Programmatic Propels Streaming TV to New Heights, Says Yahoo’s Beau Ordemann

MIAMI — The shift towards programmatic advertising is reshaping the streaming TV landscape, delivering scale, addressability, and simplicity in crafting complex TV strategies.

With a growing proportion of streaming on-demand TV ads now powered by programmatic, can live streaming TV pull off the same trick?

In this video interview with Beet.TV, Beau Ordemann, VP, Head of Advanced TV, Yahoo Advertising, discusses his company’s approach to live and political streaming ads in 2024.

Programmatic Growth Spurs Marketer Agility

Programmatic advertising is revolutionizing how marketers approach streaming TV. “Programmatic has really enhanced the value of streaming as a marketing medium,” notes Ordemann.

The FreeWheel video Marketplace report highlights 38% of all streaming impressions are now transacted programmatically—an 18% year-over-year growth. This surge is driven by marketers’ need for nimbleness, efficacy, and a demand for their marketing dollars to work harder.

“Marketers are being held accountable to making their marketing dollars go further. Now, more than ever, they need to be nimble. They need to drive to business outcomes, and they need scale and addressability, and it needs to be simple,” Ordemann explains.

Enhancing Consumer Experience Through Diversity

Beyond its strategic advantages for advertisers, programmatic is also enriching the consumer experience.

“The most exciting thing that programmatic has brought to the streaming landscape is it’s democratized streaming for tens of thousands of marketers that never would’ve been able to approach it in its legacy model,” Ordemann states.

This shift isn’t just about numbers; it’s about variety. With more marketers able to tap into streaming, consumers are exposed to a wider array of relevant messaging and brands, moving beyond the repetitive cycle of the same 200 brands dominating TV advertising, he says.

Live Streaming and Programmatic: A Budding Relationship

The intersection of live streaming and programmatic advertising is something on a growing number of minds, as it has traditionally been dominated by linear models.

“More and more, live is making its way into the programmatic ecosystem,” Ordemann asserts. This evolution is tackling the complexities associated with live events, which differ significantly from the predictable nature of traditional video-on-demand (VOD) content.

“We’re solving in the programmatic ecosystem for some of the complexities around live,” he continues, highlighting initiatives like Yahoo DSP’s development to better predict and deliver against live inventory, ensuring a seamless viewing experience.

The Political Advertising Frontier

With an election year ramping up, the political advertising sphere is poised to inject over one and a half billion dollars into CTV spend.

“Yahoo is bringing in TV data sets… and we’re an early adopter of Samba’s near real-time political audience segments,” Ordemann reveals. These tools enable precise targeting of key voter groups, leveraging time-sensitive political messaging with unprecedented agility.

As competition heats up in the digital signal processing (DSP) space, differentiation is key. “We think about differentiating our offering in ways that drive value and unique benefits for consumers and for our customers,” the VP adds. Yahoo DSP is staking its claim through data, by partnering with leading TV data providers and launching Yahoo Backstage, a direct-to-publisher solution.

You’re watching ‘Anything Is Possible: The Rising Tide of Programmatic Streaming,’ a Beet.TV Leadership Series at POSSIBLE 2024, presented by Index Exchange. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.