Yahoo’s John McNerney on the relevance of omnichannel in a cookieless world

Connected TV holds great potential in India with consumers increasingly streaming content online, says John McNerney, Senior Director of Platforms, APAC, Yahoo. In this interview with Adgully, he touches upon the relevance of omnichannel in a cookieless world

McNerney notes, “Advertisers are considering CTV to achieve different goals – to extend reach, or complement linear TV buys. Many are making it part of omnichannel campaigns to complement other ad formats and build brand recall… CTV operates in a cookie-less environment. In the evolving privacy-centric landscape, CTV opens up a path for advertisers to target precise high-value audiences, relying on trusted first-party data.

Excerpts from the interview:

What are the trends shaping CTV advertising in India?

With consumers streaming more than ever before, CTV opportunities are rising rapidly. India saw record smart TV shipments last year – the share of smart TVs in overall TV shipments in India reaching 84% in 2021. According to FICCI-EY’s 2021 Media and Entertainment report, this kind of boost will create scale and new opportunities as we enter a new “era of connected interactive consumption.” It follows that as interest in streaming and connected TV content grows, advertisers will want to reach those consumers, and media owners will want to monetise. Programmatic and CTV together only catalyze this opportunity, unlocking benefits like a unified buying approach across linear and digital TV, identity-based targeting, and cross-screen planning and reporting. An increase in household-level TV-viewing data opens the door to measuring and managing ROI like never before, with the tools to do it consistently, transparently, and flexibly. Savvy advertisers that understand the big screens’ effectiveness on total omnichannel campaigns are leaning heavily into adopting CTV and DOOH channels together with other channels such as display and native to fulfill the collective audience requirement.

How can advertisers prepare for campaign success, especially in a post-cookieless world? When should advertisers use CTV advertising?

Marketers’ offline-to-online ROI needs have skyrocketed since the pandemic began as community mobility and eCommerce behaviours have hit an inflection point. This is now a byproduct that marketers require cookieless measurement and audience targeting. Households with connected TVs and urban areas with higher audience density around digital billboards are becoming BAU for marketers’ planning. Advertisers are considering CTV to achieve different goals – to extend reach, or complement linear TV buys. Many are making it part of omnichannel campaigns to complement other ad formats and build brand recall.

How can brands meaningfully tap into the fast-emerging advertising potential of CTV in India?

We are seeing brands unlock new possibilities and solutions through data-driven advanced TV solutions via the Yahoo DSP. Advertisers are getting a comprehensive view of their linear and digital TV buys, to understand their incremental reach using several dimensions of their buys, including by the publisher, network, audiences, and other criteria.

They are following the user journey across screens with CTV identity resolution for planning – forecasting and measuring ad frequency at both the household and user level. They are able to retarget people reached on CTV across their other devices to drive them down the sales funnel.

Linking CTV ad exposure to purchase data is critical for growth. Brands can now analyse and optimise for near real-time campaign performance, to drive the best business outcomes. New, robust insights are paving the way for TV advertisers to measure and manage ROI better, providing more granular data on the impact of digital ad exposure. Closed-loop sales lift studies, brand awareness studies, and more can all be tied to these new digital ad exposures.

What are the advantages of programmatic CTV advertising?

The ease and efficiency of buying digital media programmatically transfer over to CTV video ad inventory. In fact, all the advantages of programmatic also accrue. Programmatic CTV advertising lets you easily find the right audience through effective targeting options. Marketers get the insights and control they need to make real-time optimisations and track the impact of campaigns. With consumers using multiple devices and platforms to access content, programmatic allows you to integrate CTV seamlessly into your omnichannel strategy.

What is the importance of integrating CTV into larger omnichannel campaigns?

Advertisers can use CTV advertising to achieve top-of-funnel awareness goals as well as complement other ad formats to drive consideration, intention, purchase, and loyalty. Today, thinking omnichannel is about connecting with consumers across different channels in a way that is related and always useful. For instance, a consumer sees an ad for pizza when they are streaming their favorite TV show. That same consumer then sees the brand offer a discount code in an ad experience on their phone. After they have purchased the pizza using that discount, the consumer then sees an ad for the brands’ loyalty programme on their laptop – for a connected consumer such a 360-experience is relevant and useful.

To give you an example, we had partnered with Discovery to promote ‘Shark Week’s 33rd year with an omnichannel campaign spanning display, mobile, video, CTV and DOOH through the Yahoo DSP. For CTV and DOOH, the ad units included a QR code that led viewers to a unique AR shark creative where the predator ‘jumped’ off their screen.

Why does CTV advertising tie in well in a privacy-focused world?

CTV operates in a cookie-less environment. In the evolving privacy-centric landscape, CTV opens up a path for advertisers to target precise high-value audiences, relying on trusted first-party data. Of course, choosing the right DSP and partner will be key to leveraging a robust identity graph. We are also seeing new identity solutions emerge and scale across the broader programmatic landscape, which will create new opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers who value their privacy.