STRONGER TOGETHER:

collections Special edition of egta insights

STRONGER TOGETHER:

collaborations & alliances in the tv/Video ecosystem

May 2018

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Table of content 05

INTRODUCTION

09

PART 01: INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES

10

European Media Alliance (EMA)

12

European Broadcasters Exchange (EBX)

14

FreeWheel Council for Premium Video (FWCE)

16

The Global TV Group

19

PART 02: NATIONAL INITIATIVES

20

The European netID Foundation

24

Nonio

26

Gravity

30

Sky and Virgin

34

OpenAp

38

TV4, Discovery, MTG and Telia

40

Ad Alliance

43

PART 03: OTHER INITIATIVES

44

Aunia

45

Stievie

45

The BIG TV Festival

46

Studio71

47

TV content co-production partnerships: • NBCU International, RTL and TF1 • France Télévisions, Rai and ZDF • Nordic public broadcasters

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INTRODUCTION overcome many of the challenges they share and ultimately strengthen the industry as a whole. The cost of not collaborating, on the other hand, can be very high.

Katty Roberfroid Director General egta Stronger together As the saying goes, there is strength in union. The rise of large tech platforms has transformed the sellside of the media business to the point where individual publishers are struggling to compete against online heavyweights. While TV has been evolving to embrace online, more digital ad spend is funnelled into the tech giants coffers. Now an increasing number of broadcasters are joining forces with their competitors to protect and further enhance their position in the video marketplace.

So, what is driving the formation of partnerships between different media players? Can such initiatives help reinforce broadcasters’ position, when competing with the FANGs1 of this world? Efficiency & innovation In a rapidly evolving media and advertising market, publishers need to work together to accommodate consumers’ demand by creating compelling experiences and generating growth opportunities for everyone involved in such joint projects. In the long run, for publishers, partnerships with other industry players can open new

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opportunities in terms of innovation, allowing all involved parties to push technologies to the next level. For buyers, such alliances provide greater simplicity in terms of media planning and media buying. • Examples of such collaboration are OpenAP (page 34), the AdAlliance (page 40) and EBX (page 12) Scale, targetability and transparency Marketers want to reach as large an audience as possible and, at the same time, target as precise a consumer group as possible. The fragmentation of the media industry means that brands have to target several media channels at once using different ad formats and varying data sets.

Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google.

In Europe, the trend started in 2012 in France with La Place Media, whose shareholders are amongst others TF1, Le Figaro, France Télévisions, Lagardère and Team Media. Since then, there has been a discernible rise in industry alliances proliferating across different markets. But 2017 was most certainly a turning point, where the concept of “co-opetition” spread widely across our industry. It quickly came to light that these collaborations could be true game changers and help media owners

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One of the main objectives of media alliances is to help publishers increase their reach and the quality of the audiences they offer, and in doing so, improve their ability to optimise revenue across the supply chain. By capitalising on traditional media’s core strength – their ability to provide great content and scale – broadcasters can create trusted and brand-safe advertising environments that constitute an increasingly attractive alternative to the online players’ offers. Working together also allows broadcasters to go beyond mere demographics with regards to datadriven ads, when compared to their individual portfolios. By offering greater consistency in audience definitions, some joint projects aim at making the buying process more transparent for media buyers. By pooling their resources, media owners can thus combine the best of two worlds: trust, quality content and the mass scale of traditional TV with targeting possibilities offered by the digital space. • Examples include: EBX (page 12), Gravity (page 26), OpenAP (page 34) and Virgin and Sky’s deal (page 30). Data protection and a user-centric approach The quality of the user experience is without a doubt one of the decisive factors in a customers’ platform choice. As consumption trends continue to diversify, it becomes crucial for broadcasters to provide online platforms that are easy to access and navigate. This opens significant opportunities for industry cooperation, where broadcasters can work together to offer a more seamless user experience across multiple platforms and devices. In view of recent controversies around data usage coupled with wider concerns over online brand safety and viewability, the value of such partnerships is even more

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apparent. Some joint initiatives were launched to offer viewers greater transparency when it comes to how their personal data is collected and used. This aspect is particularly important in the changing European regulatory landscape with the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation and the forthcoming e-Privacy Regulation. • Examples include: the netID Foundation (page 20) and Nonio (page 24). Collaborate to compete The initiatives included in this publication offer a snapshot of some of the latest examples of collaborations between broadcasters both on the national and international level. Together these cases clearly show that television remains a dynamic, forward-thinking and effective advertising medium, that easily embraces the latest technological developments and constantly adapts to the evolving viewers’ behaviours. As Director General of egta, I am also thrilled that the spirit of collaboration doesn’t stop there. It also applies to the need to reinvent a new narrative of TV and communicate structured and valuable data about TV’s effectiveness (The Global TV Group, or the FreeWheel Premium Council are good examples of that need, read more on page 16 and page 14). But it also applies to the need to produce quality content together – TV’s biggest asset. At the end of this publication you can read about a few initiatives of broadcasters collaborating to create quality programmes, drama and series (more on page 47). ***

This truly is the golden age of TV... regardless of whether you consider it multiplatform television, or “total video”. I believe that the initiatives you will find in the following pages prove this more than ever. Enjoy your read! Katty Roberfroid

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INDIVIDUALLY WE ARE ONE DROP. TOGETHER WE ARE AN OCEAN. --- Ryunosuke Satoro, Japanese poet

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01. InternationaL.

part

initiatives.

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EUROPEAN MEDIA ALLIANCE (EMA): An alliance to identify investment opportunities, facilitate partnerships and scale businesses in Europe

Market & Members

ProSiebenSat.1 (Germany), TF1 (France), Channel 4 (UK), TVN (Poland), Medialaan (Belgium), Mediaset (Italy), Mediaset España (Spain), MTG (Nordics), Antenna Group (Greece, CEE), Dogan (Turkey), CME (Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia), SIC (Portugal)

Nature of collaboration

Digital entertainment, commerce and TV production

Potential reach

200 million households 550 million inhabitants

Launch date

2014

Website

https://www.europeanmediaalliance.com/

In 2014 it became clear to senior decision makers from TF1 and ProSiebenSat.1, that collaboration would be one of the most important assets in the TV broadcast world for the years to come, if the TV industry wanted not only to take on Google and Facebook’s dominant position on the online market, but also to thrive in the digital age. They saw a role model when looking at the airline industry (Star Alliance for instance) and decided to set up a multilateral structure with their counterparts from Poland, the UK, Italy and Spain: the European Media Alliance (EMA). It quickly became evident that there was a need for such collaboration - and a real reciprocal desire to innovate in making business - as other major European broadcasters joined them soon after: with the Nordics, Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Portugal, the EMA reached a significant footprint in the broadcasting landscape, making their projects even more impactful.

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The alliance was formed to identify investment or cooperation opportunities in digital businesses and to facilitate strategic partnerships among its members. The nature of the collaboration within the alliance is very flexible and varied: it can for instance help emerging companies to expand their businesses into other relevant markets. But it can also develop concrete tools, e.g. with EBX, a European sales house for programmatic online video advertising, (see page 12) which became one of EMA’s flagship projects. Another great example of this collaboration is the expansion of P7S1’s leading MCN, Studio71 (with headquarters in California): they managed to scale the MCN business considerably and expand into Italy and France, reaching over 7 billion monthly views worldwide (see page 48).

Francisco Pedro Balsemão CEO Impresa Group Lisbon

“

SIC works in an ecosystem in constant change. It’s important for us to increase the bridges with European players, which share the same strategic vision for the future of the Media.” Source: Sic joins European Media Alliance, 13 October 2016, https://www.broadbandtvnews. com/2017/09/07/cme-joinseuropean-media-alliance/

Christoph Mainusch Co-Chief Executive Officer CME

“

This alliance is a great match for us, bringing together our leading brands with those of other leading broadcasters across Europe. We look forward to developing our partnerships with members as this will provide better access and reach for growthstage advertisers anywhere on the continent, accelerate the introduction of better digital technologies and increase the amount of high quality content available to entertain audiences.” Source: Central European Media Enterprises Joins the European Media Alliance, 8 September, 2017, https://globenewswire.com/newsrelease/2017/09/08/1116871/0/ en/Central-European-MediaEnterprises-Joins-the-EuropeanMedia-Alliance.html

Olivier Abecassis Vice President, Innovation and Digital TF1 Group

“

After investing in Studio71 last January on the content side, we are very pleased to announce the consolidation of our partnership with ProSiebenSat.1 and Mediaset. EBX will enable us to propose to international brands a video premium inventory with brand safe and premium content, on a European scale, while exploiting the potential of programmatic technologies. Data and unified technologies will make life easier for our customers. This is the beginning of an awesome alliance.”

