With ATS Paris just five days away, ExchangeWire are delving into the core discussion topics planned for the event, to give a flavour of what to expect on the day. Here, ahead of his opening keynote at ATS Paris about how programmatic video is changing the game, James Patterson (pictured below), GM of UK, The Trade Desk, talks about the power of programmatic video and how it is being widely embraced by the industry, both from buyers wanting to tell a compelling brand story and publishers looking to identify and maximise premium inventory.

ExchangeWire: There are many predictions about the growth of programmatic video. What are you seeing?

James Patterson: We, at The Trade Desk, see a rapidly growing investment in programmatic video. As online video consumption continues to fragment onto different devices and formats, programmatic video becomes even more attractive. Combining the one-to-one nature of programmatic marketing with the creative resonance of video makes for undoubtedly successful campaigns.

Maximising the effectiveness of programmatic video relies heavily on not just buying and selling power, but also on creative execution. How can advertisers get this right?

Creative execution is a key challenge in the advertising industry as a whole. Media buying agencies, creative agencies, brands, and technology providers need to work more closely to improve communication. It is important to note that it is not one party holding this back; but instead an industry as a whole that needs to improve the creative creation process by bringing all parties together earlier in the planning stage.

How can advertisers effectively integrate programmatic video into their overarching marketing strategy?

Generally, the key to an effective marketing strategy is telling a consumer a compelling story about your brand. Video is a widely regarded branding tool and a powerful vehicle for your brand’s story. The most effective way to measure branding is to buy video inventory alongside all other programmatic channels (display, native, mobile, audio, TV etc.) in one place. In the future, we do not believe that there will be a stark difference between branding and direct response budgets and strategies. We believe that planners and buyers should be working holistically; and technology can help your teams seamlessly collaborate.

How can DSPs help advertisers use programmatic video effectively?

Many agencies use The Trade Desk platform to measure video in various ways – viewability, player size, completion rate, video quality, skip-ability, Nielsen OCR, comScore VCE, and many more. It is core to our philosophy to have access to inventory for all channels in one platform; so you can have a highly effective video campaign whilst also messaging a consumer sequentially and frequency capping across other devices and other channels. Following an individual consumer from the top of the awareness funnel, right down to conversion, is the holy grail of marketing, and it can be achieved on The Trade Desk platform.

Some complain that lack of quality video inventory stunts the adoption of a far reaching programmatic video strategy. What's your take on this?

In the past, there has certainly been an issue with the lack of quality programmatic video available. However, this is becoming less of an issue as premium publishers embrace programmatic video and we as an industry have become better at identifying the rubbish supply. Video supply is growing; and this growth is driven by that need for quality. Reach will come into play as more and more publishers realise that programmatic is not a threat to their core business. Quite the opposite, in fact, as programmatic offers a huge opportunity for true attribution value.

Patterson will be delivering the opening keynote on 'Three Reasons Programmatic Video is Changing the Game' at ATS Paris on 13 April. Find more information here.