September 15, 2022
8:30-9:00AM
Lobby
Registration, Light Refreshments, Schmoozing and Networking
9:00-9:10AM
Dining Room
Welcoming Address by Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief of ITVT
9:10-10:00AM
Dining Room
How Not to Reinvent Wheels
The audience-measurement industry has been talking forever about the need for drastic change. Yet change has been incremental, slow, and painful. As we come to another potential crossroads and another shift in video measurement, what can we learn collectively from the past? This panel of experts will explore learning from past efforts, and advise on what we should and should not be doing as we reach a crucial point in US audience measurement. Panelists include:
9:10-10:00AM
Ballroom
What Would You Do if You Ran…?
We all say it (often with colorful language): “Y’know, if I ran that company, I’d…” Bringing back the panelists from TVOT Live, January 2022 (but with David Berkowitz pinch-hitting for Alan Wolk), we will once again dissect The Three F’s of the media and entertainment industry: Foilables, Flim-Flams and outright Fakery! A fast-moving and entertaining panel, featuring 80+ years of industry experience and expertise. Panelists include:
10:00-10:50AM
Dining Room
The Path Forward: Multicultural Audiences and Measurement
App Science Hot Topic Session
42% of the US population is identified as “multicultural” (AAPI, Black, Hispanic), and that percentage will continue to grow. This session will examine how effectively and accurately the television industry is measuring multicultural viewership, especially when, among other differences in viewing habits, multicultural audiences are significantly more likely to stream their TV programming than are non-Hispanic white audiences (as a recent report from App Science discovered). In addition to assessing progress made to date in multicultural audience measurement, panelists will attempt to identify areas for improvement and share their thoughts on how the industry can address these challenges. Panelists include:
10:00-10:50AM
Ballroom
Designing for TV 2030—The Future of Streaming
Over the past five years, we have seen massive shifts within the streaming space. Most recently, mergers, acquisitions and partnerships have driven strategic bundles and aggregate services towards a path of profitability. However, there is growing frustration and confusion for customers who don’t watch traditional TV or streamers, and don’t subscribe to the models today.
In this panel, we will discuss what it will take to design these future experiences by embracing creators, niche and social content that transform the norms and business models of today. Our expert panel will discuss Today, Tomorrow and the not-so-distant Future through design, products and the future consumers who they rely on. Panelists include:
10:50-10:55AM
Break
10:55 AM – 11:25 AM
Dining Room
All About Data Clean Rooms
Data Clean Rooms, which allow data partners, such as advertisers and media companies, to collaborate with data, without that data changing hands, have been touted not only as a means to protect consumer privacy, but as enabling substantially more granular and effective ad targeting (Disney Advertising, for example, which launched its Data Clean Room solution last fall, has now used that solution to develop over 2,000 targetable audience segments). This session, which brings together some of the people at the forefront of the development and implementation of Data Clean Rooms, will clarify key DCR concepts, outline the lessons that have been learned to date from early deployments, and explore DCRs’ potential impact on addressable and other forms of advanced advertising. Participants include:
10:55-11:25AM
Ballroom
It’s the Eyeballs, Stupid! Understanding Streaming’s Shift to CTV
YouTube and TikTok are now available on connected TVs, and more and more creators and influencers are starting to look at the big screen as just another glowing rectangle to conquer. But as community-first media embraces connected TV, where will the growth actually come from? This session explores the YouTube, TikTok and creator-first opportunity on Connected TVs. Will the growth come from traditional TV platforms embracing creators, from community-first video platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, or will creators launch their own channels? And what about fandom? Will fan-first video create new platforms, services and experiences on connected TV? Expect a lively discussion of what’s happening today, what might happen tomorrow and insight into how connected TVs will be more than just repackaged linear programming. Panelists include:
11:25AM-12:15PM
Dining Room
How to Grow Addressable TV Advertising