Stefano Sala CEO Publitalia 80, Mediaset Group “This joint venture is our answer to the current digital video landscape. As leading broadcasters in Europe, Mediaset, ProSiebenSat.1 and TF1 all share the same strategic vision and values: we want our advertisers to reach their consumers in a qualitative and brand safe environment, with the transparency and efficacy that differentiate our product. We are in the unique position to drive together the new roadmap for premium video advertising.” Source: TF1, Mediaset, ProSiebenSat.1 found European Broadcaster Exchange, June 2017, https://www. broadbandtvnews.com/2017/06/09/ tf1-prosiebensat-1-mediaset-foundeuropean-broadcaster-exchange/

Source: TF1, Mediaset, ProSiebenSat.1 found European Broadcaster Exchange, June 2017, https://www. broadbandtvnews.com/2017/06/09/ tf1-prosiebensat-1-mediaset-foundeuropean-broadcaster-exchange/

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EUROPEAN BROADCASTERS EXCHANGE (EBX): A common trading platform for digital ad sales in pan-European campaigns

Market

Pan-European (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK)

Members

Mediaset (Italy and Spain), TF1 Group (France), ProSiebenSat.1 Media (Germany), Channel4 (UK)


Shared trading platform for digital ad sales for pan-European campaigns

External tech platform

Combination of proprietary & 3rd party

Data sources

Broadcasters’ data

Potential reach

1.5 billion impressions, 57 million uniques

Launch date

January 2018

Offices

Headquarters: European Broadcast Exchange (EBX) Limited Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH

Website

http://ebx.tv/

An interview with:

Chris Le May Chief Executive Officer EBX

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Launched in January 2018, the European Broadcaster Exchange, the new digital ad sales partnership between four major European broadcasters, is now ready to deliver its first campaigns. egta talked to Chris le May, Chief Executive Officer at EBX about this project. e g t a : Could you tell us more about EBX’s goals and its structure? C h r i s L e M a y ( C L M ) : EBX is a joint venture founded by Mediaset (Italy and Spain), ProSiebenSat.1 Media (Germany) and TF1 Group (France) to address the demand for brand safe environments and high-quality panEuropean online video campaigns at scale. EBX focuses on programmatic TV video campaigns, automated and data-driven management of digital advertising purchases and sales. Advertisers’ demand in this area is

so strong, that I am happy to say that we are growing fast: in November 2017 we welcomed the UK’s Channel4 as the fifth shareholder. We opted for EBX to be run as an independent company, with headquarters in London. We believe this approach is a key ingredient for the longevity of such a collaboration as it will help us to counter obstacles resulting from internal bureaucracy within the shareholders which might slow down the progress. The key idea behind our project is that the participating broadcasters will pool their video-on-demand and addressable inventory, allowing advertisers to run cross-border campaigns with programmatic purchasing. We also intend that, in the future, EBX will facilitate a deeper strategic collaboration to drive forward the technological development and innovation.

e g t a : Could you tell us something more about the origins of this projects? What factors encouraged you to launch EBX? C L M : In fact, EBX was born out of both necessity and opportunity. The opportunity was provided by the framework given in the European Media Alliance, which allows for greater collaboration amongst broadcasters from different countries. And the necessity, to me, was twofold: First, the increasing globalisation in the media sector and the advance of global tech platforms were reflected in how agencies and advertisers work and plan their budgets. Whilst, our TV markets are local, the digital video market is global. EBX was created to accommodate media buyers’ demands for more international points of contact with broadcasters. In time we would like to change the way advertisers and agencies think about multi-territory campaigns. We believe EBX has the potential to become a reference go-to trading platform for panEuropean TV buying. Second, with traditional ad sales under pressure, the launch of this project reflected broadcasters’ need to tap into the growth of global digital sales. Of course, we realise that in the digital space no single broadcaster is strong enough to take on giant players like Google or Facebook. That being said, tensions around longstanding issues like brand safety, transparency, viewability and data security have been amplifying rapidly. That presents a commercial opportunity for the entire broadcast sector because they are our strong asset. In a world of fake news and questionable content, robots and data leakage, we believe that with EBX, European broadcasters can enter the international digital ad sales market with a very strong and compelling offer. We can tell advertisers that through our solution they get efficient access at scale to

high quality programmes in a brand safe environment with unparalleled consumer engagement combined with the power of data. Our platform can become a viable alternative for buyers who are seeking to run pan-European programmatic video campaigns at scale. e g t a : What are the main challenges for this project? C L M : There are two main challenges. The first one is purely technical: we need to make EBX as simple, clear and easy as possible for media agencies to use. We have to unify the technology and the way it connects to our clients. Second, is ensuring the value proposition is clear to the market. Particularly that areas of value unique to EBX and differentiation from local market offerings are understood. e g t a : Could you tell us something more about the current offer and how you take it to the market? C L M : Currently, the various forms of Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) inventory are available against each of the partner broadcaster’s programs across all screens with an estimated 65% being consumed on the TV screen, together with their respective targeting capabilities (e.g. genre, interest, demo). In the future, more formats and products will be available – in particular around audience data capabilities which will further enhance the offering and facilitate, for example, the capacity to match broadcaster audiences with advertiser audiences for insight & targeting purposes. We further plan for the offer to expand to include other types of inventory, e.g. addressable TV. With EBX, we can tell the ad buyers that if they want a pan-European programmatic TV campaign, this is the place to book it. We currently estimate that EBX campaigns can reach a monthly average audience of over 57 million uniques with in excess of 1.5 billion

ad-impressions across 640 million video views. Combined with an average video completion rate of 91%+ and average viewability in the high 90%’s, the offering shows top performance levels. e g t a : In your opinion, what are the benefits for media owners to work together on an international level rather than focus on single solutions in individual markets? C L M : Working together within EBX allows all member publishers to combine the best of both worlds: TV and digital, and maximise the benefits coming from this combination. Ad buyers get scaled data and massive reach for their campaigns. Each of the partner broadcasters is able to unlock new digital revenues currently unavailable to them from adjacent ad markets by making additional inventory available on their broadcaster ondemand platforms. Here, I must clarify that EBX was not created to cannibalise traditional local market broadcast sales. The project was launched to drive incremental business and ensure that all member publishers sell more TV inventory as barriers to entry for advertisers and agencies are removed. Of course, one can say that EBX will, to some extent, compete with commercial sales around its members’ in-house VOD operations. However, we need to keep in mind that all EBX campaigns must run across at least two countries. Thus reducing the risk of cannibalisation. e g t a : Do you expect more publishers will join EBX? C L M : EBX is an open model aimed at involving other European media companies who wish to make their digital inventories available with our solution. In the end, we all realise that the battle is not about fighting each other but about gaining scale to be able to compete with online more effectively.

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freewheel council for premium video (FWCE): An advocacy Group to educate and advance the premium video industry

Market

North America and Europe

Members

US: 30 members including: ABC, AT&T, ESPN, NBC Universal, Fox, Turner, Viacom, Comcast, Hallmark, Scripps networks, Crackle, Discovery Channel, A+E Networks, Spectrum, Dish, Verizon, Warner Bros, Condé Nast, Aol. Europe: Canal+ Régie, Channel 4, Discovery Networks International, France Télévision Publicité, Medialaan, MTG, Nelonen, Proximus, RTÉ, SBS Broadcasting, SFR Régie, Sky Media UK, Sky Media Germany and TF1 Publicité


Thought leadership, research, white papers

Launch date

2015 for North America and June 2017 for Europe

Offices & staff

Main headquarters: London Contacts: Emmanuel Josserand, Thomas Bremond, James Rothwell, Nicolas Mignot

Website

http://freewheel.tv/fwcouncil/

An interview with:

Thomas Bremond Managing Director FreeWheel (International)

