Data-driven advertising is evolving to become more privacy-conscious: Gavin Buxton

“India has long been the region where we had predicted that ad-funded or ad-light subsidized subscription offerings would eventually dominate, and all platforms would eventually turn to AVOD in order to achieve greater scale in the region,” says Gavin Buxton, Managing Director, Asia at Magnite, the largest independent omnichannel sell-side advertising platform in the world. In this intervew with Adgully, Buxton talks about the many advantages of CTVs, Magnite’s future growth plans, industry trends, third-party cookies, data-driven advertising, privacy, etc. Magnite, he says, continues to invest in a diverse omnichannel strategies in order to build upon and scale its CTV capabilities to better serve new and existing clients.

He predicts that in the digital advertising space over the next few years, there will be collaboration across the buy and sell-side as we work to solve for fragmentation, particularly in the programmatic ecosystem. The end result will be more optimal supply paths and greater efficiencies that lead with brand safety and privacy at the core, Buxton adds. Excerpts from the interview:

What are the advantages smart TVs/CTVs provide vis-à-vis traditional TV for advertisers?

CTV offers greater opportunities to reach audiences when and where they’re watching as compared to traditional TV. Viewers on streaming platforms are more highly engaged and more receptive to advertising than those on traditional TV; our recent Indian streaming research identified that 66% of streamers prefer to watch streaming over traditional TV and 75% of streamers are streaming more now than a year ago, with key reasons being greater access to original programming, their favorite shows and higher quality content as well as the choice to watch locally produced or international content.

Audiences gravitate toward CTV because of the high-quality programming, the lighter ad load, and the access to new, exclusive content it offers. This high engagement with the content results in more attentive viewing to both the programming and the advertising.

The big-screen, non-skippable environment of Connected TV inherently results in high viewability and high completion rates. It also helps advertisers extend reach, especially among audiences who watch little traditional TV and are difficult to reach and enable customized creative opportunities.

Ad-supported video is the new hot thing in streaming with many major streaming services (even ad-averse SVOD platforms like Netflix) considering the option. Is AVOD the future? Will it supplant SVOD or will both models co-exist?

Streaming provides scale and reach at a level rivaling traditional TV, and it’s become clear that there is a place for advertising within the streaming landscape. AVOD continues to lead viewership growth across India and the rest of Asia, especially with broadcasters increasing investment in digital-first content.

According to our latest research report, 80% prefer to watch ad-supported content rather than pay for an ad-free experience, and 73% of streamers are happy to see ads in return for quality programming. 

Among streamers in India, the disposition to ad-supported streaming is strong, with free or some ad-supported content preferred by four in five streamers rather than paying for an ad-free experience (one in five).

There is also a clear acceptance of ads by viewers in exchange for quality content, with streamers happy to view up to 8.3 minutes of advertising per hour on paid platforms and 10.7 minutes on free streaming platforms. India has long been the region where we had predicted that ad-funded or ad-light subsidized subscription offerings would eventually dominate, and all platforms would eventually turn to AVOD in order to achieve greater scale in the region. The increased amount of platform options available and higher price-sensitivity in changing times has accelerated AVOD activations further.

What are Magnite’s future growth plans globally? What are your growth projections?

Magnite is the largest independent omnichannel sell-side advertising platform in the world with a presence in key markets across APAC, EMEA, LATAM, and North America.

As of Q2 2022, 42% of our global business is now CTV, and as of Q3 2022, global revenue attributable to CTV was $55.8 million, up 29% year-over-year. We continue to invest in a diverse omnichannel strategies in order to build upon and scale our CTV capabilities to better serve new and existing clients. Magnite’s 2021 acquisitions of SpotX and SpringServe created the largest independent video streaming and video advertising platform and accelerated our programmatic OTT and  CTV innovation. In early 2022, we acquired Carbon and Nth Party to strengthen our audience and identity capabilities and help us accelerate the integration of audience and identity solutions across our omni-channel offerings. We aim to provide sellers with everything they need to make the most of their audiences across every channel.

