Ros Allison is a Director at Vivaki. Here she discusses Vivaki's cross-platform approach in the APAC marketplace, AOD’s multi platform addressability and the growth of the data-driven market in the region.

You’ve recently launched a world first offering in the addressable media space, with the multi platform capability through Audience On Demand. Is it a platform? Or a service? Could you outline its proposition and does this mean big changes to the current advertising landscape for advertisers?

We’re now buying multi platform, multi device campaigns, across mobile, video, display and tablet channels, in real time. It’s the first true cross platform execution - fully optimized in real time and executed within a single platform.

Multi channel addressability means a single conversation with consumers, eliminating digital silos of mobile, display, video, premium inventory and tablet. We can now manage frequency across channels, controlling costs and ensuring a more strategic communication with our audience segments.

Audience on Demand now delivers totally fluid campaigns, across devices, optimizing in real time and creating and scaling audiences based on proprietary data and strategies.

For advertisers it means improved returns, with bids moving seamlessly between channels based on performance, and with real time analytics providing insight into medium, device and audience segment effectiveness.

In being first to market, what challenges and opportunities do you think Vivaki will face? Will other players in the ecosystem benefit from the launch?

True cross platform buying, with the ability to target audiences at the right time, right place and across any platform, device or channel is incredibly powerful for advertisers. It is delivering exceptional campaign results for the short term, but opening up a compelling story about who our audiences really are, where and when they are responding and the most effective channels and ways to talk to them ongoing. Instead of optimizing episodically, our clients are using Audience on Demand and the real time insights that it derives to inform media planning across all channels.

What will AOD’s multi platform addressability mean for overall RTB growth in Australia?

Cross channel addressability offering gives us efficiency improvements but also a consolidated consumer view. It’s a game changer in bringing together disparate campaigns, in delivering insight on the contribution and impact across channels and devices. It takes the focus away from pure play response and acquisition buying, to a more complete understanding of our audiences and their interaction with our brands. The results, the transparency and the insights that are derived have to mean growth for RTB in Australia.

Which markets do you anticipate being first to take this up beyond Australia, for example, is there demand in South East Asia?

The platform in Australia has served as a Beta test and education experience for Audience on Demand practices around the world. We expect that all markets with RTB liquidity across channels will benefit from this new capability. Bringing mobile, display, premium display, video and tablet together helps us find our audiences at the right time, and at the scale required, particularly in developing RTB markets.

How have you had to up-skill your internal teams and systems to leverage the technology benefit and educate the market?

Multi platform RTB is about reaching audiences at the right time, right place across the internet, but now across screens and through all stages of the purchase cycle. At a technical level, we’re needing to ensure we are recruiting the right analytical, technical knowledge, particularly with emerging technologies in mobile and video.

Optimisation and analytical skills are transitioning into core agency buying skill sets, as attribution and data management strategies integrate into agency roles. At a broader level, agencies are needing to instill data driven planning methodologies, rethinking campaign based consumer targeting approaches.

How does this mean you position yourselves against the agencies? What additional service are you providing the Australian publishing market?

Audience on Demand is a product of the VivaKi Nerve Center - the world’s largest research and development center, dedicated to creating new technologies and approaches that connect our brands’ Clients with their audiences in scalable, efficient and compelling ways. The Nerve Center is a resource shared, and added to, by the VivaKi network. It builds momentum and accelerates our brands and their Clients’ businesses by focusing on three areas - proprietary products and global platforms, industry-leading partnerships, thought leadership and innovation.

What changes will we see in the Australian advertising marketplace over the next 12 months?

We’ll see a continued shift to the programmatic marketplace in the next 12 months. Big data is driving the conversation. Data standards, defining quality, ensuring safety, privacy and determining best practice must be the focus for the Australian RTB market to continue to grow. The third party data market is emerging slowly in Australia, in the next 12 months we expect data liquidity to grow as publishers begin recognising the potential of decoupling data from the impression it sits on. As we unfold the third party opportunity we’re focussed on developing a single cookie view of our client’s first party data, unlocking the value of our own customers, and moving beyond short term optimisation to creating lifetime customer conversations across brand portfolios. There is significant momentum for our Audience on Demand Premium offering, with strong growth in liquidity in the premium marketplace, and brand advertisers recognising the benefits of real time trading to connect with audiences and drive brand metrics.