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e g t a : Can you explain why you decided to launch the Council for Premium Video in 2015 and why you felt that the need in Europe was strong enough to launch the little sister of the FWC on the old continent last year? Thomas Bremond (TB): Most readers of this publication know how the TV ecosystem has radically changed in the last years. They live it every day and in particular feel the powerful pressure coming from the digital giants. The speed at which these have been growing combined with their scale, their own measurement and reporting systems have disrupted the TV ecosystem. In this complex world of TV and video, we felt it was (and still is) critical that content owners, aggregators, and distributors are armed with a

technology platform that enables them to scale their business and maximise value from their premium content. There was a sense that we needed to come together to react to this seismic change. Staying alone to face these online platform juggernauts and their powerful storytelling was not the appropriate tactic and collaboration seemed a better alternative. The TV ecosystem brings complexity because it is made of national entities, with a long heritage, existing structure, and heavily controlled business dynamics. Having a voice is fine, but unifying voices will make it far louder. Being at the centre of the TV ecosystem and part of its revolution, we’ve always committed to lead the efforts to advance the premium video industry. We felt we were in a natural position to take a big step towards educational resources to assist marketers who want to reach audiences in engaging and brand

safe environments. In 2017, following on the success of the FWC in the U.S., we decided it was time to launch a European version of the Council, the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video, Europe (FWCE), with local experts and senior executives to further evangelise the value of premium video. Indeed, the need to communicate about the value and the importance of premium video is the same in Europe as it is on the other side of the Atlantic. We were very pleased with the positive response and willingness to collaborate, and the rapid adoption and traction we received, is testament to the importance of such an initiative is for the industry. e g t a : Can you give us more details on how the Council works and what its structure is? T B : The FWC is not a trade association nor an industry body; it is an advocacy group consisting of publisher-side players in the premium video marketplace. The FWCE is currently limited to broadcasters, pay-TV and telco operators customers of FreeWheel. The FWC is comprised of 30 members in the U.S. and 16 in Europe. Members meet on a regular basis and have committee meetings once a quarter. e g t a : What mission did your stakeholders give you? T B : The FW Council for Premium Video Europe (FWCE) operates as an educational and organising resource to assist marketers to reach desired audiences in premium video environments, conduct research documenting the benefits of premium video and champion the interests of member publishers and the market. Overall the FWCE aims to: • Evaluate and establish the areas of concern. • Suggest topics and points of view

to accelerate the advancement of the premium video economy. • Inspire industry bodies and promote discussion among interested parties. • Propose new standards/guidelines for the premium video economy. • Advocate for open discussion among players and standard-setting bodies in the premium video industry. We published a number of white papers and studies which can be found here: http://freewheel.tv/ fwcouncil/#freewheel-councilpositions e g t a : What is your communication strategy for these reports? Do you communicate directly to advertisers by sending them paper versions of these reports for example? If so, what’s the feedback you have received so far? T B : The FWCE believes that to flourish, the premium video ecosystem needs to work collectively. While advocating for premium video providers, the FWCE also aims to address and reflect the views of agencies and advertisers, as well as other stakeholders, so we

drive the industry forward together. We have received very positive feedback from the buy-side, trade bodies and agencies in particular and aim to continue to advocate for the collective interests. e g t a : What are the next steps for the FWCE? T B : While the TV ecosystem is under extreme pressure, with audience fragmentation, more complex transaction models and new rules imposed by the digital giants, TV has the power to flourish by unifying audiences, unifying screens and selling their inventory in a holistic fashion through addressable, programmatic and direct sold. To thrive, the TV ecosystem needs all parties to work together. Addressable TV will not happen without alliances, audience extension will not happen without alliances, data restricted to a closed environment will not be actionable... More than ever, it is time to collaborate and rally our forces for the benefit of the whole TV ecosystem, and audiences. We are committed to help TV thrive.

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The global tv group: An informal group of broadcasters, sales houses and trade bodies to promote television as a medium

Market

Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and Latin America

Members

egta (international), AKTV (CZ), Centro Internacional Television Abierta (LATAM), FCP (IT), ReklamKraft (SE), Screen Force (DACH, NL, FI) , SNPTV (FR), Thinkbox (UK), ThinkTV (AU), thinktv (CA), The VAB (US)


Promotion of TV, sharing of best practice

Launch date

2013

Offices & staff

egta acts as group coordinator

Website

http://www.theglobaltvgroup.com/

and now counts members not only across Europe but also in the USA, Canada, Australia and Latin America.

The dawn of The Global TV Group The idea of major players in the TV industry joining forces was first coined in 2013 by Tess Alps, Thinkbox’s President at the time, who saw the need to adopt an international voice for the industry. egta - the association of television and radio sales houses - relayed the call to other national trade associations who answered with enthusiasm. The various associations met in Brussels and together launched what would soon become PEPPTV, which later rebranded as The Global TV Group, working together on sharing data and insights and developing a combined message. Today the answer to this call for collaboration continues to resonate nationally and internationally among individual broadcasters and trade bodies. It has gained momentum

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The idea is to consistently back up TV’s positive narrative with solid global data – both to vigorously expose the alternative truths being spread about TV, and to answer digital competitors' regular publications in the press with international figures: not an easy task, as TV often reflects a national reality. As TV advertising’s power is taken for granted by some, or questioned by newer advertisers, thus getting too little boardroom attention, it is important for major players in the International TV industry - with The Global TV Group as a unified voice - to remind advertisers, journalists, tech gurus, agencies and industry peers about the effectiveness and popularity of TV and to prove that, not only is TV digital, it also perfectly combines with online. Fresh insights to promote television The major players in the TV industry exchanged data and technical

expertise to create The Global TV Deck, a valuable set of slides (click here to download) to highlight the continuing importance of TV. It is designed to meet the needs of advertisers who are eager for transparent, fully audited data and fresh insights. All associations active in the GTVG agreed that the endurance of television across countries, continents and generations is a unifying story seen around the world. This is not a one-off observation, but a measurable reality, according to the research. This invaluable collection of insights features figures from 24 countries and covers topics such as TV’s reach, popularity, resilience, trust, impact, and effectiveness. The highly trusted sources for the assorted figures include BARB 2016, RTL’s TV Key Facts 2017, Eurodata TV worldwide, Médiamétrie, Kantar Ibope Media, and more. The endeavour started in November 2016 and the first version was released on World TV Day 2017, so the coordination, gathering of all the relevant data, verification

and creation of the deck of slides required a concerted effort from the egta team over a sustained period. From now on, the charts will be updated annually with fresh data.

Katty Roberfroid Director General egta

The plans for the future The Global TV Group believes the positive story about television is a global reality, which does not have to remain limited to its current 15 members. The Group is therefore happy to welcome additional trade bodies who share a similar mandate to contribute to the promotion of TV through data, networking and more.

“

Through initiatives like The Global TV Group, the TV industry is coming together both at a national and international level to collaborate and share best practice. Our industry as a whole stands everything to gain from having a collective voice when it comes to consistently reminding advertisers and agencies alike of TV’s unique appeal and effectiveness. The Group is about joining forces to meet the needs of advertising partners and answering the call for trustworthy information, transparent figures, holistic measurement and reliable effectiveness data”.

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opportunities increase when you help others win. a little win for your partner is a little win for you. --- Unknown

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02. nationaL.

part

initiatives.

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the european netID foundation: A single sign-on system to manage user registrations across multiple web services

Market

Germany (currently); potential expansion to other European markets

Members

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and United Internet AG


Single sign-on system to manage user registrations across all platforms using the special open standard - netID

Data sources

First-party/registration data from all participating providers; no central data pool

Potential reach

50 million viewers in Germany (currently)

Launch date

March 2018

e g t a : What is the European netID Foundation? Could you explain the genesis of this initiative? What are its main objectives?

An interview with:

Daniel Prümers Senior Vice President Data ProSiebenSat.1

Daniel Prümers (DP): The European netID Foundation is the result of a cross-industry project that was created by Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and United Internet AG (including the two largest web mail services in Germany owned by United Internet: Web.de and GMX). The aim of this initiative is to create a simple and secure solution that transparently organises information about the user’s consent to use online services (opt-ins) in line with data protection regulations. With that in mind, in March 2018, together with our partners, we launched the European netID Foundation. The foundation will provide an open industry-standard for single sign on, branded “netID”, that will enable websites to offer users a special unified login system. There are two main reasons why we started this initiative. Firstly, it was the market pressure driven by the

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U.S. ad tech companies, who offer simplified log-in systems allowing users to access various websites using their Facebook, Google and Amazon accounts. Through that, these companies acquire large amounts of data that give them a competitive advantage compared to other market players. Secondly, our project is a direct response to the upcoming changes in EU legislation – the GDPR and more importantly the ePrivacy Directive. netID was created to make data protection requirements both user- and business-friendly. As an advertising-driven publisher, our objective is to maximise the number of registered users in order to be able to track and target them. netID creates a digital service that will facilitate mass handling of personal data. We believe that the shared privacy management back-office will make it easier for broadcasters and advertisers not only to cooperate on data but also to comply with new legislation. In fact, we believe that single sign-on initiatives can become one of the most important tools to secure the

future of our business. For Internet users, netID means simplified access and account settings management as well as enhanced control over their personal information collected by various providers. e g t a : What are the main benefits for consumers/users, the media and the advertising industry? Why would you say that the European netID Foundation is a potential game changer for the German and European market? D P : Our idea was that consumers should be able to use one set of personal identifiers across the German Internet. In practice, with netID, once users have created their personal accounts, they can use the same credentials (account name, password) and security settings across all sites using that standard. With this function activated, they will be able to watch RTL’s TV Now or ProSieben’s live-stream, access their emails on the Web.de or GMX, or shop on services like Zalando, via a single login. Functionality-wise, our solution resembles the login/connect buttons offered by such services as Facebook, Google, or Amazon. That being said, we want to make

sure that while making the online experience easier for users, this initiative is driven by European players. We also need to make sure that data is securely collected, processed and stored in the EU, in compliance with European law. A regular auditing will guarantee that the standard is properly certified and monitored. We hope to combine the convenience, simplicity and mobility of single sign-on solutions that consumers are used to, with security and transparency when it comes to data usage. e g t a : Your project is one of the two data cooperation initiatives on the German market (next to Verimi). Can you tell us something more about its structure and organisation? How does your initiative differ from other cross-industry cooperation ventures? D P : In terms of structure, the first core element of our initiative is the European netID Foundation. As an independent non-profit entity, the foundation will develop the netID standard, monitor standard compliance and its further development. It will help market players in all industries to implement the new European data protection law.