Addressable TV advertising now has a footprint of 56 million households in the US, according to research from eMarketer. This panel, which includes some of the people and companies most responsible for driving addressable’s growth, will provide insider insights into the latest developments in the space, and debate what needs to happen next to ensure that that growth continues. Topics to be discussed include the importance of scale to addressable campaigns; how to ensure the quality of the consumer data upon which addressable advertising relies, while preserving the consumer’s right to privacy; how best to measure addressable campaigns’ effectiveness; how best to promote interoperability and thus facilitate national addressable campaigns; the roles that linear TV and CTV and their ongoing convergence will play in addressable’s future; how to rethink advertising creative for the addressable era; and assessing AI/ML and other emerging technologies that could impact addressable’s future. Panelists include:
11:25AM-12:15PM
Ballroom
The Future of Streaming Monetization
This session will explore the future of streaming monetization at a time when churn rates for some SVOD services are approaching 40% and AVOD viewers now account for over 50% of US digital video audiences. Even Netflix, long a holdout against advertising, is expected to roll out a lower-cost, ad-supported tier nationally in the new year. Questions to be addressed include: What does the future of the consumer’s streaming spend look like (especially if we enter a recession)? Which is most effective at retaining viewers and winning new customers—content bundles, different service tiers, free or hybrid services? What can increase customer satisfaction? And what are best practices for better monetization? Panelists include:
12:15-1:15PM
Lunch, Schmoozing and Networking
1:15-2:05PM
Dining Room
Linear Addressable TV: Lessons from the Experts
DISH Media Hot Topic Session
Spending on addressable advertising for linear TV is expected to grow 16% this year, and to exceed $4 billion by the end of 2023. This session, which brings together representatives of two companies that have been at the forefront of implementing linear addressable TV advertising in the US, will draw on their experience and expertise to break down how linear addressable can complement a traditional linear strategy. Topics to be addressed include first-party data and the value of addressable versus legacy linear; the importance of maximizing audience-based buying; how to use data and technology to reach audiences more efficiently; emerging opportunities and challenges; and more. Participants include:
1:15-2:05PM
Ballroom
It’s All TV: Ad Buying and Selling in a Convergent World
Imagine Communications Hot Topic Session
FAST Channel or cable network, streaming app or CTV device—for the consumer, it’s all TV. Is advertising keeping pace? How do media companies and brands derive maximum value in this new golden age where premium TV content is fully accessible across screens and devices? How do you plan, buy, sell, deliver and measure advertising campaigns to reach this highly valuable and rapidly fragmenting audience? This panel of experts will debate the present state of cross-platform TV advertising and the path to true convergence. Panelists include:
2:05-2:50PM
Dining Room
How Predictive Analytics Will Change TV Planning and Buying
Planning and buying have traditionally been predicated on analysis of past viewing behavior to forecast audience delivery. But past behavior is an inaccurate indicator of future viewing. With the emergence of predictive analytics that take into account future variables enabling a prescriptive approach, buyers and sellers can gain a greater sense of how media plans will deliver audiences. How will this change planning and buying moving forward? Panelists include:
2:05-2:50PM
Ballroom
Shoppable TV: Next-Gen Commerce Monetizes Brands Across Platforms
No longer a novelty, transactional television is becoming increasingly exciting and relevant. Brands understand that their best 360° strategies integrate legacy TV, online, Web3 and location-based tactics. Audience engagement, branded series, and direct calls-to-action are among the creative and technical tools brands, agencies and their platform partners employ. This session outlines the deals underpinning this new wave of tcommerce and offers examples of applications/campaigns leading the charge with content yielding maximum impact. Panelists include:
2:50-3:20PM
Dining Room
Fireside: The Future of Advanced Advertising with Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery boasts an expansive collection of brands, like HBO Max, discovery+, Food Network, HGTV, TNT, Cartoon Network, and more, that offer audiences a highly differentiated content portfolio. With the “power of choice” at the heart of the advertising team, Warner Bros. Discovery’s goal is to craft innovative advertising solutions aimed at empowering storytellers, making content available as widely as possible, and driving a high level of engagement and demand from marketers.
In this fireside chat, Gavin Bridge, Senior Media Analyst at Variety, sits down with two Warner Bros. Discovery executives—Jim Keller, EVP of Digital Ad Sales and Advanced Advertising, and Julian Franco, SVP of AVOD/Ad-Lite Product Management—to pull back the curtain on the company’s customer-focused approach to advertising and their vision for the next era of ad formats and experiences.