What are the trends in the segment? How will machine learning, AI, etc. shape up the future areas such as contextual targeting, personalization, etc.?

Video streaming will continue to be one of the largest growth areas in programmatic activation in India and the region.

Omnichannel ROI - Advertisers will further see the value of an omnichannel open internet approach to deliver scale, addressability, performance and ROI.

Header bidding and holistic ad decisioning adoption across all digital formats will prove to be the best direction for supply-and-demand side in enabling scaled audience activation, programmatic and direct campaign synergy, improved yield management, more opportunities for inventory monetization and collective ROI.

I expect that in the digital advertising space over the next few years, we’ll also continue to see increased collaboration across the buy and sell-side as we work to solve for fragmentation, particularly in the programmatic ecosystem. The end result will be more optimal supply paths and greater efficiencies that lead with brand safety and privacy at the core.

Today, mobile is the leading device in India, with 88% of respondents opting to stream through their mobile devices, according to our research. However CTV ‘big screen’ is the fastest growing device, with 63% of streamers now also using CTV to stream. We  expect to see the continued scaling of viewers consuming CTV ‘big screen’ content as more people replace their TVs with smart TVs or through new set top boxes.

Are marketers able to break their cookie addiction and figure out alternatives to third-party cookies before Chrome’s 2023 deadline? How can marketers consider their platform partners and focus on those that can deliver results without cookies?

Google recently confirmed an extension to the removal of third party cookies in Chrome to mid 2024, which allows for more concrete planning in terms of milestones and the actions needed to achieve them.

Third party cookies have already gone from most non-chrome browsers, whilst over 42% of internet users use ad blockers which equates to a large proportion of the web already blocking third party cookies. Meanwhile, advertisers’ use of third-party cookies continues to decline, with a near 10% decline in the second half of 2021 from 97% in May to 88% in December (Advertiser Perceptions). In addition, rising mobile use has meant third-party cookies have been of diminishing importance in some more mobile-dominant markets.

Audience targeting and identifier-based tech still work in some environments; so the pragmatic approach is to use it, whilst preparing for change. Magnite has built multiple world-class audience platforms supporting all audience targeting and many measurement capabilities across its platforms. Looking toward the future, collaboration will be critical across our industry. Audience solutions will be needed across probabilistic and deterministic methods so the tools advertisers need to segment, engage and measure their campaigns remain effective in a privacy-centric omnichannel future.

With the world moving towards regulations like GDPR (The General Data Protection Regulation) and enhanced user privacy, are we heading towards a world of cookieless advertising?

Data-driven advertising isn’t going anywhere. However, it is evolving to become more privacy-conscious. Utilizing addressable targeting, contextual targeting, and supply side data can help form a cohesive identity strategy in a privacy-compliant manner at scale. Demand for more privacy-centric solutions is growing, regardless of what Google decides to do with Chrome. Even if third party cookies stay on Chrome forever, the shift towards non-ID-based advertising will continue. Buyers and sellers must continue to prepare for a largely ID-less future, and Magnite is building solutions to support that.

Do you think it is time for the open web advertising business model to transition beyond CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) in keeping with the changing times?

CPM is still the industry standard buying model across the industry. However, brands are continuing to set additional KPI performance metric expectations within their campaigns, whether that be across engagement and attention metrics such as viewability, completed view rates, clicks, landings, installs or purchases. We are continuing to see more advancement and adoption of optimisation tools that allow for creative, media placements and publishers to be optimised in real time to deliver the best KPI results for brands. The benefit of programmatic activations is to best allow for this real-time optimisation to take place across all screens and formats.

Personalization often can trespass into unchartered personal territory. How can brands draw that important line when it comes to personalization?

Privacy by default is the new norm for the advertising industry. A fragmented video ecosystem, new data protection legislation, and changing attitudes toward privacy are forcing advertisers to reevaluate their audience targeting strategies. With data-driven advertising evolving to become more privacy-conscious, a flexible, customizable approach to your data strategy is the best way to meet your campaign objectives. Advertisers need to invest in their data strategies and closely collaborate with supply-side partners to fuel data-driven personalization.