The second important characteristic of this project is the open standard itself. The fact that the European netID Foundation creates an open standard for cross-sector cooperation clearly sets it apart from any approach involving central proprietary ecosystems for users and their data. This approach allows us to address the entire market instead of only specific players. Our project is expressly open to other partners, offering to extend the use of an open single sign-on to any online service. This means that any provider (or group of providers) in Europe, who meets the necessary requirements, can use the netID standard and therefore become part of the alliance. We are therefore open to collaborate with other initiatives on the market. e g t a : With relation to data collection, processing and ownership, could you explain how data works with your project? How can competitors work together within such initiatives? D P : Designed as a secure login system, netID can be implemented by any website operating in Europe. The netID ”privacy center” is an access point for users to manage

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Dr. Marcus Dimpfel Head of Strategy and Business Development Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland

“

Data protection and user-friendly services are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, netID creates a digital service that will facilitate handling of the personal data of millions of internet users in Germany right from the start. I’m convinced that we’re establishing with netID a new industry standard for the media industry with mutual benefits for all participants in Europe.”

Christof Wahl Member of the Executive Board, Digital and COO ProSiebenSat.1 Group

“

Data protection is an international issue, so the European netID Foundation is introducing a standard that extends throughout Europe and across multiple industries. We strongly believe that such an initiative is a game changer in today’s digital media landscape. Our hope is that it gets widely adopted by business and users alike, in Germany and possibly beyond.”

and control their personal data, including permissions and login details. What’s important is that the solution will ensure effective data sovereignty. Each user will have access to a standardised privacy centre run by their account provider that guarantees the transparent handling of their data as well as tighter control over it. We decided, on purpose, not to enforce any new registrations. This is why we decided to partner with one of the strongest players on the German market in terms of existing registrations – United Internet. The idea is not to convince consumers to register to a new service, but rather to “upgrade” their existing accounts, to allow the netID standard. This functionality will be available through the account settings section on their provider’s website. Our initiative does not foresee the creation of any central data pool. It is one of the elements that makes this project different from similar systems. Each partner is keeping its own data. The “data alliance” is limited to building the legal, technical and user-front-end-driven framework for all players to have one standard. Based on this standard, each player is free to sign individual agreements on data sharing and pooling. These further agreements, however, are not managed by the European netID Foundation. Personal data will not be shared between account providers and internet services until after the user has given their consent. Users will be able to see what information is being shared with what companies and can revoke access to such information at any time. Consent and privacy settings will be applied across all websites using the netID standard. e g t a : What were the main business challenges when setting up the project? D P : Our main challenges resulted from the complexity of various

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roles exercised by different partners involved in the project. Each provider participating in the initiative acts as the “relying party” and the “account provider”. This implies that a publisher is committed to implementing the netID standard across its websites and applications and to provide users with an access to an interface that will allow them to manage their account settings. One reason for the complexity of the construction itself during the conception phase is the goal of making it as easy and simple as possible to join for any party, once the netID has been launched.

in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria. In total, we are talking to over 50 major companies that have registration data. More details regarding potential agreements will be announced soon.

e g t a : What are the next steps you expect to see in the coming months for the netID Foundation? D P : We are currently focusing on Germany. In fact, we have already an extensive list of players on the German market who want to join our initiative. That being said, as netID is an open standard, and the foundation clearly positions itself as a European entity, we are happy to partner with other market players and initiatives throughout Europe and across multiple industries. We are already in talks with various media companies

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NONIO: A single sign-on and audience segmentation tool

Market

Portugal

Members

Impresa, Media Capital, Global Media, Cofina, Publico and Renascença


Single Sign-On consortium (SSO)

Data sources

A Single Sign-On facility that provide first-party data to a common database

Potential reach

70 sites that bring together 85% of the national internet audience of Portugal

Launch date

Summer 2017

An interview with: Nónio is a Single Sing-On and audience segmentation tool created by the six largest media groups in Portugal, designed to offer personalised content with more security and quality. It is a project that brings together more than 70 Portuguese websites from TV or radio companies Impresa, Media Capital, Global Media, Cofina, Publico and Renascença. The tool consists of a Data Management Platform and a Single Sign-On (SSO) facility that provides first-party data to the common database. Nonio, named after a tool used by Portuguese sailors to navigate, is developed by the umbrella entity Private Media Platform and is financially supported by Google's Innovation Fund - Digital News Initiative (DNI), having until now been the project with the largest contribution, 900 000 euros.

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João Paulo Luz Digital Director Impresa e g t a : How did the idea of Nonio originate, and how can Portuguese media compete with the American digital duopoly? João Paulo Luz (JPL): Our colleagues, the Portuguese media-owners from all the biggest groups in the country and us, at Impresa, realised in early 2017 that we needed to join forces in the online sphere: indeed, as we were only working with cookies on our digital properties, we were not as competitive as Google and Facebook when it came to audience segmentation (In Portugal, these two large global companies capture 70% of the advertising investment

in digital). Additionally, even before GDPR was a big topic, it was a concern from all partners involved to get consent from our users when using their data, in the most relevant and respectful way possible. The solution to this problem was to opt for a mandatory login strategy for our online media platforms. As editors of quality content online, we believe it was the best solution possible to protect both our content and provide the user with a great browsing experience. The challenge here is that with an opt-in model, only 18-20% of users decide to log in to access content. The aim of Nonio is to change this gradually, and make the log-in mandatory, so as to allow us to build a solid audience segmentation strategy in the long term, while at the same time being fully GDPR compliant and offering a qualitative user experience for our viewers and readers. That is how we can compete with the duopoly. By targeting advertising on our platforms while guaranteeing that quality content is available in a brand safe environment. For us, publishers and media-owners, being able to segment audiences across our platforms is really a matter of being future-proof in the new digital

media reality. e g t a : How does the Single Sign-on work and how does this affect users? J P L : Since the summer of 2017, the consortium of media groups, asks users to identify themselves when browsing on one of our websites, which are consulted by 85% of the 6.5 million Portuguese active online. They only have to do so once and are then recognised on any of the websites belonging to the six partner companies. This means magazines, news, specialised television channels (including VOD) and radio sites. The aim was to add a new and safe login for users, allowing them to surf seamlessly through all platforms. Once they are signed up, the publishers can collect device, behavioural and purchasing data, and semantic and contextual website data. Making sure the user experience is as smooth as possible, while gradually implementing a mandatory SSO, is one of our primary concerns. We are aware people usually dislike logins, and this is something delicate we need to address in the right way. In light of this, the consortium ran a media campaign to raise awareness and A/B tested different creative messages. The implementation of this SSO strategy takes place in two phases: first, since summer 2017, the log-in is based on an opt-in basis. Second, it will become mandatory. But we are aware it will take time. That is why we deploy Nonio in milestones: once we have reached 1 million users daily, we will implement a mandatory log-in strategy. Ultimately, we aim at reaching 4.5 million users daily, which represents 85% of Portuguese internet users. The six partner companies then have to pay to take advantage of the data collected through the consortium’s SSO: the digital net revenues are shared transparently amongst us

“

The goal of Nónio is to give size and relevance to the national media groups in the digital advertising market, by targeting advertising according to user preferences, allowing the segmentation of profiles.” and each of our companies pays an amount proportional to these annual revenues. e g t a : What are the advantages for the members of the consortium?

create a balanced economic dynamic that will bring benefits for each of our businesses. With more revenue, we can all invest more in digital content.

