Streaming TV Made Easy: Navigating TV Inventory with Simpli.fi

Hello and welcome to the Simpli.fi webinar series. I’m David McBee. Thanks for joining us each month for industry news, interviews, product rollouts and training on all things related to targeted advertising and connected TV. The Simpli.fi webinar series is available on demand with new episodes posted each month at simpli.fi/webinars along with all of our previously recorded episodes. It's September 2023, and in this month’s webinar we’ll be taking a look at what many perceive to be a complicated landscape of TV devices, apps, channels, and inventory; and we’re going to simplify it so that you feel completely prepared to buy CTV advertising for yourself or your advertisers. We have a lot to cover so let’s get started. TV programs, and even movies after their theatrical run, are distributed in three core ways. The first way is over the air or OTA. There are people who install an antenna and access content through local networks on television sets over the airways. This is a very small percentage of the population. You can also watch content or movies via a cable or satellite subscription, AKA linear TV. There are a broad range of networks via paid multi-channel video programming distributors, also known as MVPDs. Examples include CenturyLink, Cox, DirecTV, and Comcast Xfinity to name a few. Before we move on to the third channel of distribution, let’s talk about what’s happening to traditional television consumption. Traditional TV subscriptions are declining at an alarming rate. And the reality is that the population of people who are accessing content via cable TV, dish satellite, and over the air is increasingly older. Meanwhile, the “high value demographics” - the highest spending demographics, and the growing younger demographics, are increasingly not accessing TV content through these means. Need more proof? According to the latest data from Nielsen, linear TV viewership fell below 50% in July, 2023. Broadcast and cable each hit new lows of total TV usage, to combine for a linear television total of 49.6%. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traditional-tv-past-the-point-of-no-return-as-viewership-hits-record-low-191100458.html 2023’s linear TV prime-time upfront advertising market took a hit too. It is down 5% Meanwhile, Streaming platforms have seen a sharp 31% https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/388110/linear-tv-prime-time-upfront-shrinks-5-ctv-expan.html All this to say… Linear advertisers have a problem: They simply cannot reach the audience that they want to reach. They have got to pair linear with connected TV if they have any hope of reaching their audience. So let’s look at the third model of distribution: Streaming television, also sometimes referred to as over the top, or OTT, provides access to virtually all TV networks and streaming-only content via apps on internet connected devices. So not only are you accessing broadcast and network and cable TV, you're accessing literally thousands of movies on demand that you typically can't access in the same manner over the air or via cable and satellite. But you also, by the way, are getting access to content that's typically exclusive to those online providers that you wouldn't be able to get on cable or over the air at all. Shows like Lioness or Only Murders in the Building. And this audience is growing at a significant level. Let’s look at the stats…. 84.4% of US Households have the capability to stream television. https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/ctv-enabled-households#:~:text=The%20advertising%20industry%20is%20turning,connected%20televisions%20continues%20to%20grow 8 in 10 U.S. households have at least one CTV device with an average 4.1 devices per household. https://www.marketingcharts.com/digital/non-mobile-connected-devices-118034 In 2023 The average American will spend 3+ hours per day watching streaming TV. https://www.leichtmanresearch.com/39-of-adults-watch-video-via-a-connected-tv-device-daily/ But here’s the rub. Despite the fact that streaming viewing is now outpacing it, linear ad spend is still beating streaming by a ratio of 3 to 1. https://www.insiderintelligence.com/chart/262152/us-tv-connected-tv-ctv-ad-spending-2021-2027-billions So why haven’t the budgets followed the viewing habits? Two reasons: One, CTV inventory can be expensive. Either the premium networks are charging high CPMs or the inclusion of data with CTV buys makes it cost-prohibitive for some advertisers. We’ll be talking about a solution to this problem in the second half of today’s webinar. Reason number two: with a great deal of CTV inventory being acquired via programmatic auctions, some advertisers are still struggling to trust the quality of the inventory. In fact, you may have heard that programmatically acquired inventory is “garbage” and “cannot be trusted.” Well stay tuned as I demonstrate how