Cannes Lions: Navigating the CTV Revolution with Video-level Contextual Targeting

At this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival, leaders in the ad tech industry hosted a panel at RTL Beach discussing the opportunities and challenges in the Connected Television (CTV) space. The panel was moderated by IRIS.TV Co-founder & CEO Field Garthwaite and included industry leaders Sam Bloom (PMG), Jean-Marc Papin (Horizon Media), Phil Schraeder (GumGum), Ed Wale (LG Ad Solutions), and Mike Laband (Magnite). The discussion centered around three pivotal topics: signal loss, fragmentation, and performance enhancement using contextual advertising.

With the revolution of the CTV landscape, advertisers must overcome obstacles such as signal loss and fragmentation. However, the landscape presents exciting new opportunities, and by adapting using new methods such as contextual advertising, advertisers can connect with audiences more effectively.

How video-level contextual drives brand lift and sales lift 

Sam Bloom, Head of Partnerships at PMG highlighted IRIS.TV’s recent case study with PMG and Carl’s Jr. showed that video-level contextual advertising led to a “massive sales lift” for the quick-service restaurant chain. 

Improving performance through contextual advertising

Advertisers can significantly enhance relevance and engagement by matching ad content with the context in which it appears. Phil Schraeder outlined GumGum’s philosophy toward contextual advertising using A.I. “We use contextual to create a message that adds value…at the frame level, what is the audio? What's the visual? What's the emotion? What is happening at that moment to allow me as an advertiser to create a message that adds value?” This approach benefits advertisers and customers by delivering ads that resonate deeper with users and enhance their viewing experience.

Navigating Signal Loss

One of the concerns highlighted during the panel was signal loss. Most recently, new privacy laws and tech changes have emphasized the importance of understanding and managing signal loss. Jean-Marc Papin highlighted Horizon Media's strategy of utilizing technology and tools such as A.I. to help fill in the gaps caused by signal loss, explaining, "Our approach is really about having a solid identity spine... to have the best serviceability as possible and the best measurement."

Fragmentation in the CTV landscape

Fragmentation within the CTV space has posed another significant challenge for advertisers. With so many supply sources, it can be challenging for advertisers to scale. Ed Wale outlined LG’s approach to reducing this problem: "One thing that we've been doing is trying to take full ownership of all the inventory across our platforms so that we can really standardize all of the signals that we're sending across in the bid stream.” Solving the problem of fragmentation is vital for advertisers to target their desired audiences properly.

Learn how the advertising ecosystem is looking to the IRIS_ID to address the challenges of fragmentation in CTV. 

Opportunities for growth in streaming TV 

Mike Laband from Magnite outlined that this year's big investments and prioritization would be in live sports audience enablement across different verticals, including contextual.

Learn how PMG and Carl's Jr drove superior lift in visits and sales with video-level contextual targeting.