Beyond Broadcast: Unlocking addressable value with dynamic Ad Routing

The value of teamwork in Basketball and Advertising

In basketball, each player has a unique role and responsibility. For example, the point guard handles the ball, calls the plays, and sets up teammates for good shots with timely and accurate passes. However, a “good” shot varies for each player based on their skills. Some excel near the basket, while others specialize in long-range shooting. It’s up to the point guard to find favourable matchups that maximize scoring chances on any given possession. 

The ad tech ecosystem consists of many more players than you’d find on a basketball team. Success depends on everything working seamlessly, from asset creation and ad sales to serving, delivery, and reporting.  Targeted advertising adds even more value to the system by delivering personalised ads and collecting real-time data, leading to higher CPMs and less wastage. 

However, publishers and content providers might find it challenging to enable the full value chain between them, given the mix of vendors and technologies.  To implement a complex and integrated solution like addressable advertising, there is a need for a system that provides coordination to ensure that opportunities are utilised to their full potential. 

Ad Routing unlocks addressable for all players

This is where the concept of Ad Routing comes into the Pay TV environment.  The Pay TV operator has access to a wealth of first party data, combined with premium content from the networks and streaming services for delivering ads, but the broadcasters and cable channels own the inventory and have direct access to the buyers and markets for selling campaigns. 

Ad Routing acts like the point guard of the basketball team by providing these key functions: 

• Multiple Ad servers support – Each content provider will likely have their own ad server, and the publisher may also transact on some of the available inventory.  Ad Routing will handle the ad request and communicate with each of the other “players,” i.e., ad servers to make decisions with minimal latency.
• Dynamic and flexible inventory sharing – In many cases, ad insertion and replacement rights can be complex.  Ad Routing will manage the allocation of opportunities according to flexible business rules that consider variables such as time-of-day, device type, or location to get the best “shot,” or opportunity distribution for the situation.
• Data sharing and measurement – Ad Routing will parse the viewer and session data and “pass” the information each it needs to target the ad decision appropriately.  Tracking tags must also be “handled” properly to ensure that the other players have visibility to impressions and viewership. 

In today’s complicated business and tech environments, teamwork is often necessary to develop a winning solution.  If you want to get into the targeted advertising game, Ad Routing can provide the system intelligence needed to make sure that you and your teammates are set up for success, by taking full advantage of the capabilities of Pay TV and content providers to boost ad revenues for everyone involved.  

To learn more about how Synamedia Iris does Ad Routing, read this overview. 

And if you’re ready to see a demo of Synamedia Iris or speak with someone about how it can work in your system, please contact us.