that is simply not true by walking you through an extensive explanation to help you understand the reality of this, and how Simpli.fi delivers ads on premium content in a brand-safe manner. This is a look at Simpli.fi CTV inventory. There are a lot of big, prominent brands that we all know and love here. Simpli.fi has access to, and serves ads on the leading exchanges. Simpli.fi has access to private marketplace (PMP) inventory purchased directly from publishers. Simpli.fi can reach very popular networks that include the likes of HGTV, Fox, Food Network, ABC, CBS, Bravo, you name it. This is all true. However, there is sometimes a disconnect between this messaging and what advertisers see on their CTV reports. And it’s confusing to people when they don't see all these publisher’s names or channels they recognize on their reports. So I’m going to clear things up on a guided tour of the streaming television inventory landscape. Let’s start at the very beginning, with how consumers can gain access to streaming television content. Obviously, the first thing we picture when we talk about streaming television is a connected TV. That’s any television that is connected to the web, either because the TV is internet enabled - like LG, Sony and Vizio smart TVs, or because it is connected to a streaming device. Common ones would include Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku. And then there are gaming consoles like Xbox and Playstation that also have the ability to stream TV. But streaming television isn’t limited to big screens. Desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices can also stream TV. Look around any airport and you’ll see this happening in droves. Okay that’s the easy stuff. Let’s look at the plethora of streaming TV SERVICES that are available. I know what you’re thinking. This looks like seven bowls of alphabet soup. We do love our acronyms in digital marketing, don’t we? Okay the first one is called TVOD which stands for TV on Demand. These are services that sell or rent shows or movies that consumers can download. There’s no subscription. It’s on demand. If you’ve ever gone to iTunes or Amazon without a Prime subscription, and rented or purchased content, or even used pay-per-view through Skybox Office for specific sporting events then you’ve used a TVOD. Next, we have the SVODs. These are Subscription-based video on demand services. For a monthly or annual fee, these providers give consumers the ability to watch television or movie content on demand. There are no commercials on SVODs. Then there are AVODs, or ad-supported video on demand services. These are video on demand solutions that also come with a monthly or annual fee, but those fees are not as high as the SVODs because they are advertising-supported. Several SVODs, by the way, have launched lower-cost, AVOD versions of their services to consumers who are willing to be exposed to advertising. In my opinion there’s a real “writing on the wall” factor to be observed from this trend. Then there are the FVODs. FVOD stands for free video on demand. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Free movies and television – on demand. These are fully funded through advertising and there is zero cost to access this content. Now we’re going to cross over into live TV. FAST stands for Free ad-supported TV. These solutions allow you to access TV broadcast content, cable content, and movies. Many of these provide the choice to do so on-demand or live. And again, these are fully funded by advertising. Many of these solutions don’t even require the viewer to register or log in. In fact, you can go to Pluto TV right now and you will instantly see an interface that looks a lot like your old cable subscription or Hulu. You will have access to multiple channels, on demand options, and you will see live broadcasts. And it’s all one hundred percent free in exchange for advertising. Finally, we have the vMVPDs, or virtual multi-channel video programming distributors. These are the online cable companies of tomorrow. Here’s where you will find Hulu plus Live TV or YouTube TV. It also includes companies like Sling, Philo, and Xfinity. And now with Prime moving into live football on Thursday nights, you could argue that Amazon has moved into this space. These are companies that require registration that oftentimes require a monthly, or annual fee, but are also partially funded by advertising. As for ad availability, if it wasn’t already obvious, there is zero availability to advertise on TVODs and SVODs. Most ad supported content via these AVODs and vMVPDs must be acquired via Deal IDs and typically have a higher media clearing cost. The majority of data-driven CTV ad impressions reach premium consumers via these free ad-supported apps & platforms. Before we proceed, I’d like to point out that Pluto TV is the most profitable free ad-supported streaming service in the US with revenues exceeding a billion dollars last year. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1226955/advertising-revenue-pluto/ And during its most recent earnings call, Pluto TV ownership, Paramount, said Pluto TV grew its global monthly active users (MAUs) to 80 million users, up 80% year over year. https://cordcuttersnews.com/paramount-pluto-tv-saw-huge-growth-in-1st-quarter-of-2023-as-pluto-tv-is-now-the-largest-free-streaming-service/ It’s really not that surprising that FASTs like Pluto TV are having so much success, or that services like Netflix and Disney+ are offering ad-supported versions of their services, when you consider that 80% of consumers use ad-supported models of TV. https://www.leichtmanresearch.com/39-of-adults-watch-video-via-a-connected-tv-device-daily/ And More CTV viewers, 64% in fact, prefer ads to paying more for a subscription service. And that… is great news for advertisers. Because as more people adopt AVODs, FVODs, and FASTs, the more opportunities advertisers have to reach them. https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/64-ctv-viewers-prefer-ads-paying-more-subscription-service Now, one of the things that I think every advertiser needs to understand is that there are literally thousands of TV shows and movies that are simultaneously viewable across multiple streaming options. And there are various factors that may influence their ability to reach consumers with advertising when they're watching these shows. Factors like… are they watching it live or on demand? Are they watching the newest episode or a repeat episode? Are they watching the current season or a past season? Are they watching a platform original or is it syndicated? Are they watching something that is extremely popular right now or something that was popular at one time? I’m going to walk you through a couple of examples to help illustrate. Let’s say you want to watch the very popular Yellowstone. Seasons 1-4 of can be streamed on Fubo TV or Peacock, while all 5 seasons are available on Philo, Sling TV, and Hulu + Live TV. All seasons, including brand new episodes the day after they air live, can be rented or purchased on YouTube, Redbox, Apple TV, or Amazon Prime Video. So, whether or not someone viewing this show can be reached with an advertisement depends on a lot of factors. Are they viewing it online or offline? Are they viewing it for free or paying to view it? Are they paying a subscription or a one-time payment? Are they viewing it live or on-demand? Is it available via the open market or do we have to access it via PMP? What price is the advertiser prepared to pay? What are the margins we're prepared to accept? Are they using data to restrict the delivery? Are they serving across any device or only select devices? What time of day is the content being viewed? What ad length has the advertiser provided and what slots are available? As you can see, these are some of the variables associated with whether we may or may not be able to reach a consumer who is watching a specific show. Here are a few more examples. If a person wants to watch Kitchen Nightmares, there are several ways to do that, and many of them are ad supported. The ability for an advertiser to reach a consumer who is watching Kitchen Nightmares is not terribly difficult. When we look at a show like Vanderpump Rules, there are fewer ad supported options. Therefore, the ability for an advertiser to reach a consumer watching this show is certainly possible, but more challenging. Now if you look at a show like Suits, you’re going to find that it gets much harder, if not impossible for an advertiser to reach this audience. The organization that owns Suits understands the popularity of their show, and they are trying to limit its exposure in order to inspire consumers to pay for their subscription or to purchase the episodes. At the end of the day, some streaming content is more accessible than others. Let's start talking about Connected TV ad delivery through demand side platforms (or DSPs) like Simpli.fi, starting with TVODs Can you imagine renting or buying a show and then having to watch commercials inserted into the content? That’s never gonna happen, so clearly, no one is advertising on TVODs. The same goes for SVODs where people are paying a premium for an ad-free experience. No DSP on the planet can serve ads on either of these because there are no ads. AVODs charge a monthly subscription, but allow people to pay a lower price in exchange for advertising. You'll find that you can reach the majority of these platforms if you are prepared to pay for them. And in fact, Simpli.fi is Hulu certified. Simpli.fi can serve on max, Paramount+, Peacock, and Fubo inventory. Nobody can serve on Netflix inventory. And very soon we’ll be launching programmatic guaranteed, which will give us access to Disney+ inventory. Simpli.fi has access to almost all relevant high-cost PMP AVOD inventory. Advertisers who want to serve on