J P L : The benefit for the companies is that they get access to a much larger pool of anonymised, aggregated data segments to inform ad campaigns, eventually boosting ad rates. Exactly how much publishers will pay to use the segments will depend on the business model of their chosen DMP provider. We believe we are relevant enough to people that they will log in. Other publishers see the benefit of loggedin users, but they are afraid that building big barriers will put users off. Another benefit is that this will create a set of common market standards in terms of data for media agencies and advertisers, other than those big media players. Today, it’s very difficult for media buyers to reach people within the different media groups. There are examples of this spirit of coerced cooperation among competitors throughout Europe, whether they are Swedish publishers blocking content from ad block users or German publishers pooling data. We felt it was needed in Portugal too. Against very real threats, publishers in Europe can join forces and bury the hatchet. We are partners, but we are competitors. Even so, we believe that this can create a level playing field that brings advantages to all of us. We believe that this project can

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GRAVITY: A data and media buying platform for programmatic online advertising

Market

France

Members

Founding members & shareholders: Le Groupe Les Echos, Lagardère Active, SoLocal, SFR, Prisma, M6 Partners: Fnac-Darty, Conde Nast, NextRadio TV, Perdriel, Marie Claire, Amaury, PQR, NRJ Groupe, Mondadori, Marketshot, BEIN Sports, Orange


Data and media buying platform for programmatic online advertising


DMP: Mediarithmics DSP: Appnexus

Data sources

Data provided by shareholders

Potential reach

53% daily reach (internet-using population) – Feb. 2018

Launch date

September 2017

Offices & staff

Offices: Paris, since October 2017 Staff/contacts: Fabien Magalon, CEO (former Facebook and La Place Media) Edouard Letort, Product Director (former Criteo) Frank Da Silva, Sales & Operations Director (former Facebook) Mariem Ghodbane, Account Director (former Affiperf) Dan Scemama, Data Scientist (former Criteo) Goal: 30 full-time employees in 2018

Website

https://www.alliancegravity.com/

An interview with: K i m Yo u n e s Innovation & Research Marketing Director (TV/Digital) M6 Publicité e g t a : Can you tell us why you decided, as a TV broadcaster, to join an alliance which includes businesses as diverse as telco companies, actors from the service industry and news publishers? Kim Yo u n e s ( K Y ) : In France, the digital advertising

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market has drastically changed in just a few years: programmatic has become the main buying process and most publishers have already initiated their own data strategy. At M6 Group, we identify data and programmatic as two key areas for the future of our business. Also, we have acknowledged that the online

giants are a step ahead of us. In this context, we believed we had to join forces with major players from the digital industry, to be able to face the greatest competitors. Our goal is to increase the value of display ads, which has significantly dropped in a decade, and to make the

programmatic buying process easier and more efficient, from both the planning and delivery perspectives.

the data segment, and gets all of their media value minus classic transaction fees.

This is the vision that led to the creation of Gravity in July 2017, altogether with five other founding members. As of today, 25 French groups, representing more than 150 websites, have already joined the alliance.

While the members’ data are gathered together into the DMP, we have guaranteed safety and control for the different partners. Thus, every partner freely decides what kind of data they want to exploit in the alliance. In addition, a publisher cannot use the data to enrich their own DMP, or buy data only. Gravity is a data and media alliance, one necessarily comes with the other.

e g t a : Can you tell us how Gravity concretely works? K Y : First, it’s important to remember that we designed Gravity to be a fully-staffed and standalone company. The capital is shared equally between the members, and the goal is to attract the largest number of premium partners to strengthen our position. By the end of 2018, Gravity will employ 30 people in sales and data-science. The buying process works as follows: the media buyer first chooses a data segment at a given CPM, and then one or several websites at given CPMs as well. The bid request for data and media altogether is sent to the SSP, and the impressions delivered. Every publisher is paid according to their contribution to

e g t a : You decided to work with external tech partners (Mediarithmics: DMP; Appnexus: DSP). Can you tell us why? K Y : Working with an independent DMP partner with acute data expertise was an important concern for the founding members. But we also had to look into other considerations. It naturally appeared that having a company based in France was an asset to facilitate assistance and communication, which are particularly welcomed when it comes to dealing with complex subjects such as data or DMPs. These are the reasons why we chose Mediarithmics as our data

partner. As for the activation side, we picked Appnexus as a DSP. Appnexus has proved to be a key provider on the market. They’re reliable and highly efficient, which is essential to make such a project a success. e g t a : Why do you feel that working with Gravity is an asset, over the FANGs, for French advertisers today? K Y : Thanks to the large diversity of well-established brands gathered in the alliance, I’d say that Gravity brings together the best of two worlds: reach and quality, with a wide range of data (more than 1500 segments, going from socio-demographics to purchase intention), and a one-stop shop for buyers. This is all the more relevant today, as advertisers are in need of real-time processes and reports. In addition, safety and transparency are also key benefits provided by the alliance; all partners are established premium publishers controlling their publication platform and contents, which guarantees brand safety for advertisers. The data segment creation process is transparent, which allows advertisers to get a crystal clear view of the inventories

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they’re buying. Lastly, thanks to the technological choice we made, Gravity prevents data leakage. In this safe environment, buyers can focus on tracking their campaigns and measuring their KPIs with no other considerations whatsoever. e g t a : The French market already has two alliances up and running on the ad market – Audience Square and La Place Media. Can you tell us how Gravity differs from them? K Y : Audience Square and La Place Media, which are thinking about the possibility of a merger, are programmatic alliances, selling blind inventories to players who already hold data. Gravity brings a different and complementary offer, with high quality 1st-party data segments combined with targeted media buying. This proposition is unique on the French market, and now covers more than 53% of the internet-using population.

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Guillaume Charles Deputy Managing Director M6 Publicité

“

Gravity embodies the commitment of our brands, creating a dynamic community to strengthen our positions within the advertising market. It is a great opportunity for M6 Group to face up to online giants that are moving into our competitive environment by relying on our strengths as media groups: on the one hand, premium audiences and data, on the other brand safe content for our advertisers”.

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SKY and VIRGIN: Transforming the scale of addressable TV advertising in the UK and Ireland

Market

UK and Ireland

Members

Sky Media and Virgin Media (Liberty Global)


Strategic partnership

Data sources

Sky and Virgin’s set-top-boxes (STB)

Potential reach

UK & Ireland: 30 million - Sky's 11 million connected homes and Virgin's 3.7 million TV subscribers, with roughly 2.3 people per household

Launch date

2018

An interview with:

In June 2017, Sky Media and Liberty Global-owned Virgin Media announced a strategic partnership that enables businesses both big and small to benefit further from advanced TV advertising across both Virgin TV and Sky platforms. As of 2018, advertisers will be able to target a potential audience over time of more than 30 million viewers; putting it on par with leading social networks. The agreement sees Sky’s AdSmart platform extended to the Virgin Media network, increasing its reach from 11.4m Sky subscribers to a total of 15m UK homes. The partnership covers both targeted linear and video on demand (VOD) TV advertising. The deal also ensures, as targeted TV expands onto new platforms, that there are consistent capabilities, currencies and targeting, which is hugely beneficial to clients.

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By using market-leading targeting technology, underpinned by in-depth customer data, the partnership will transform the scale of addressable TV advertising in the UK and Ireland, giving brands the ability to target audiences whilst utilising the attractive, quality, trusted, and brand safe environment of TV.

Graeme Hutcheson Director of Digital & Sky AdSmart Sky Media e g t a : Can you tell us more about the origin or this partnership: Why did you feel the need to form such a partnership with a platform that was once seen as a competitor to Sky? Graeme Hutcheson (GH): I believe that 2017 was a turning point for the TV industry: The competitive landscape had shifted so much towards the digital giants it was time for broadcasters to collaborate. A real wake up call.

For us, that meant seeking out partnerships that would benefit advertisers and the broadcast industry. One of the obvious first steps was to find opportunities to grow the addressable TV footprint. That’s why the partnership we’re launching with Virgin makes sense. It is about growing the size of the market underpinned by a framework where everyone benefits. We will share revenue, based on ad impressions served on Virgin Media's platform. The combined efforts are all about providing a better marketing outcome for advertisers. We announced the partnership, which spans the UK as well as Ireland in June 2017 and is planned to become operational in 2018. The more scale we can bring to addressable TV the more meaningful it becomes for all parties so we will continue to work on incremental platform partnerships. Addressable TV is growing the TV ad market by allowing brands of all shapes and sizes to harness the power, effectiveness and brand safe environment of TV. That scale of channels is really important

if we want to be taken seriously on the digital market because advertisers love the idea of having an addressable solution, but it is meaningless if you can only do it on a couple of channels or on a low proportion of the population. With the ability to reach just under half the UK population, our offering delivers a wide ranging audience profile and is on par with leading social network’s scale. e g t a : What are the immediate challenges for such a collaboration? G H : The immediate challenge is to align two technology platforms. Sky AdSmart, which we have developed with Cisco, is not being ported into the Virgin Media ecosystem, as that was deemed impractical and the cable operator already works with its own ad-tech partners. The solution will achieve product consistency using a mediation layer. It is important that the infrastructure enables data-optimised executions while protecting their respective data and ensuring all the usual privacy compliance, including GDPR. The immediate priority, once the technology and data integrations

are complete, will be to help channels that are already AdSmartenabled on Sky in the UK to become addressable on the Virgin footprint, too. That means Viacom channels (including Channel 5, the first UK public service broadcaster to adopt addressable), Fox International channels (including Nat Geo) and A+E Networks channels (like History), as examples. e g t a : What about customer privacy and GDPR, are they limiting the potential of such a targeted advertising collaboration? G H : We take e-privacy and GDPR very seriously. At the core of everything we do are our subscribers. Our business is built around them and giving them the best experience possible. As with AdSmart from the very beginning, we will continue to structure all solutions on strong principles that protect the customer and fully comply with privacy regulations (including GDPR) and telco regulations. The broadcast industry is heavily regulated and rightly so. This brings with it reassurance to all parties involved. It is of paramount importance that

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Laurence Miall-d’Août VP Advanced Advertising Liberty Global

“

Liberty Global and Virgin Media are very excited about this unique partnership with Sky Media.

