Mar 11, 2022

A Winning Strategy for March Madness

Liza Goldenberg, Product Development & Vendor Relations

The year was 2003. Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, Apple released iTunes, everyone’s friend Tom started MySpace, and March Madness was streamed online for the first time.  The 2003 deal was between CBS and Yahoo! to stream the first 3 rounds of the tournament as part of the Yahoo! Platinum service for $16.95 a month1. Two years later, the NCAA announced that March Madness 2006 would be streamed free of charge on NCAAsports.com2.

Fast forward a mere 16 years and we now see that not only are people streaming March Madness, but the streaming viewership is beginning to eclipse those watching the tournament on TV.

During the 2021 NCAA tournament, streaming audiences reach increased by over 85% from the 2019 tournament (2020 was canceled due to Covid19). On the other side, TV reach among adults 18+ declined by 24%.3

So what does this mean for advertisers? Cue the sports analogies. The best way to win in the game is to have a full-court press when it comes to your advertising strategy. Gone are the days that you can just run an ad on TV and reach everyone at once. Combining OTT and Cable TV advertising is a slam dunk to expand your reach. A strong bench will also be crucial to reaching your audience during March Madness. Adding in things like Pre-roll, Display, and Audio will ensure that you are communicating with your customers throughout the tournament in a multitude of ways.

Want to learn more about how Viamedia can help you with a game-winning strategy? Click here to get in contact with an advertising expert.

 

Liza Goldenberg
Director of Vendor Relations

  1. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/yahoo-unveils-platinum-paid-service/
  2.  
  3. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/PressArchive/2005/Corporate%2BNews/NCAA%2BMarch%2BMadness%2Bon%2BDemand%2Bto%2Bbe%2BOffered%2BFree%2Bof%2BCharge%2Bon%2BNcaasports%2Bdot%2Bcom%2BPowered%2Bby%2BCBS%2BSportsline%2Bdot%2Bcom.html
  4.  
  5. https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/about-25-of-viewers-who-watched-march-madness-on-linear-tv-in-2019-switched-to-streaming-it-this-year/
Aug 26, 2021

Ad-Tech Innovator QTT® Launches Marketplace to Drive Seamless Digital, Linear TV and Interoperability

Bob Gold & Associates

Launch Follows Receipt of Patents Achieving Advertising-System Interoperability Among Broadcasters, Cable Networks, MVPDs and

Digital Supply and Demand Side Platforms

Initial Television Participants Include A+E Networks, FOX, Reelz

Magnite Is First Participating SSP

New York City and Lexington, KY – August 24, 2021 – Buyers and sellers of linear television ad inventory now have a fully transparent solution enabling them to automate and expedite the activation of data-driven linear video inventory without changing existing workflows or technologies.

QTT®, a video platform that bridges existing standard digital and TV advertising technologies andmakes linear TV advertising behave digitally, today announced the launch of QTT® Marketplace. QTT Marketplace is an open-platform destination for advertisers and agencies accustomed to digital platforms to access directly a wealth of premium, curated local and national television inventory – and for television inventory owners to tap more directly into the rapidly growing digital ad pool.

“The last mile to activate linear TV advertising through existing digital platforms is finally here,” said John Piccone, president of QTT.   “Buyers and sellers can now take advantage of their investments in data-driven audience planning tools by activating at scale through QTT’s seamless translation platform. As a result, we now have an array of partners offering premium television inventory through demand- and sell-side platforms to connect them directly with traditional and new digital advertisers.” 

The QTT Marketplace launch follows the completion of a family of QTT patents delivering seminal steps in the integration of the pan-device digital and linear television advertising ecosystems.

The QTT Marketplace is a new extension of QTT software developed to allow agencies and media buyers to see the linear ad packages – including rates, scheduling and number of spots -- made available by QTT licensees including MVPDs, broadcast television stations and broadcast and cable networks.  An ad campaign can then proceed seamlessly via any respective demand-side platform (DSP) and SSP through the VAST standards and Deal IDs to complete a brand-safe transaction that delivers the campaign’s message to premium audiences.

“A+E Networks has been on the forefront in building scalable demand-side partnerships,” said Ethan Heftman, SVP Advanced Advertising and Digital Sales at A+E Networks. “QTT and its Marketplace are a one-two punch that automates access to new demand while ensuring control over our pricing and inventory.”

“At FOX, we continue to find ways to better serve our clients and look for solutions to drive incremental yield while reducing the workflow efforts to leverage our advanced TV technologies,” said Dan Callahan, SVP Data Strategy and Sales Innovation for Fox. “Earlier this year, we partnered with Operative to move all linear sales to a single cloud system and, in turn, this allowed a seamless partnership with QTT to connect specific cable network linear avails to digital ad platforms.”

“More and more digital advertisers are looking to linear TV to increase their reach efficiently,” said Bill Rosolie, SVP Advertising Sales at ReelzChannel.  “We see QTT as a platform to unlock the value of target-rich audiences across our portfolio of independent networks.”

"In our environment where most ‘game-changing technology’ really isn't, the QTT Marketplace is," said Eric Fischer, Founder and CEO of buying agency HJA Strategic Marketing.  "Their ability to provide a solution for digital-first advertisers to seamlessly access unduplicated linear TV audiences at scale, and conversely provide linear TV networks access to thousands of digital advertisers, adds a whole new dimension to the TV buying ecosystem."

