Phil Cowlishaw is Performance Media Director at Ikon Communications. Here he discusses the recent Ikon video partnership with Tubemogul - and what it means for the market.

Can you give an overview of your recent partnership with TubeMogul’s PlayTime? What does the partnership add to Ikon’s overall offering in Australia?

Tube Mogul provides Ikon with a platform for real-time media buying across video in all forms; they are plugged into more sources of RTB video inventory than anyone in the market. Ikon is leveraging TubeMogul's technology and reach to deliver efficient access to high quality video inventory on the web at scale. Partnering with TubeMogul allows Ikon to maximize impact for every campaign by deepening our understanding of how to use video to achieve brand objectives.

Why did TubeMogul choose Ikon as first foray into the Australian market?

"TubeMogul and Ikon share similar values - namely 100% transparency, advertiser control, performance and a white-glove service culture. The Ikon team is extremely innovative and we're happy to be working with them to help them build their own unique Australian offering,"  Brett Wilson, Co-founder and CEO TubeMogul.

How is TubeMogul helping Ikon to manage transparency for advertisers?

There is 100% transparency in everything that we do, from planning to billing. We think transparency is far beyond a simple site list. Advertisers should know everywhere their ads appear and how it performs on each site. Before a campaign each site is hand selected for the objectives. During and after the campaign, the location of every impression, click, social share, and view time is available in a real-time reporting dashboard. This level of transparency is important for ad verification, but just as importantly, without it a campaign can't be optimized to its fullest. Because TubeMogul is a pure play technology, the exact cost of inventory and fees are available to both Ikon and the advertiser.

What are the biggest issues in the current online video market in Australia? Is it quality or quantity of inventory? Will inventory be sourced locally and internationally?

Online video advertising is white hot in Australia with a YOY increase of 83% in Q4. One of the big issues the next few years will be scarcity in quality, brand safe pre-roll, and in the near term inventory will come from a combination of local and international publishers until the local market catches up in content production.

Additionally, metrics and terminology for video advertising lack standardization and there's often a disconnect between what's being purchased and delivered. As an industry we need complete transparency beyond a site list. Understanding what's actually being delivered and the site, context and engagement (clicks, share, interactions, etc.) of every impression and the impact on the brand. At Ikon, we only buy inventory where we have this information.

Will all online video inventory be available via real time bidding (RTB)?

We think that in the future a majority of video inventory, both direct and remnant purchases, will be purchased via RTB because that's what buyer's want. Real-time bidding on impressions provides clear advantages in targeting, transparency, optimization and results. There's less wasted media spent and greater control over an entire campaign.

What online video formats will you support: in-stream, in-banner, in-app, pre-roll and will they be user-initiated or autoplay? Will these be available across all channels e.g. social, mobile, tablets?

It is Ikon’s agency policy to never buy Autoplay video inventory. The platform supports video wherever consumers are watching video, including pre-roll, in-banner, mobile, social media and IPTV. It's important that Ikon have all the tools necessary to reach campaign goals. Running all video through one platform provides the ability to effectively measure performance and ROI across all formats.

What type of optimisation will you offer e.g. will advertisers be able to time-target? Are there any limitations?

We shift budget in real-time to the sites and audiences that are performing best: we can optimize against the metrics that are most important for each campaign. Additionally, we can target based upon site, geography or audience data. There are no technical limitations but sometimes the scarcity in premium in-stream inventory limits our ability to radically influence the campaign via optimization

How will you manage ‘brand safety’ for advertisers?

First, Ikon selects exact sites for each campaign using the site selector tool. During the campaign we have access to real-time metrics down to the site level – so everything is completely transparent. Using Tube Mogul’s PlaySafe feature we are able to detect and never bid on what we consider to be “fake pre-roll” inventory. Additionally, we utilize third-party vendor such as Affine System to scan the video and the page pre-bid for inappropriate content. All video buys bought through the platform make use of ad verification; for both placement and also as third party validation of bought audience.

Will the offering be both VPAID and VAST compliant? Can you give some more detail around what this means?

Yes, the offering is both VAST and VPAID compliant. VAST/VPAID are IAB standard protocols for serving video ads within a publisher's video player, with VPAID being the standard for more interactive features. Prior to VAST/VPAID each publisher had their own unique ad serving protocols, which made it extremely complex to run a video campaign across several publishers. The adoption of these standards enhances the video advertising ecosystem by making it more interoperable, flexible, and scalable across publishers.
Is online video displaying similar attributes to the display marketplace e.g. direct response vs brand?

Digital video is different from display in several ways. First, there is an abundance of display inventory and a scarcity of in-stream video inventory. Second, video is more effective than display at increasing attitudinal metrics such as awareness, purchase intent and recall. Most video buyers are brand advertisers that are trying to persuade an audience, not to get them to click and buy something online. We bring accountability and measurability to the process.

Can you explain TubeMogul’s integration with Affine systems and how does this provide visibility into the online video stream?

Affine is a contextual targeting platform for video advertising, providing in-stream visibility and control over where ads appear. Their technology scans online video content and organizes it into content categories for better targeting and brand safety. Combined with all the other targeting options such as audience segments, context and demographics, media buyers have a wealth of tools at their disposal to reach their target audience.

As online video grows, what innovation and trends will we see over the next year in IPTV? Mobile? Social?

Video advertising will proliferate beyond the computer and become a more immersive experience. We'll see more videos on mobile devices, IPTV and out of home advertising and this inventory will be purchased programmatically with more efficiency. The videos ads themselves will offer a greater experience and enhanced value for viewers. As the VPAID format becomes widely adopted you'll see more content that is dynamically tailored to each viewer and is also more fun and creative than a regular repurposed TVCs.

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