In the UK and Ireland we have partnered with Sky to offer advertisers a platform with significant scale and segmentation so that their TV campaigns can reach the right audience at the right time with true transparency and accuracy. For our customers they will get a much more relevant ad experience when watching TV. The partnership is mutually beneficial to both parties: it combines both parties’ scale, insights and technology to put the UK and Ireland at the forefront of TV advertising innovation and give brands a trusted, safe and intelligent destination to deliver linear TV and VOD campaigns to the right audience at the right time. Ultimately we are also proud to support the TV ecosystem, by providing cutting-edge advertising technology to help broadcasters move marketing budgets into TV advertising, some of which will come back from digital”. this governance and rigour is applied at every step of the evolutionary journey broadcast is on. e g t a : Why do you think this is a potential game changer for you? How is this partnership beneficial to broadcasters? G H : In the past, broadcasters have tended to work in isolation. That has worked well but in a new era, where digital entrants are testing the fabric of the industry, we need to strengthen what we have through collaboration. That will bring the consistency required to keep attracting advertisers to this brand

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safe and ever powerful medium of TV. This strategic partnership will benefit every party. The advertisers' lives are made easier by consistency of purchase and measurement. The broadcasters benefit too. They are better equipped to capitalise on the continuing surge in personalised marketing. What’s more, recent research we carried out proves that serving the right commercial to the right audience actually helps a channel hold on to its audience. We’ve seen that channel switching reduces by 48% in breaks where AdSmart is active. What’s more, we are putting the

emphasis on the quality, trusted, and brand safe environment of TV over that of online, where advertisers are increasingly concerned about where their advertising is appearing alongside doubts as to the veracity of the metrics they receive from Google and Facebook. e g t a : What are your plans for the future? G H : Over time we want additional sales houses and channels to benefit from the AdSmart technology. The long-term ambition is that the partnership should stretch beyond linear STB addressable to advanced VOD targeting and, ultimately, TV Everywhere services and has the potential of launching in other markets.

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OpenAP: A platform for cross-publisher audience targeting for television

Market

United States

Members

Initially: Turner, Fox Networks Group and Viacom; as of April 2018: NBCUniversal


Linear TV inventory: cross-publisher audience definition and independent posting


Accenture

Data sources

Nielsen, ComScore and open to input external data

Potential reach

93% of TV audiences in the U.S.

Launch date

29 September 2017

Website

http://www.openap.tv/

A direct response to ad buyers’ needs OpenAp was designed to address some of the key concerns faced by American advertisers and agencies in optimizing TV advertising: About the solution OpenAP is industry’s first open platform for cross-publisher audience targeting for television. The solution was officially launched on 29 September 2017 by a consortium of three television publishers, including Fox Networks Group, Turner and Viacom. In April 2018 OpenAP welcomed its fourth member – NBCUniversal. Until March 2018, the platform gathered over 700 users, which included over 30 agencies across the U.S. OpenAP is available to use at no fee for agencies and advertisers. According to its founding parties, the product offers its users the possibility to reach a potential 93% of all television audiences in the U.S.

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• Difficulties in execution of datadriven buys and inability to scale advanced TV advertising solutions across publishers’ ecosystems OpenAP was developed as the TV industry was looking beyond classic broad demographic targeting by adopting elements of the precision ad targeting and automation that had become standard for digital advertising. »» The solution was designed to allow marketers to buy ad inventory in a more targeted fashion that resembles digital, but with trusted brands, premium content and brandsafe environment offered by traditional media. • Inconsistent audience definitions used by publishers and ad buyers, and lack of campaign

performance transparency Ad buyers often have to recreate and redefine the audiences they want to target for each TV outlet, with no standardisation across the industry. Additionally, as many media owners tend to offer their own sets of datadriven ad products and sources, a lot of key data sets become unavailable or “walled off” (much like how Facebook and Google keep most of the key data they collect for themselves). Without it, marketers find it increasingly difficult to target specific audience segments, analyse ad performance and understand the ROI of their campaigns. »» OpenAP enables marketers to define audience segments in a unified and standardised way. In consequence, it allows for more transparency in audience buying and consistency of data use. »» The solution is focused on independent post-reporting and stewardship. The consortium appointed a third-

party auditor to manage this segment, ensure accuracy in the audience definition and count impressions after a campaign has run. • Complexity of workflows and increased workloads for both publishers and marketers »» OpenAP aims at simplifying workflows as ad buyers can define, share and activate specific audience segments across any member publisher network. How does it work? Accessibility OpenAP offers its users two pathways to audience segments creation and reporting: • A dedicated website, where ad buyers can log in and use a centralised interface to compose specific audience segments and download campaign posts • APIs for integration into agency and advertiser’s own planning and reporting systems Data sources and segments definition Currently, OpenAP is working with two major data-source ecosystems: comScore (for all of the set-top-box data and the associated third-party syndicated datasets) and Nielsen.

The system will progressively expand to support any additional data sources that are required to do advanced targeting across all the platforms where television content resides. The platform is data agnostic, meaning it can accommodate additional data sets that advertisers and agencies want to use. OpenAP was built with the intended purpose of maximising the investments and learnings that marketers have already made. The solution allows its users to onboard custom-fused data segments created outside OpenAP (eg. on the base of survey data gathered by ad buyers). Furthermore, it enables marketers to use, activate and add scale to their first-party data (DMP- or CRMbased) by consistently adding them to existing data sets available within the product. Data security & reporting By default, agencies and advertisers maintain absolute control over which partners (publishers) can review and analyse their target segments. Segment definitions that are securely shared with publishers are blind by default, which means that publishers cannot see the specific construction or data source combinations included in a segment

but instead only the specific viewing source IDs that comprise the segment. OpenAP measures cross-publisher audience delivery, reach and frequency. Reports are available in the user interface and exportable in user-friendly formats, or via API integration into client’s own reporting tools. The OpenAP platform was built and is administered by Accenture, who was also appointed to provide thirdparty validation for post-campaign reports. OpenAP in the campaign workflow While OpenAP’s main objective is to provide consistency and standardisation in audience segments definition and posting, this solution is not a buying platform. The product does not allow buyers to consult prices nor to purchase publishers’ inventory. Deals remain to be negotiated individually between agencies, clients and publishers (sales houses) as they do today. Ne x t s t e p s The initial release of OpenAP has been restricted to linear TV inventory. However, the founding consortium hopes that the platform

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will ultimately be cross-platform and cover non-linear offerings. Initially including three publishers, OpenAP is designed to allow other TV broadcasters with premium audiences and content to join this initiative. The platform currently focuses solely on U.S. audiences.

// N o t e f r o m t h e e d i t o r In April 2018 OpenAP welcomed a new member - NBCUniversal. As a part of the agreement, NBCU will license to the consosortium its1:

advanced formats, cross-platform measurement and currency3.