that inventory need to understand that it is somewhat limited and they should be prepared to pay a premium for it. Now, if you look at the Free Video on Demand Solutions, you are going to find that Simpli.fi has broad access through programmatically available inventory and we also have the ability to narrow the delivery through the use of PMPs. You will find that that is also true on free ad supported television. When you look at vMVPDs, which are essentially the cable companies of the web, you are right back to the world of high-cost PMP access if you want access to live inventory. Does Simpli.fi’s certification with Hulu include live inventory? It does. Does our ability to serve on Sling PMPs include their live inventory? It does. What about YouTube TV? Advertiser looking to isolate delivery there must purchase it directly from Google. Does our access to Philo, Fubo and Xfinity inventory include their live inventory? Yes, it does. Does our access to Peacock? No, not currently. We have access to their on-demand inventory and we hope to soon have access to their live inventory. The big picture is this: Simpli.fi’s access to CTV inventory across all of these platforms is reflective of the inventory that is being served by virtually every DSP in the market, depending on the price that people are prepared to pay. We have direct access to every major exchange, which allows our clients to buy ad impressions on nearly all ad supported content that is programmatically available. And delivery is typically audience-based using first party data, addressable, or ZTV solutions to isolate and identify the premium audiences that advertisers are trying to reach when they're watching high quality television shows and movies. We also have deal ID access to thousands of private marketplace deals. For advertisers who are prepared to pay for it, they can get access to specific networks, specific content types or specific streaming sources such as Hulu, max, Peacock, Paramount+, and more. Now something you may have heard is that programmatically acquired inventory is garbage and that the audiences aren’t premium. This is simply not true. These are real audiences watching ad-supported inventory. “Premium” is often regarded as “new” or “currently popular”, but a customer watching content today that was considered premium a week ago, a year ago, or even decades ago is just as likely to buy the advertiser’s product or service. It’s people like me who stream 3 seasons of Lego Masters on Tubi. I am a premium consumer and that is a premium piece of content. The fact that I’m not accessing it on Hulu or some other paid service is irrelevant. In fact, 90% of programmatically available CTV impressions that are data activated or below a certain "premium price point" reside in FASTs and FVODs. Sources like Pluto, Tubi, Xumo etc. These networks, and the shows from these networks (that everyone knows), are being accessed and viewed on Streaming TV via FASTs and FVODs. To anyone that says this inventory isn’t premium, I have to ask, “How is CBS news viewed on a Samsung TV for free, inferior to CBS news viewed on Hulu?” Really? That’s like saying a Pepsi purchased from a vending machine is inferior to the Pepsi served at a high-end restaurant. They’re the same stuff. Another thing that you may have heard is that programmatic inventory can’t be trusted. Some media buyers have even been told that they are putting their job on the line if they buy that programmatic inventory. Again, this is simply not true. Certainly, when it comes to digital advertising, there is some degree of ad fraud. But we've gone out of our way to make sure that we are serving across high-quality inventory, to real humans, and we partner with the best in the industry to enhance our brand-safety capabilities. Oh, and by the way, check out who owns these services! Pluto TV is owned by Paramount. Tubi is owned by Fox. Freevee is owned by Amazon. Sling is owned by Dish. Xumo is owned by Comcast. Vudu is owned by Walmart. These are some of the largest and most respected companies in America. If you look at the platform preferences that you see here, and then you look at our CTV reporting, there's a very strong similarity between where people are watching ad-supported connected TV and where we are serving ads. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1132778/growth-avod-services-north-america/ One of the reasons why agencies and brands sometimes struggle to understand where CTV ads are delivered is because in truth, most streaming occurs in non-ad-supported or higher-cost ad-supported environments. Which means that if an advertiser wants to access the consumers who are watching inventory in that manner, it is expensive, and there is going to be very limited use of data in order to make any kind of purchase that is in any way data oriented. They are paying strictly for access. Meanwhile, advertisers who aren’t as interested in paying the high prices for that kind of access, are buying highly accessible, affordable inventory with a greater ability to leverage audience data to reach specific consumers based on behavior, location, demographics, etc. As you find yourself trying to determine what to do with all of this new information, I’d like to take the next few minutes to introduce you to Simpli.fi’s CTV full suite of products, and explain how they can help advertisers achieve their unique audience targeting goals. I’ll be running through these very quickly. For a more thorough explanation of each, please reach out to your Simpli.fi account manager or visit our website at simpli.fi. Okay, the first CTV tactic is site retargeting, a tactic that advertisers have been using with display ads forever to retarget individuals who visit their websites. How does that translate to CTV? Well, imagine our friend Paul learns about a brand or product from a buddy, a billboard, social media, a Google search, whatever. He visits the website. Most people don’t buy on their first visit, so… later that evening, when Paul sits down to watch some streaming TV, he is delivered a commercial for the website he was on earlier in the day. Bam! He’s reminded of the brand, and is that much more likely to buy their product or service. A powerful tactic, but limited only to consumers who have already discovered the advertiser’s website. That’s where our behavioral targeting via keyword search and contextual data comes in. Jeaneen is planning a vacation and does some online searches for cruises on her laptop. When she sits down to watch streaming TV later that day, she sees a commercial for our advertiser’s cruise line. Bam! She visits their website and buys a cruise package. Next, is Geo-Fencing, often leveraged as a conquesting strategy to target consumers who are visiting the advertiser’s competitors. Spencer goes to the big chain hardware store. He happens to have a smartphone with him that has several apps running in the background and most of them are collecting location data. Later, when Spencer sits down to watch his favorite old shows on Pluto TV, he’s presented an ad for our advertiser, a local hardware store that he didn’t even know about. Bam! The next time he needs to repair something, he skips the big chain and visits the new shop. Or you know, it could happen the other way around. Maybe the big chain geo-fences every hardware store within driving distance, and they are the one running a successful CTV conquesting campaign. For advertisers that have first-party address lists in their possession, we can use our household addressable tactic to build geo-fences around the majority of the addresses on their list. We have a 90% match rate, btw. Sarah’s address is one that’s on that list. Using this tactic, the advertiser can deliver their commercial directly to Sarah’s streaming TV. Bam! Sarah likes what she sees and becomes a new client. If they don’t have a list, we can help them build one with our custom audience creation tool leveraging over 3000 demographic and psychographic variables. So, when the swimming pool dealer wants to show their TV commercial to James, a homeowner with good credit, who has a household income greater than $100K and two children between the ages of 5 and 18, we can do that. The next time James is watching South Park on a Saturday, he sees the commercial for the local pool dealer and… Bam! His kids are swimming in their new pool a few weeks later. Next, we have access to all those third-party segments that we all know and love. Meet Ryan, a known auto intender. The local Jeep dealer delivers a CTV commercial to Ryan when he’s watching streaming TV. The next thing you know… Bam! He’s traversing the Colorado Rockies in his new Jeep. Our next advertiser wants to target specific streaming inventory, maybe live sports. Thanks to our private marketplace deals we’re able to secure ad spots that fit their needs and Bam! They’re running ads on the inventory they believe their best customers are watching. Our next advertiser is running linear ads and wants to extend their reach to Liz, who lives in a streaming-only household, without duplicating their ads to those combination linear/streaming households. Using our Linear TV Subscriber exclusion, they can be sure they deliver their ads to streaming-only households just like Liz. BAM! No more duplicating their ad campaigns across linear and streaming. Next, we have several specific retail media audiences, so when that allergy medication advertiser wants to reach Morgan, who is a member of the Walgreens rewards program, we can deliver directly to her streaming TV and Bam! The next time she sneezes, she’s buying their brand of allergy meds. Our next advertiser understands that when they show their CTV commercial to Frost, he’s not going to be able to click it, you know, since it’s on his big screen TV. So they leverage our campaign audience retargeting for sequential