Leveraging the existing Video Advertising Standard Template (VAST) tag, the patented QTTapproach allows digital platforms to develop their own solutions to bring linear television inventory to complement their digital buys. As the first sell-side advertising platform (SSP) integrated with QTT, Magnite, the world's largest independent SSP, developed its own proprietary solution that complements QTT’s patented technology and exposes linear inventory programmatically to buyers based on existing TV measurement currencies.  Because digital attributes such as Video Ad Serving Template (VAST)-based impression pixels aren't available on linear platforms, Magnite’s methodology captures, and reports ratings based upon viewing windows agreed to by media owners and marketers.

“Our clients have been asking for streamlined tools to enable programmatic monetization of their linear inventory and complement their CTV advertising efforts,“ said Todd Randak, SVP Strategy and Partnerships at Magnite. “With QTT we can now offer premium linear TV opportunities through the Magnite platform as if they were any other digital video ad.”

“The conversion of linear-enabled avails to VAST tag-enabled avails, is a pivotal development,” Piccone noted.  “And, importantly, the QTT Marketplace keeps the control in the hands of the respective parties in a transaction.  Advertisers get full transparency and accountability for their buys.  Broadcasters, cable programmers and MVPDs maintain complete control over their inventory and pricing.” 

About QTT®

QTT®, based in New York City, is a first-of-its-kind cloud-based television advertising solution that requests and receives ads from programmatic digital ad exchanges to enable linear cable television ad insertion utilizing existing cable and broadcast TV infrastructure.  QTT is integrated with leading SSPs and DSPs and converts a single DSP/SSP digital ad call into a linear TV ad placement, facilitating private marketplace deals with the local broadcasters and broadcast and cable networks who have licensed the solution.   QTT® is a division of Viamedia, the Lexington, Kentucky, based provider of comprehensive audience and impression-based local video cross-media advertising solutions.  Its platform has exclusive cable TV ad inventory from more than 60 MVPDs in 31 states across 69 DMAs, offering advertising on cable TV networks to more than 6,000 local, regional and national advertisers. QTT is and can be deployed well beyond Viamedia’s footprint. For more information about QTT, please visit  https://viamediatv.com/qtt.  For more information about Viamedia, please visit https://viamediatv.com.

For more information, contact:

Tom Campo or Bob Gold

Bob Gold & Associates

310-320-2010

QTT@bobgoldpr.com

 

Nov 3, 2020

Viamedia Files Brief in Opposition to Comcast’s Petition to U.S. Supreme Court for Writ of Certiorari

Bob Gold & Associates

Latest Step in Viamedia’s $500 Million Antitrust Claim Vs. Comcast
Sep 1, 2020

Viamedia Names Jim Loughran Senior Vice President of Digital

Bob Gold & Associates

Published on businesswire.com June 22, 2020

Advertising Veteran Joins the Viamedia Team to Expand Digital Sales & Development

NEW YORK--()--Viamedia, the television industry’s largest independent local ad management company, today named Jim Loughran senior vice president of digital, effective immediately. Loughran will oversee, develop and grow the future of the company’s digital sales and operations. He recently served as senior vice president, national addressable, OTT and digital sales for Ampersand (formerly NCC Media), where he grew ad revenue from approximately $10 million to more than $100 million.

Viamedia is proud to announce our new Vice President of Digital, Jim Loughran. Jim's leadership and insight will be invaluable as we continue to grow the future of our digital sales and operations.

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“Jim has demonstrated the ability to execute and drive digital sales,” said Viamedia President and CEO, Mark Lieberman. “As a leading local cross media advertising company, Viamedia is always seeking to bring the best leaders to create value for our advertisers. Jim is the right person to help make that happen, especially as our advertising business customers are looking for guidance as the economy reopens in a post-pandemic world."

Loughran will work alongside the cross-media sales teams to execute on objectives, oversee and coordinate product development and manage relationships with key strategic partners. He will be based in Viamedia’s New York City headquarters, and will report to Viamedia Chief Revenue Officer David Solomon.

Loughran brings to Viamedia more than 20 years’ experience leading digital, advanced television, OTT, mobile and linear advertising sales. Prior to Ampersand Loughran was vice president of sales for CBS Interactive, overseeing a $120 million sales effort on behalf of a portfolio of websites including CNET, CBS News, ZDNet, TechRepublic and Moneywatch.

About Viamedia

Headquartered in New York City with operational headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky, Viamedia provides a comprehensive audience and impression-based local video cross media advertising platform. As part of the platform, Viamedia has exclusive cable TV ad inventory from more than 60 Cable TV Distributors in 34 states across 76 DMAs, offering advertising on cable TV networks to more than 6,000 local, regional and national advertisers. Viamedia also offers those advertisers a complimentary suite of impression-based digital products including Viamedia's proprietary QTT® as well as OTT, mobile, display, email, search, and social, in those DMAs and beyond. Viamedia's success is built on its proprietary software, people and processes. In June 2020, Viamedia launched #ChangeStartsRightHere, a grassroots campaign to foster positive conversations to help end racism. As part of the initiative, Viamedia has invited local business, minority leaders and law enforcement to submit spots about how they are working together to create positive change and a more inclusive future, which Viamedia will run free of charge across its nationwide footprint. For more information, please visit https://viamediatv.com and http://www.changestartsrighthere.com/.

Contacts

Chris Huppertz
Bob Gold & Associates
310-320-2010
viamedia@bobgoldpr.com

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