• Audience Graph, which stores data about audience attributes to evaluate targets and helps optimising media plans; • Data Synch, a cloud-based instrastructure that handles client and agency audience matching data securely. OpenAP's clients will also get access to non-personally identifiable set-top box data from Comcast’s Freewheel Shared Insights Platform for campaign planning2. Under the deal, the four companies have also agreed to jointly develop new platforms for automated buying,

How OpenAP can help publishers and ad buyers? Advantages for broadcasters

Advantages for ad buyers

• OpenAP helps broadcasters to increase the value of their • Consistently defined audience targets, which can be activated across any OpenAP member publisher, provide TV inventory, attract ad buyers and reinforce their position advertisers with a better yield towards other players in the advertising space. By moving beyond traditional age and gender demographics to • OpenAP gives ad buyers access to premium content that more specific audience targets, the solution combines collectively reaches 93% of TV viewers in the U.S. elements of enhanced targeting capabilities, which are standard in digital advertising, with all the advantages of • Independent measurement and reporting by design, (instead of simple reactive third-party verification) ensures traditional media (scale, trusted reporting and brand-safe greater transparency in terms of campaigns performance environment). • Publishers gain control over the underlying data for • Flexibility in terms of segment definitions (and data agnosticism) allows users to maximise their present agencies investments and individual approaches to audience segmentation: • The solution allows for APIs for integration into agency and advertiser planning and reporting systems • OpenAP ensures secure infrastructure for sensitive advertiser segments managed by world-class auditor • Ad buyers get direct access to the platform at no additional cost NBCU Joins Open AP Partners to Standardize Advanced Ads, 19 April 2018, https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/nbcu-joinsopen-ap-partners 1

NBCUniversal Joins OpenAP Consortium, Licenses Its Audience Graph To Other TV Nets, 19 April 2018, https://adexchanger.com/ digital-tv/nbcuniversal-joins-openap-consortium-licenses-its-audience-graph-to-other-tv-nets/ 2,3

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TV4, Discovery, MTG and Telia: A new targeted advertising initiative in Sweden

Market

Sweden

Members

Telia, TV4 Group, Discovery Networks and Modern Times Group (MTG)


Solution for dynamic ad insertion

Te c h p l a t f o r m

Proxy solution: API specifications written jointly by all stakeholders

Launch date

April 2018

The three main Swedish broadcast groups have teamed up with the telco operator Telia to provide dynamic advertising insertion on the Telia Play service, delivering localised advertising to individual subscribers based on the screen used and the location of the user. The four groups have jointly developed a new solution for dynamically tailored advertising, enabling ads to be customised based on a wide set of parameters. egta interviewed Mathias Berg, COO for the TV4 Group and Head of Business Unit Advertising, Bonnier Broadcasting, who believes that the new solution provides a future-proof model for dynamic advertising on platforms other than TV4’s own.

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An interview with:

Matthias Berg COO Bonnier Broadcasting Sweden, TV4 and C More

e g t a : What are the main objectives of this project? M a t t h i a s B e r g ( M B ) : The main objective is to implement a fully functioning business model on TV Everywhere (TVE)/multiscreen content distribution, i.e. capitalise on the generated ad inventory from user consumption through these platforms. Also, the solution with targeted ads will improve the user experience and the value to our advertisers. e g t a : Why did you feel that it was necessary to work with your competitors in this area? M B : We are already working together through the Swedish TV audience measurement company MMS. This is basically an extension of the cooperation in order to solve the common challenges of being able to capitalise on viewing in operators’ TVE services, extend our reach and increase our value for advertisers. In addition, a standardised solution is a prerequisite in order for it to be implemented across the entire Swedish market.

e g t a : What were the main challenges while setting up this project? M B : To some extent it was a commercial challenge but we are happy that the operators value our content and have agreed to implement the ad solution. It has been a rather technical journey given that dynamic advertising is still in a relatively immature phase, especially for live/linear content. We are proud to state that with the Telia launch we are at the absolute forefront worldwide in having a fully functioning DAI solution with a third party operator. e g t a : Could you give us some more information regarding the functionalities offered by this solution? How does it work concretely? M B : The ad proxy, which the distributor fetches the ads from, is individually built by each broadcaster but complies with the API specification written by all the stakeholders together. This proxy solution is designed to overcome the fact that different broadcasters use different ad servers. It also allows the TV operators to implement digital ads from all broadcasters

with one single integration against multiple endpoints. The measurement back to the ad servers is specified to follow the VAST standard events and is complemented with a data measurement SDK which is provided by the TV measurement company MMS, using comScore for the implementation and validation. e g t a : What are the main benefits for advertisers and broadcasters brought in by this initiative? M B : First of all, this is TV consumption which is not measured or reported today so for us broadcasters the advantage is of course the possibility to capitalise on additional ad inventory on viewing that already exists. It also allows us to strenghten the position of TV through expanding our measurement. For advertisers this enables additional reach and improved measurement of actual viewing. Also for catch-up/timeshifted TVE content we are able to replace out-of-date commercials, which will benefit advertisers.

M B : Expanding our TV universe, capturing all viewing and digitalising linear TV inventory will strengthen our position in the market and more than likely allow us to reach new advertisers. e g t a : What are the next steps? Do you think this technology could become an industry standard on the Swedish market? M B : From our perspective, this is already the industry standard and after the launch with Telia, the focus is on implementing the solution with the other operators in the market. We are working towards Total TV - a platform agnostic consumption and measurement of TV content - and a fully functioning ad solution and measurement across all platforms is one important step on this road.

e g t a : Do you believe this project will allow you to extend your clients portfolio by convincing new types of advertisers?

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Ad Alliance: A strategic ad sales partnership

Market

Germany

Members

IP Deutschland, G+J e|MS (Gruner + Jahr Media Solutions), smartclip and Spiegel Media


Cross-media marketplace


None

Potential reach

99 % of the German population each month

Launch date

2016

Website

http://www.ad-alliance.de/

The portfolio of the sales houses within the framework of Ad Alliance reaches 99 percent of the German population each month. How does it work?

About the Ad Alliance Under the umbrella of the Ad Alliance, which was founded in 2016, the sales houses G+J e|MS (print and online), IP Deutschland (TV and video) and Spiegel Media (print and online), together with Smartclip (video and Addressable TV), meet the increasing demand for cross-media solutions in the advertising market. As part of the Ad Alliance, each sales house offers coordinated, high-reach offerings, convergent solutions, and innovative advertising products for advertisers and agencies. Under the slogan “For your media success,” the Ad Alliance negotiates, concludes and controls framework agreements as a service provider for each of the respective sales houses.

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The Ad Alliance’s sales houses offer advertisers and agencies integrated advertising concepts that showcase advertisers’ brands on all key media channels. The commercial offers range from TV commercials, print ads, online display and video advertising to addressable TV, programmatic advertising, content and collaborative marketing, referral marketing, and creative ad solutions. Strong brands and premium platforms in TV, print, and digital, combined with conceptional expertise in convergent solutions, are the strengths of the Ad Alliance, which enhances the relevance of the offers for advertisers. In 2018, IP Deutschland and G+J e|MS bundled their respective display and online video portfolios in so-called competence centres with IP being the In Stream- and G+J e|MS the In Page-specialist. Smartclip has in turn taken over the Out-Stream portfolio in addition to its position as

an addressable TV specialist. The corresponding campaign bookings are now being run via the respective competence centres at IP Deutschland or G+J e|MS. With this, the sales houses under the umbrella of the Ad Alliance are creating even more scalable reach for campaigns. In addition, innovative product developments can be promoted more efficiently and effectively via the respective portfolios, and the further development of products and technologies is enhanced.

Mathias Dang Managing Director IP Deutschland and Ad Alliance

“

Under the Ad Alliance umbrella the key value propositions of our offers are quality, impact and reach.”

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coming together is a beginning. keeping together is progress. working together is success. --- Henry Ford, American Industrialist

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03. 0ther.

part

initiatives.

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the premium value of broadcasters’ inventory from being diluted by the long tail in an open market.

Aunia: A private video marketplace for broadcasters About Aunia Launched in Spain in December 2013, Aunia brings together the country’s largest commercial broadcasters, Atresmedia and Mediaset Group, who believed in the importance of working together to counter the dominant position that the likes of Google and Facebook were starting to gain in the programmatic digital ecosystem. It came at a time when, because of the economic crisis, the online market was under a lot of pressure, and CPMs for online video were very low. The broadcasters realised that adapting would require significant technical teams in each of their sales houses, which would then have to adapt to the reality of the various DSPs from agencies. This is why they felt there was a need for harmonisation, allowing them to sell their video inventory at a premium price. The solution is an invitation-only programmatic video advertising trading marketplace that pools both companies’ combined video inventory and offers it on a semi-blind basis. They offer their inventory under the url auniainteractiva. Ad buyers know that behind AUNIA they only have access to Atresmedia and Mediaset inventory but they cannot chose in which one they will get the impressions. This allows media agencies and advertisers to place ads alongside premium video and target specific audiences. However, at a request from the market, since 2017, agencies and advertisers can decide if they want a deal targeting one of the broadcasters inventories. The technology was developed by Videoplaza and Falk technologies. At this moment the only SSP technology is Fyber Rtb (new owner of FALK). How does it work? Aunia is based on a “co-operative” or “club” model that resembles publisher co-operatives that were originally pioneered in France by companies like La Place Media and Audience Square. The idea behind this solution is that by pooling inventory in a private exchange, publishers are better-equipped to compete with the scale offered by ad exchanges and large tech players. Working together in an exclusively premium environment also helps to protect

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In Aunia, selected brands are given access to the inventory via their media agencies, allowing them to advertise in a brand-safe environment and to buy inventory that sits outside of their usual trading channels. On the technology side, Aunia offers advertisers and publishers the possibility of adopting the two different models that govern today’s programmatic industry: Direct Deals and Open Market. Direct Deals are made for those customers that have a direct relationship and agreement and offers a CPM against a better priority position in order to have more chances of getting the desired inventory. On the Open Market, AUNIA sets a floor price and connects inventory to all DSPs buyers bidding on that market and the best bid gets the impression. Usually Open Market offers lower CPMs and has less priority in the buying process. Currently, Aunia offers access to 8 million users and delivers over 60 million video advertising impressions per month, a scale that would be difficult for a single publisher to achieve alone. From the very start, the initiative attracted significant support from brands, with Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes Benz, Pernod Ricard, Peugeot and Red Bull some of the first to sign up to the exchange following the launch. Aunia also connects to the major agencies’ trading desks and DSPs used by buyers on the Spanish market.