3:20-4:10PM
Dining Room
Creating Real Ad Advantage with TV’s Dynamic Levers
No matter which corner of the TV ad industry you are in (CTV, streaming, linear, mobile, analytics, etc.), advancements in how TV is planned, bought and measured are fostering significant growth. Hear from the experts on how advertisers’ growth goals will be achieved through all that is possible in 2022/23 Multiscreen TV. Panelists include:
3:20-4:10PM
Ballroom
Combatting Video Piracy with AI
Verimatrix Hot Topic Session
Over the COVID years, we’ve witnessed an accelerated mass migration from content distribution across managed devices such as satellite dishes and pay-TV cable boxes to the “bring-your-own-device world” like smartphones, intelligent TVs and game consoles connected to streaming services. Today, consumers can watch anything from anywhere at any time—which is amazing. However, by streaming to billions of unmanaged consumer devices, our industry is now dealing with an ever-increasing threat surface that is very attractive to content pirates. Content owners, broadcasters and operators need bold new technologies and services to combat industrial-scale piracy and hacking. Verimatrix is focused on game-changing anti-piracy and cybersecurity solutions that eliminate cumbersome integrations and allow for instant access to security data from any device that is used to view content. Our data science teams are working with industry leaders and state-of-the-art AI/ML tools to detect piracy attack patterns, in the pursuit of prediction and prevention of piracy. Participants include:
4:10-4:40PM
Dining Room
Let’s Talk Audiences—Or Rather, Audience-First Thinking: Why Audience-Based Buying Is Putting Wind in Linear TV’s Sails
Centriply Hot Topic Session
Using the same ID-level audience segments for linear TV as other media channels (digital, CTV/OTT, etc.) isn’t a future promise, it’s how TV ad campaigns work today. From the buy side, being able to take an audience segment and connect it to a location and the TV media attached to it boosts a brand’s capacity to tap into linear’s expansive scale and reach, bringing even more value to media strategies and plans.
On the media-owner side, inventory becomes more valuable (without changing it) to more clients when you can use the same audience segments they’re using for other channels, making it easy for clients to say “yes” to you. And on the back end of a campaign, just like digital, this capacity unlocks household-level outcome reporting and attribution to ad spend, enabling reliable analysis of budget spent on TV.
This panel, moderated by TV veteran, Rick Howe (aka The iTV Doctor), discusses why advertisers, armed with loads of audience data, are upbeat on TV’s capabilities to reach desired audiences beyond traditional demos—and linear in particular—once again. Panelists include:
4:10-4:40PM
Ballroom
TV Advertising Matters, but the Audience Matters More
Simpli.fi Hot Topic Session
In this session Jae Scarborough, VP of Enterprise and Channel Sales at Simpli.fi, will discuss his personal and familial experiences with targeted ads and experiences based on the content watched in his household. He’ll also take a deeper dive into the addressable programmatic solutions available with the use of unstructured data and why targeting the right audience within a household is key for advertisers.
4:40-5:20PM
Dining Room
Advertising in the New World of Application Content
Vidillion Hot Topic Session
As CTV viewing grows, consumers are increasingly accessing their programming via apps. This session will unpack the implications of this phenomenon both for the advertising industry and for providers of app-based programming services. Issues to be addressed include the extent to which we need to abandon our legacy notions of TV advertising and embrace new business models and formats, such as viewer interactivity, QR codes and advertising gamification; how—when CTV advertisers tend to cherry-pick the most popular content to run their campaigns beside—small and start-up app-based content providers can nevertheless monetize their services through advertising; and what publishers need to do in in the EU, LATAM and other regions where the growth of app-based programming services has been rapid, but where privacy regulations and other challenges threaten that growth. Panelists include:
4:40-5:20PM
Ballroom
What’s Behind the FAST Rise?