messaging across devices and ad types. Next thing you know, Frost is seeing a clickable display ad on his phone or laptop for that same advertiser he saw on TV. Bam! He clicks the ad, goes to their website, and converts. And finally, our newest product in Simpli.fi’s CTV suite: Introducing ZTV. ZTV is Zip Code Optimized CTV, and it bridges the gap between linear TV and CTV using targeting language familiar to traditional TV buyers. ZTV offers a new method of CTV targeting, combining the precision of digital by targeting zip codes, with the broadcast power of CTV. ZTV is ideal for any advertiser who wants to advertise on streaming TV, but it is especially ideal for linear buyers who understand that pay TV is now the minority and that they must start pairing their linear buys with CTV if they have any hope of reaching their audience. ZTV starts by targeting specific zip codes within a designated distance around an advertiser’s location. It offers precision and control with focused delivery to the most important zip codes rather than an entire DMA or cable zone, all at a much lower CPM. ZTV is the ultimate solution for bridging the gap between linear TV and CTV Advertising. So How does ZTV work? Simpli.fi has developed a proprietary weighted zip code ranking system using the 33,000 residential zip codes where we see actionable ACR (that’s Automatic Content Recognition) data, reflecting genuine TV viewing behavior. If you’re not familiar with ACR data, really quick, ACR is a technology built into smart TVs that is used to identify what is playing on the TV. Put simply, ACR enables a smart TV to listen and/or see what’s playing on the screen. This allows us to tell if a television is watching streaming TV or linear TV. Our system then combines US census data, encompassing age, gender, household income, etc., with this ACR TV viewing data, to effectively map and understand residential patterns and preferences to reach zip codes with the highest propensity for streaming vs watching linear TV. We have also provided additional inventory controls to help advertisers feel some comfort with the inventory on which we are serving ZTV ads starting with Blocklists… that block apps and publishers that are “made for advertising.”, publishers who falsely declare inventory as a large screen TV, and apps or publishers requested by our customers. We also use Allowlists. They are confirmed quality paid or free streaming TV publishers serving real television or movie content. They are high-quality sources with the lowest invalid traffic scores. And they include hyper-local news and weather content, which is very popular content that people access when they have abandoned cable, but they still want their local news. And finally, advertisers can request an allowlist of specific apps or networks. As for our curated Private Marketplace Deals, these are primarily publisher-direct and broadcast network-direct inventory that can be accessed at a regional price point. If an advertiser is only interested in going after a specific network, the most accurate and cost-effective way to do this is via pre-negotiated Deal IDs or via an allowlist depending on the networks they are looking to target. Here’s a look at some of that private marketplace inventory. We’re dedicated to offering solutions for every kind of advertiser, whether they are an audience-focused buyer or an inventory-focused buyer, or… somewhere in between. In fact… with that in mind, Simpli.fi has worked very hard to ensure that ZTV fits every advertiser’s specific targeting and pricing requirements. Straight out of the box, ZTV delivers on high-quality content, without any additional inventory targeting, even at the lowest CPM threshold. For the audience-focused buyer, CPMs are currently averaging between $10 and $15. These ads are delivered on high-quality, live and on-demand TV content that is being viewed through a large array of FASTs, vMVPDs, & AVODs such as Pluto, Xumo, Tubi, Philo, Samsung TV, Sling, LG, and many more. For the inventory-focused buyer, CPMs are currently averaging between $25 and $50, with a greater percentage of the delivery taking place on PMP inventory. Additionally, we can implement the inventory control levers that we just discussed, including custom allowlists, blocklists, and thousands of publisher/network-direct PMPs, and certified access to platforms such as: Hulu, Max, Peacock, Paramount+ and more. We can even blend the two strategies for an average CPM of $15 to $25. Here are some specific examples. Everything here in the left column is leveraging allowlists and/or blocklists and is currently clearing for less than $22 CPM. For the advertiser who requests specific networks, like A&E, AMC, Fox, etc, and is willing to pay a little higher price to deliver on those networks, we can do that. And by the way, I think it’s worth pointing out that some of this “premium” inventory (I’m using that word in the way that