Emily Steel's story yesterday about the growth in the US upfront tv ad market confirmed that brand is still big on TV - despite the changing media habits of the general populace. It reigns supreme in ad land. But recent figures from the IAB, show online video is starting to attract budget from TV and digital buyers. Wrapped up in the iGRP metric, its share of media spend is growing across Europe. Recent acquisitions by ad networks like Collective are showing where the market is heading, as vendors chase those elusive brand pounds and euros. Here Joe Apprendi, CEO, Collective, discusses the recent WebTV deal and why the European online video market has the potential to attract brand spend.

Can you give some more details on the recent acquisition of WebTV?

JA: We’ve already made great progress in establishing Collective in the UK as a provider of solutions for brand conscious clients, really building on our credentials from the US. As a business committed to brand display advertising, the acquisition of the UK's leading premium video network made perfect sense. Both Collective and WebTV are focused on providing not just reach, but also quality environments and transparency around targeting that brands require.

Like our business in the US, Collective will focus on further enhancing its data capabilities in the UK, applying our display targeting and analytics capabilities to online video advertising. Web TV will leverage the power of Collective's AMP® data and media management platform, allowing for audience targeting and analytics across its premium publisher and content network. We're adding value for our existing customers in the UK while expanding Collective's value proposition to traditional TV and video buyers by presenting advertisers with engaging formats, channels and content to communicate their campaign messages.

This is the second big acquisition you have made in the online video space. Are we seeing a shift in strategy from Collective?

JA: I wouldn’t say it’s a shift in strategy; Collective has always been committed to providing the most engaging solutions for brands, and video is a great way to meet clients objectives. Online video advertising allows brand advertisers to engage with their audiences and create impact that builds on traditional display solutions. WebTV and Oggifinogi allow Collective to deliver both in-stream or in-banner video solutions to clients who want to target and engage their audiences in the most efficient, effective way possible. Leveraging Web TV we can provide premium audiences in premium environments and through Oggifinogi we can provide extended reach in a way that is both simple and cost effective. The combination of Collective's audience targeting and analytics offerings with Web TV's video on demand offerings, coupled with our ability to create a brand-safe content environment is a powerful offering for UK advertisers.

How will the WebTV acquisition complement the existing technology stack available to UK agencies and advertisers - particularly around real-time optimisation of brand inventory? How are UK agencies and advertisers likely to benefit from this deal?

JA: We have had the capability for some time to apply the data driven audience targeting we provide for display to in-stream video advertising, but the challenge around video advertising in the UK has been to provide differentiated, scalable premium inventory. Web TV delivers all of these things, so we are very excited about the possibilities this partnership will bring to agencies and advertisers.

In-stream advertising has to date been built around targeting content, and while we don’t expect this to stop we believe that agencies and advertisers now want to supplement this with data driven audience buying, without sacrificing environment and quality. This same trend has been playing out in the display space for the past few years so Collective is well positioned to deliver on this demand. The combination of delivering video advertising in the right environment to the right audience through our relationships with leading data providers such as Quantcast and Omniture is exciting for Collective and the market. Agencies are also very interested in our capabilities to provide unified metrics across in-stream and in-page ad units through our partnership with Comscore iGRP. Broadcast and digital departments want to understand incremental reach and also ad effectiveness at the unique user level.

We will continue to utilise our brand measurement capabilities across Collective and also extend this to WebTV to be allow us to measure and optimise campaigns in real time based brand effectiveness results. Web TV will leverage the power of Collective's AMP data and media management platform, allowing for audience targeting and analytics across Web TV's premium publisher and content network. As part of the Collective umbrella, Web TV can leverage Collective's expertise to enhance its video on demand (VOD) offerings. Web TV will have access to Collective's agency and publisher partners, as well as the opportunity to leverage one of the industry's most robust sales channels

What kind of reach does WebTV have in the UK?

JA: Web TV Enterprise is the UK's largest premium online video ad network, reaching more than 25 million UK viewers a month. Web TV and Collective have a very similar strategy when it comes to reach, which is simply to achieve the greatest possible reach whilst not compromising on quality of site or environment.

Is premium video inventory going to attract that offline brand budget that has so far not moved across?

JA: In its Online Video Advertising Market Report based on a survey of UK media buyers, Web TV Enterprise revealed that more than seventy percent expected online video advertising to increase by twenty five percent over the next six months. The research also suggested digital buyers are responding to improvements in audience measurement techniques, which has long been an obstacle for many, as noted by eMarketer which reported 31 percent of UK advertisers said online video ads need better measurement.

Collective is committed to accelerating the shift of broadcast advertising spend online and making available Internet Gross Rating Point (iGRP) reporting for all Collective video and display campaigns, making the integration a natural extension of Collective's product suite as the company continues to align its business with meeting brand advertising objectives.