FAST is the talk of the town, with the entertainment industry paying more and more attention to linear streaming channels and the opportunities that it brings. Leading FAST analyst, Gavin Bridge (Senior Media Analyst for Variety Intelligence Platform), sits down with FAST executives from Tastemade, Vevo and Best Ever Channels to discuss why FAST is garnering such attention, where they see the industry going, and the opportunities (and potential pitfalls) within FAST. Panelists include:
5:20PM-5:50PM
Dining Room
Delivering Entertainment that Resonates across Audience Identities and Screens
Vevo Hot Topic Session
This session will explore the shifting focus of distributors/platforms, programmers and advertisers to cater to an increasingly digitally native, multicultural audience that enjoys content across devices throughout the day, but oftentimes ends up enjoying their favorite video programming on TV by day’s end. Drawing on original research, panelists will discuss the diverse and evolving viewing behaviors of a range of multicultural (Black, Asian-Pacific, Latino, etc.) and generational (Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X) audience sectors, and debate how best to reach them. Panelists include:
5:20-5:50PM
Ballroom
TVOT Newsmaker Session: Zane Vella, Co-Founder, FormatLab
Interactive/advanced-TV industry veteran, Zane Vella (among other achievements, he co-founded the pioneering interactive audience-engagement platform, Watchwith, acquired by Comcast in 2016), recently left his role as VP of Strategic Development at Comcast to found FormatLab, a “creative think tank” developing content at the intersection of TV, Gaming and Web3.
This TVOT Newsmaker session will include an exclusive sneak preview of the first project from Vella’s new creative studio.
5:50-6:50PM
Dining Room, Ballroom and The Back Lawn
Cocktail Reception, Sponsored by Vevo
8:30-9:00AM
Lobby
Registration, Light Refreshments, Schmoozing and Networking
9:00-9:05AM
Dining Room
Welcoming Address by Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief of ITVT
9:05-9:55AM
Dining Room
Local CTV Evolves into a Must-Have in the Cross-Platform Media Mix
This session will bring together representatives of local TV groups, agencies and vendors to speak to the burgeoning local CTV market. Panelists will dissect and examine what’s going on from the buy and sell sides; and debate such topics as what the entry of Netflix means for this market; programmatic versus publisher-direct deals; which business verticals are growing CTV spending most and fastest; emerging technologies for programmatic, data-driven buying and attribution; and more. Panelists include:
9:05-9:55AM
Ballroom
The Big Measurement and Currency Debate: Is the US Market Heading in the Right Direction?
The US TV measurement landscape is changing rapidly, with growing fragmentation, new sources of data and a plethora of new offerings and initiatives. But, despite encouraging developments, many industry participants have concerns that the marketplace is becoming more complex and confusing, with a lack of comprehensive data, eroding panels, and emerging walled gardens.
Is the US market heading in the right direction? Will new initiatives and offerings deliver the visibility, transparency and coverage that buyers and sellers are looking for?
Join us as CIMM unveils findings from its new guide to the US TV measurement landscape, followed by a panel debate exploring the latest developments, current challenges and future opportunities in a fast-changing marketplace. Panelists include:
9:55-10:25AM
Dining Room
Fireside: The New Gatekeepers: Smart TVs Step to the Front of the Streaming Revolution
The TV interface is the new battleground for consumer attention and with the advancements of new technologies, TV now holds the promise of becoming a new playground in the home. In an exclusive fireside chat, Mike O’Donnell, VIZIO’s Chief Revenue Officer, sits down with TVREV’s Alan Wolk to discuss how making TVs and owning the interface is unlocking innovation for programmers, advertisers and the broader ecosystem to create an engaging and exciting time for consumers.
9:55-10:25AM
Ballroom
TVOT Newsmaker Session: Jon Giegengack, Principal, Hub Entertainment Research
Jon Giegengack, Founder of Hub Entertainment Research, will unveil the findings of the company’s new research report, “Streaming TV: Built In or Plugged In.” The report explores how consumers use smart TVs compared with how they use streaming devices (Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV), and how these devices are assuming a central role in which shows and providers viewers discover and decide to watch.
10:25-10:30AM
Break
10:30-11:20AM
Dining Room
Audience Fragmentation Is Getting Worse in a Streaming Future—Our Advertising Needs to Be Truly Cross-Platform to Fix That
Streaming video is booming and linear TV audiences are declining. Nevertheless, hundreds of millions of Americans will be watching content on both for many years into the future, though their viewing is increasingly fragmenting across different channels, programmers, apps, platforms and devices. This fragmentation is the enemy of delivering ads that are both effective and efficient for advertisers, high yielding for media owners and relevant and delightful for viewers (or, at the least, not so irritating and annoying). The ad industry needs capabilities to re-aggregate these audiences and their viewing wherever and whenever they watch, and to make sure that the ad planning, activation and measurement works in an integrated way across all platforms. We are making progress, but have lots of challenges ahead. Panelists include:
10:30-11:20AM
Ballroom
Lessons from the Front Lines of the Streaming Wars
This panel offers a unique opportunity to hear from seasoned executives who have been immersed in the business of streaming and the broader media landscape. They will speak about the challenges the sector faces, and the imperatives that need to be addressed not just to succeed, but to avoid sector meltdown and to go beyond the conventional wisdoms that keep things cozy. The goal of their discussion will be to define how the business needs to adapt to stand a chance of being sustainably profitable.