advertisers currently know it. Hopefully by now, we are in agreement that the definition of premium is highly subjective.) For those advertisers, we can deliver their ads to people who are watching Fox, and are consuming Fox stations through FASTs and FVODs such as Tubi, Pluto TV, FoxNow, direct apps, so forth and so on. Now let’s take this concept of audience-focused buyers vs inventory-focused buyers and apply it to the entirety of Simpli.fi’s suite of CTV products. Let’s define an audience focused buyer as someone who’s priority is reaching their ideal consumer, regardless of their streaming service, the network, or the show they're watching. Their logic is that if the consumer has visited their website, searched their keywords, visited a competitor’s location, are of the right demographic, or have shown an interest in their products or services, then it does not matter if they are watching a show that is live, or has been out for a day, a week, a year, or for decades. In that moment, the customer is premium and the inventory isn’t the priority. That advertiser can leverage ZTV, which curates at a zip code level, using census and ACR data. But we also have solutions that leverage audience segments, first party data, demographics, website retargeting, audience retargeting, and behavioral targeting via keywords. Meanwhile, the inventory focused buyer’s priority is that they want to appear on specific vMVPDs, AVODs, networks, or shows, regardless of who’s watching or performance. Simpli.fi can place their ads on the higher-cost AVODs like Hulu, max, Peacock, Paramount+, and Fubo, etc., as well as the higher-cost networks, shows, or live events such as HGTV, The Home Edit, or Sunday or Saturday Night Football. This advertiser cares about audiences, but they’re making some assumptions about the audience based on the programming. I always use the example of the brand that sells camping equipment and wants to advertise on the show SURVIVOR to reach outdoorsmen and woman. Then I tell them about the biggest Survivor fan I know. This person has watched every episode of every season, multiple times. I’m taking about my mother-in-law, a woman who never camped a day in her life. Heck, she didn’t like to spend time in the backyard. So while many of those commercials for backpacks and boots we’re probably reaching the intended audience, some of them certainly weren’t. The inventory-focused buyer simply has different priorities, and that’s okay. Take soap for example. Everyone uses soap, so targeting a “soap-intender” using data is probably kinda pointless. Advertising soap on a popular show that everyone watches totally makes sense. But they’re going to have to be willing to pay for that popularity. And then there’s the blended approach that allows advertisers to migrate their data-driven solutions into a safety-centric world by using allowlists, blocklists, and curated PMPs to pair with these solutions. Obviously, it's going to restrict the delivery and elevate the price a little bit. But the beauty of all these solutions is that the advertiser now has the choice. If they want to pay a $10-$15 CPM and be an audience-focused buyer, we have a solution. If they want to refine and protect their brand even further, they can pay $15 to $25 for restricted delivery. And if the priority is specific streaming sources, networks, or shows they can do so, but should be prepared to pay for that. This is the world of connected TV advertising. Simpli.fi’s ability to be flexible in this world is on another level compared to the available solutions that are in the marketplace. The inventory Simpli.fi can access and the options available to our clients are…best in class, period. Thanks for hanging with me for the whole webinar. I know we covered a lot today, so I’m going to conclude with these 8 key take-aways: • OTA and Linear TV audiences are shrinking rapidly. • Streaming consumption is growing exponentially. • There is confusion about the quality of streaming inventory and how it can be purchased. • Ad-Supported AVODs, FVODs, FASTs and vMVPDs are gaining popularity. • “Premium” inventory is available everywhere that people consume Streaming TV. • Programmatic inventory is brand-safe. • Simpli.fi offers a comprehensive suite of CTV solutions to fit any advertisers’ needs. and • ZTV is a disruptive new solution that bridges the gap between linear TV and CTV advertising. Thank you for joining us today. We look forward to seeing you next month. If you can’t wait that long, be sure to check out our new web series and podcast, Simpli.fi TV, where we discuss topics that are relevant to digital marketing with leaders and doers in the digital media space. You can find episodes on our website or your favorite podcast platform. If you have questions about Simpli.fi’s offerings, please reach out to your Simpli.fi account manager or send an email to hi@simpli.fi. I’m David McBee. Be awesome. And we’ll see you next time.