOX and iSpot announced always-on outcomes at scale- a system that correlates ad exposures to sales activities for all advertisers. And while its positioned as tech innovations that prove the value of investments, what it also represents is a new era for all brands to see how their 15-30 second stories about their products or services are also moving people to respond with their actions in the context of greater storytelling environments.

Sometimes, when I’m lost and overwhelmed by the talk of CTV optimization, programmatic agents, DSP, SSP, ROAS,TV OS ARPU, and personalization, I find solace remembering all the data and tech is really just humans creating better ways for other humans to be reached and entertained.

Maybe if we talked more about that, keeping up with all these changes wouldn’t get so exhausting.

Walmart and Amazon Are Battling for Streaming TV Budgets. Here’s How Their Offerings Break Down [Adweek]

TL;DR: Amazon's $70 billion ad business and Walmart's $6.4 billion business together will account for 89% of this year's incremental retail media ad spending, per eMarketer — underscoring how central VIZIO's screens now are to Walmart's bid to close that gap.

LG Is Bringing Free, Console-Quality Gaming to Its TVs [Adweek]

TL;DR: LG launched a beta partnership with cloud gaming startup Phynd, bringing free console-quality games to any LG Smart TV from 2021 or later — no subscription, purchase, or controller needed, since a phone app can serve as the controller.

FreeWheel adds show-level reporting to tackle streaming’s transparency problem [Digiday]

TL;DR: Comcast-owned FreeWheel is rolling out free show-level reporting for advertisers on its Buyer Cloud platform, letting programmatic buyers confirm which shows their ads actually ran in roughly two hours after delivery.

Fox Will Soon Dominate the Free Streaming Market After It Buys Roku - Here is How Big Its Lead Will Be [Cord Cutters News]

TL;DR: Once Fox's $22B Roku acquisition closes, combining Tubi and the Roku Channel would give Fox a 5.4% share of total TV viewing, more than double the combined share of Pluto TV and Paramount+.

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Jason Damata

Jason is the founder and CEO of Fabric Media, a media incubator and talent consortium. The company serves leading-edge TV disruptors- from data and analytics platforms to TV networks to emotional measurement companies. Damata has traveled the country for C-SPAN, where he worked with MSOs, produced educational political programming. He has served as CMO of Bebo when it was the world's 3rd largest social network, led marketing for Trendrr until it was acquired by Twitter and helped build the world's largest LIVE broadcast offering at explore.org where he built up a global syndication network. He is an analyst for companies on the edge of TV innovation such as iSpot, Inscape, Canvs, TNT and more.

http://linkedin.com/in/jasondamata
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