It’s going to be a lively and provocative conversation with people who have been there, done that and probably done it again. This will not be your conventional panel discussion. So don’t miss it. Panelists include:
11:20AM-12:10PM
Dining Room
NEXTGEN TV Mini-Track I: Advanced Advertising
NEXTGEN TV is delivering a better broadcast product infused with digital DNA. This new broadcast TV service is already available in 50% of US households, and receivers are on target to be installed in over 55 million homes by 2024. Learn from companies leading its development how this new platform is creating new advertising monetization opportunities for broadcasters, including OTT, CTV, FAST, Lead Generation, and Digital Advertising. Panelists include:
11:20-12:10PM
Ballroom
The Great Streaming Reboot
As the great streaming reboot descends, we face finite consumer constraints: disposable income, and available free time.
So, we ask the question: WHAT MATTERS MORE? BRAND or CONTENT? If they both impact choice, how
do they complement and validate each other?
As platforms continue to consolidate, will consumers make choices based on brand value and prior experience, or based on the content they want to consume, regardless of where it sits? How do we retain subscribers if every consumer is searching for the next best thing? And what happens to consumer connection when we rebrand?
What impact does technology have on brand adoption? How is technology accelerating brand adoption, expansion, and growth? Brands are not reliant on the 15/30/45 second spot—they have instant access and attention through social media. Consumers are spending more time on social feeds: how has this impacted our adoption of new brands?
If consumers watch content, not brands, does the brand promise affect content consumption? If so, how? Netflix is the gold standard in part because it seized the First Mover Advantage—if the playing field were level, how would the landscape play out today? Would Netflix still be #1—and what are the consumer KPIs? Content reviews, product reviews, family/friend recommendations, star power?
Join us as we break down the barriers between brand and content to understand the current streaming revolution. Panelists include:
12:10-1:10PM
Lunch, Schmoozing and Networking
1:10-1:55PM
Dining Room
NEXTGEN TV Mini-Track II: Interactive TV and Monetization
The growing footprint of ATSC 3.0 broadcast signals and compatible TVs opens the door to a hybrid world of video and closely integrated data and applications. This new format combines the strength of broadcast with the interactivity and personalized experience of the web. This panel features highly experienced veteran technologists and product developers who will share what they have learned from direct hands on experience with the format, with a focus on audience engagement and monetization.
Panelists include:
1:10-1:55PM
Ballroom
Attention!
Measuring viewer attention to video ads is the latest bright shiny object. There are many players entering this measurement space, and much discussion about the relevance and value of the measurement. Is it just a fad or will it really change how advertisers plan and buy media? This panel will include representatives from several measurement companies in this space, as well as those who are evaluating and using attention metrics. Panelists include:
1:55-2:45PM
Dining Room
Broadcast TV: An Era of Innovation?
