Place Exchange Partner Spotlight: GSTV
GSTV operates a national network of digital screens at gas stations that reach millions of Americans every day. We spoke with David Kovall, VP of Digital Media Partnerships at GSTV.
David Kovall, GSTV
What’s your role at GSTV?
At GSTV, I oversee the Programmatic practice as well as our Digital Extensions solutions. As programmatic demand for GSTV continues to grow, my goal is to make it easy for advertisers to access our supply through their preferred DSP. As programmatic capabilities evolve, we want to empower our clients to take advantage of these advanced solutions to help achieve their business goals.
What are some recent company milestones?
Most recently, GSTV announced a new partnership with Comscore where Comscore will provide independent, third-party audience measurement for GSTV. Comscore will report on network-level reach, frequency, and impressions by demo and market, facilitating the planning of campaigns including GSTV. This will provide our advertisers the accuracy, transparency, and accountability that they expect from major sources of video inventory. In addition, Comscore will integrate GSTV audience data into its cross-media planning tools, including Comscore Plan Metrix Multi-Platform, providing visibility into the incremental reach of omni-channel media plans including GSTV.
GSTV is also a network that is actively growing. We are currently at 26,000 fuel retailer sites and reach more than 96 million unique monthly viewers every month. For perspective, we can be viewed at more locations than the top two U.S. coffee retailers combined.
Which verticals/brands do you work with most?
Some of our top verticals include QSR, CPG, financial services, automotive, and telcom. I’m also proud to be part of a company that leverages our network for good. GSTV has an ongoing partnership with the Ad Council and we also partner with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children where posters of missing children air on our network, in locations where they are most likely to be found.
What differentiates GSTV inventory?
Unlike most OOH that is static, GSTV broadcasts premium video with sound during a 1 to 1 transaction. Perhaps the most important differentiator is the context of where and when we deliver ads. Our audience spends 3.9x more at big box stores within the first three hours after fueling up, and on average consumers spend 1.7x more after fueling up. These insights are extremely important because it allows advertisers to reach an audience in the purchase mindset and right before they are going to spend more than others who didn’t just fuel up.
What do you know about the GSTV audience?
In addition to some of the insights just shared, we know our audience is engaged and real. This means we can guarantee that GSTV viewers will have a guaranteed 1:1, fraud-free engagement with the content shown on our screens. In addition, because we reach more than 1 in 3 U.S. adults 18+ and 93% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a GSTV station, we reach a wide swath of the country. For a targeted audience, each of our sites acts like an addressable household. We can use digital audiences derived from 1st and 3rd party data combined with location data to help advertisers reach their desired audience target. For example, we can help advertisers reach home DIY enthusiasts, soda drinkers, or visitors of a particular grocery chain.
In addition, because most of our audience owns a car, we also know that we are reaching a young and affluent audience that is 75% 18-49 year olds, 38% with a household income of $100K or more, and 62% with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
How has COVID-19 changed your outlook on OOH?
As we lived through (and continue to navigate) Covid-19, GSTV was in a unique position. Through our network partnership with fuel retailers who were deemed essential businesses, our network became an important source of food, fuel, and information. We partnered with the CDC to share important educational PSAs about Covid-19 and with organizations like Dining at a Distance, the Red Cross and others who needed to communicate about their own important community and health initiatives. I’ve always known the power of our network to reach consumers, and we saw that magnified with the pandemic.
What do you value most in your partnership with Place Exchange?
Place Exchange has enabled GSTV to win business that we otherwise would not have crossed paths with. I really like that Place Exchange has a collaborative sales team that evangelizes our unique inventory. The Place Exchange team is building something attractive for media owners and DSPs, and I look forward to continued growth between us.
What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at work?
I’m a big fan of travel, outdoor activities like hiking and skiing, and eating excellent food with my family. While the pandemic has been a nightmare, we did make the best of it by moving to Park City, Utah for three months this past winter. Remote working and skiing go well together!
GSTV's Eric Sherman on Measuring Cross-Platform Video Advertising
By Charlene Weisler, MediaVillage
One of the most dynamic areas of advertising research today is the evolution of holistic, cross-platform video measurement. The recently-announced partnership between national video network GSTV and analytics heavyweight Comscore opens a new front in this pursuit. Consumers engage with GSTV outside the home, on their path to purchase, and this new measurement will follow. Agencies will soon be able to plan media buys on GSTV alongside other digital video investments.
GSTV and Comscore
GSTV, which entertains viewers with short-form video content on screens at fuel and convenience retailers, offers advertisers "a national video platform reaching more than one in three adults 18+ on a monthly basis," explained GSTV's Executive Vice President of Insights & Analytics, Eric Z. Sherman. "We reach consumers in a unique moment in their consumer journey. GSTV has the reach and scale of linear TV with the targeting and attribution capabilities long associated with digital media."