Stievie: An online TV platform In December 2015, the Belgian media company Medialaan launched the online television platform Stievie, for a new generation of viewers for whom watching online has become the norm. The app/website comes in a free and a paid version, respectively called Stievie Free and Stievie Premium. All programmes can be viewed live or delayed, up to a week later, on smartphone, tablet, laptop and TV screen (via Chromecast or Airplay). The free version offers all programmes from the 7 Medialaan channels (VTM, Q2, Vitaya, CAZ, VTMKZOOM, KADET and Qmusic). The paid version, launched in 2017, offers two additional features compared to the free version. Firstly and most importantly, Medialaan wanted to give more choice to its viewers, and decided that Stievie Premium should become a unique place to go for Flemish TV content. Its competitors agreed on this strategy and four other broadcasters joined the platform: VRT (Een, Canvas and Ketnet), SBS (VIER, VIJF and ZES), Discovery (Eurosport, TLC and Discovery Channel) and FOX (National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild). These 18 channels together represent almost ninety percent of TV viewing in Flanders. Secondly, together with this new launch, Stievie Premium also added a feature allowing users to record programmes on smartphones and tablets. The online platform uses targeted advertising where the regular commercial breaks are replaced by non-skippable commercial messages that the users see based on age and gender.

the BIG TV Festival: A TV promotion event Collaboration amongst UK broadcasters has never been as strong as in 2018: in addition to organising various meetings with clients to talk with one voice – the TV voice, rather than as individual broadcasters – Channel 4, ITV and Sky also joined forces to educate young media planners. On the 8 and 9 February 2018, over 150 young marketers and planners from the UK’s top media agencies and brands in Britain gathered in the Blackwood Forest to attend the “Big TV Festival”. The first of its kind, it was modelled along similar lines to the popular summer music festivals. The event, organised by Channel 4, ITV and Sky in collaboration with Thinkbox, showcased a diverse agenda, built around three categories of topics: content, audiences and brands. The initiative aimed at demonstrating why TV advertising has never been more essential for brand reach and awareness, underlining its status as the safest, highest quality and most trusted environment for marketing budgets. The event also offered insights on how television today is data-rich and how it drives ad tech innovation, which makes it the leading medium to deliver sought-after audiences at scale and to transform brands into household names. The idea to jointly organise the festival came after a series of focus groups, organised by Thinkbox, to understand the needs of a young generation of media specialists. The organisers are hoping the festival will become a recurring yearly event. The decision for the three competitors to stand together came at a time of increased competition for attention and investment in the advertising landscape. The festival is expected to be a starting point for wider industry cooperation between the broadcasters. Outside of this specific project, the three companies will also be collaborating alongside Thinkbox on creative partnerships such as Channel 4 and ITV’s first-ever joint brand campaign for the Alzheimer's Society (planned for April 2018) or an earlier collaboration where both broadcasters jointly promoted Century Fox’s movie War for the Planet of the Apes, which saw each simultaneously airing ads that directed viewers to the other channel (July 2017). More on this topic: egtabite 180, http://www.egta.com/egta_ bites/egta_bites_210_09032018/

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Studio71: A global multichannel network Studio71 is currently one of the world’s most scaled global multichannel networks. It was formed in 2015 by the merger of L.A.-based Collective Digital Studio with Germany’s ProSieben’s Studio71. Positioning itself as one of the leading production companies, Studio71 develops, produces and distributes original programming across social media, television and cinema. It offers full-service strategy, creative, research, media and cross-platform activations for its clients. Headquartered in Los Angeles (with offices in Berlin, New York, Toronto and London), it operates over 1,200 channels and generates around 6 billion monthly views on YouTube alone. Its talent pool includes such online stars as Lilly Singh and Rhett & Link, YouTubers Roman Atwood and Dennis Roady and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In March 2018, Studio71 forged partnerships with French TV network TF1 Group and Italy’s Mediaset, which have become minority shareholders in the company, forming a European alliance in the advertising-video-on-demand sector. As part of the agreement, TF1 will hold a 6.1% stake in the venture, while Mediaset has taken an initial

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5.5% part for a combined investment of 53 million euros. ProSiebenSat1 will retain around 70% of Studio71 shares. Under the deal, Studio71 will expand into the French and Italian markets. In France, it will acquire a strategic minority interest in TF1 Group's MCN Finder Studios. Mediaset’s Publitalia80 unit will become the exclusive sales agent for Studio71 advertising in Italy. The partnership implies that each new Studio71 platform will feature content from TF1 and Mediaset’s top-rated TV shows as well as content from Studio71’s top creators. The partnership gives Studio71 access to key European markets where the online video market is now on the rise. For both broadcasters, the deal offers a possibility to strengthen their position on premium online video market, maximising the monetisation opportunities related to the editorial management of digital talents

TV content co-production partnerships

NBCU International partners with RTL and TF1 to produce procedural dramas In April 2015 NBCUniversal International Television Production (U.S.), RTL (Germany) and TF1 (France) teamed up for a first-of-its-kind coproduction agreement. Under the deal, the three broadcasters joined forces to produce U.S.-style, Englishlanguage procedural dramas. The aim was to make up to three new series over a period of two years. The first co-produced series (Gone) was released in November 2017. All of the partners play an active role in the agreement. A dedicated Creative Board composed of the representatives of NBCU, RTL, Vox Television and two executives from TF1 directs editorial and greenlights production decisions. According to the agreement, RTL and TF1 own the rights (for all distribution forms) in their respective territories, and NBCUniversal licenses the rights for the U.S. and the rest of the world on behalf of the partnership.

France Té l é v i s i o n s forges programming alliances with Rai and ZDF In May 2018 France Télévisions and Rai announced a co-production alliance with ZDF. The pact marks an extension of the alliance formed between the French and Italian public broadcasters in 2017, when the pair agreed to co-produce a range of high-end programmes across genres including drama, documentaries, animation and general entertainment for the international market. Both deals were sealed as public broadcasters have been strategically combining their arsenals to combat the growing threat of international digital players such as Netflix and Amazon.

Nordic public broadcasters join forces on production to compete with global streaming services Faced with the growing competition from the global streaming services, Nordic public broadcasters have joined forces to jointly produce original Scandi series. In a special statement issued in October 2017, 5 public service broadcasters (DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden, YLE in Finland and RUV in Iceland) announced that they had agreed on a new common strategy for greater co-production of dramas. The alliance was announced following a meeting in Stockholm where representatives from each broadcaster discussed ways to counter the growing competition from Netflix, Amazon and other international streaming services. The agreement is expected to result in approximatively twelve drama coproductions per year, with all series made available across the Nordic region. The broadcasters hope this partnership will allow for bigger budgeted series and will further increase the quality of produced content.

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More on this topic Editorial committee: Anne-Laure Dreyfus TV Director E: [email protected] Paulina Kott Head of IT & Design E: [email protected] Alain Beerens Marketing & Communication Manager E: [email protected] Design: Paulina Kott Head of IT & Design E: [email protected]

Previous egta publications For more information on egta publications please visit:

www.egta.com

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About egta egta is the Brussels-based trade association of more than 140 television and radio advertising sales houses and broadcasters. egta’s members are spread across 40 countries, mainly in Europe. Together, egta’s TV members represent over 75% of the European television advertising market, whilst egta radio members collect 50% of radio advertising revenues in countries where they are active. As sales houses of both public and private broadcasters, egta members commercialise the advertising space around audiovisual content available on platforms such as traditional radio sets, tablets, smartphones, PCs, Smart TVs, Smart Speakers and other Internet-connected devices. ***

22, Rue des Comédiens, boîte 4 1000 Brussels (Belgium) Tel.: + 32 2 290 31 31 Fax: + 32 2 290 31 39

www.egta.com @egtaconnect

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Association of television and radio sales houses 22, Rue des Comédiens, boîte 4 1000 Brussels (Belgium) Tel.: + 32 2 290 31 31 Fax: + 32 2 290 31 39

www.egta.com