With the rollout of the new broadcast-TV standard, ATSC 3.0 (otherwise known by the consumer-facing brand, NEXTGEN TV) continuing apace across the US, hopes are high for an era of innovation in over-the-air TV. This session—which brings together representatives of the organization behind the new standard and of companies that have been at the forefront of leveraging that standard’s capabilities—will explore how ATSC 3.0 and other new technological developments are enabling the launch of new broadcast-TV services, user experiences and business models. In addition to discussing the lessons they have learned to date from launching such services, the panelists will attempt to visualize the role that broadcast TV will likely play in the television ecosystem in the coming years should these innovations prove successful. Panelists include:
1:55-2:45PM
Ballroom
Audience Measurement and Data: The Big Picture
This session will build on and complement TVOT SF 2022’s extensive coverage of multiple aspects of the audience-measurement/data space (attention metrics, predictive analytics, the transition to a multi-currency marketplace, and more). It will bring together leaders and innovators in measurement and data to respond to and expand upon those discussions; to identify and debate the issues, challenges, and new technological, economic and political developments that are having the biggest impact on this space; and to attempt to visualize the “big picture” of its current state and future trajectory. Panelists include:
2:45-3:25PM
Dining Room
New Streaming Technologies
This session will explore the latest developments in the technological infrastructure that makes streaming TV possible. Panelists will identify the most significant recent innovations in such areas as platform development, content management, content protection, cloud-based approaches, AI/ML for video, and more; debate the extent to which the development of new streaming technologies is successfully addressing and anticipating emerging challenges in OTT TV; and speculate on how these technologies are likely to impact the business and the user experience of streaming TV in the future. Panelists include:
3:25-4:05PM
Dining Room
Guidance, Navigation and the Paradox of Choice
In his influential 2004 book, “The Paradox of Choice—Why More Is Less,” psychologist Barry Schwartz argues that an over-abundance of choice actually causes consumers to feel frustrated and powerless, and ultimately reduces for them the value of the options between which they are choosing. In the television space, of course, the need for the consumer to choose between an overwhelming number of programming options is additionally complicated by the fact that those options are now spread across multiple different platforms and services. This session will explore new developments in recommendation and personalization technologies, search algorithms, metadata, user interfaces and more that are designed to simplify, and thus facilitate, the process of content discovery and navigation in the era of multiplatform “peak TV.” Panelists include:
2:45-4:05PM
Ballroom
Assessing the Impact of CTV Advertising
This exploration of the future of CTV advertising will feature two panels: the first consisting of representatives of the companies at the forefront of developing new CTV-advertising platforms, technologies, services and formats; and the second consisting of representatives of the media companies and advertising agencies at the forefront of implementing those innovations. With their complementary perspectives, each panel will examine how CTV is impacting such areas as audience measurement; the planning, buying, targeting and attribution of ad campaigns; the kinds of companies that can now advertise on TV; and, not least, the viewer experience itself of TV advertising. They will also address potential challenges to the ongoing adoption of CTV advertising, including fraud, and share their thoughts on how the CTV advertising ecosystem will evolve over the coming months and years. Participants on the first panel include:
Participants on the second panel include:
4:05-4:25PM
Dining Room
Fireside: Entertainment Economics in Web3 and the Metaverse
Blockchain, NFTs, Metaverse—terms that continue to dominate Google search and to challenge incumbent business models in the entertainment and arts industries. As more and more virtual worlds launch into the Metaverse, where artists, brands and communities are built, what will the economics be? How will it work? Is there money to be made? Brian Seth Hurst, President of StoryTech Immersive, sits down with Michelle Munson, Founder and CEO of Eluvio, the content blockchain for the creator economy that is currently revolutionizing the content marketplace, to talk about the future.
4:25-5:05PM
Dining Room
The Metaverse: Opportunities for Brands and Creators
Separating the hype from the true opportunities in what is being called the Metaverse is a challenge, but the future bodes well for both creators and brands to build both a solid and profitable presence using Web3 technologies. This session will sort through the definitions, the current landscape, the blockchain economics and the future of content. Panelists include:
4:05-5:05PM
Ballroom
Studios and Streaming
This session will explore how content producers of multiple kinds (including major media companies, multicultural streamers and independents) are developing new distribution and monetization strategies, new ways of working, and even new kinds of programming, in response to the increasing important role that streaming and CTV are playing in the television ecosystem and to the changes in consumer behavior that this is occasioning. How should we expect the production, consumption and business models of programming content to evolve in the coming years? Panelists include:
5:05-5:50PM
Dining Room
Driving Audience Engagement with Interactive Streaming
Real-time interactive video streaming has become a greater part of the video landscape in the past few years, due to audience behaviors shifting during the pandemic and improvement in ultra-low latency streaming. From esports to betting to virtual theater and immersive experiences, the application of live platforms and engagement tools is driving greater audience participation.
This session features leaders in the fields of live production, virtual world-building, audience interaction, and immersive engagement, including:
5:05-5:50PM
TVOT SF 2022 AFTER-PARTY AT PARKLAB GARDENS
Join us for an informal after-party in the TVOT cabanas at Parklab Gardens, 1379 4th Street, in San Francisco’s trendy South Beach neighborhood.