The network's partnership with Comscore is expanding with a new measurement initiative. In the past they have collaborated on advertising effectiveness studies. Comscore's reputation as "a global leader in cross platform audience measurement was a crucial consideration in GSTV’s decision to expand the partnership," Sherman said. Comscore is known for its "standard-bearing digital research tools and trusted television audience ratings service,” he noted, “And trust is paramount." He added that Comscore aims to provide holistic video measurement "that is as inclusive as possible, accounting for all video touchpoints throughout the day."
Gary Warech, EVP, Comscore, shares platforms like GSTV have “long been part of Comscore’s vision. It is a natural extension of the impressions-based currency that the media ecosystem relies on to drive better business outcomes. We are going down the path to add digital out-of-home as a channel in our product suites.”
GSTV Video Measurement Methodology
For this next step in video measurement, Comscore will provide network level reach, frequency and impressions by demo and market for GSTV's 26,000 locations. "Basically, the foundational planning metrics for agencies," Sherman noted. In addition to the full footprint, the data can also be broken down by market area and by the classic demographic breaks.
"The measurement will comprise a number of different data inputs," Sherman continued. "The foundational element will be financial-grade, census level transaction data, so we have a precise view of each and every impression that occurs. We know when somebody is in front of the screen, seeing the ad or a piece of content. Comscore will layer additional data elements, including mobile device, panel, and survey data, to establish core demographic and behavioral projections.”
All of this data will be incorporated into planning tools for marketers and agencies. Initially it will answer the basic questions of reach, frequency and demos. "Going forward, Comscore will integrate GSTV network data into various other tools, including Plan Metrix, for example," Sherman shared. "So, you will able to combine GSTV audience information with data for digital properties like mobile apps and websites allowing planners to quantify things like incremental reach,” helping advertisers build effective cross-media campaigns.
According to Comscore, hundreds of agencies use this platform for advanced targeting based on digital and TV media consumption, lifestyles, interests, attitudes, demographics, and behaviors. GSTV audiences will be available in Plan Metrix by Q3 2022.
"As Comscore continues to invest in the future of cross-media video measurement, we anticipate that GSTV will get even easier to plan alongside other video solutions like linear TV and CTV/OTT platforms,” he continued. "We look forward to a future in which video investments are not planned in siloes, and our work with Comscore will help facilitate that."
GSTV's Future
GSTV has upgraged its video measurement at a time of changing consumer preferences which, Sherman noted, presents the company with a unique growth opportunity. "There are two trends propelling our recent growth," he said. "One, the decline of linear television and the rise of streaming, and two, increasing concerns about consumer privacy."
Regarding the first trend, "As linear TV ratings decline, ad-supported streaming isn't growing fast enough to make up the difference in ad inventory. Supply is down, prices are up, and marketers are frustrated,” he explained, remarking that “GSTV has been an increasingly effective video alternative for advertisers seeking to drive measurable business outcomes at scale.”
As privacy concerns mount, 84% of Americans are worried about what advertisers know about them. "Digital is losing its superpowers," Sherman asserted. "Contextual advertising is reemerging as in important part of the digital advertising toolkit." GSTV knows not only what viewers are seeing on the screen, but also what they’re doing, what stores are nearby, and more – offering advertisers a more nuanced picture of consumer intent without having to collect any sensitive personal data.
"We are seeing a convergence of all different types of media," Sherman said. "Digital out-of-home (DOOH) is part of that trend, and as a result, I think we’ll continue to see increasing investment in the sector.”
Adding to that, Warech shares, “It’s hard not to feel optimistic about the [DOOH] space, and industry forecasts are predicting a strong rebound for DOOH as the world emerges from the pandemic over the next two years. Comscore believes OOH media will continue to have a more prominent role in future marketing plans and we are excited about its inclusion as part of our overall product suite.”
As far as GSTV is concerned, the implementation of this cross-platform measurement capability, currently slated for late 2021, will place it in the sweet spot for advertisers. "But just as important is enabling clients to quantify business outcomes. We've spent the past few years really focused on helping our advertisers measure the actual business impact of their campaigns on our network. We've seen that the platform is especially effective at driving incremental retail foot traffic lift, brand awareness, and CPG sales, yielding above-average ROAS for our clients," Sherman concluded.
Comscore Pumps Up New OOH Measurement Service, Signs GSTV
By Joe Mandese, MediaPost
A year after Nielsen left the field of digital out-of-home media measurement, one of the field’s highest profile suppliers, GSTV (Gas Station TV), has signed with Comscore to utilize its fledgling place-based media audience measurement service.
As part of the agreement, Comscore said it will report digital ad impressions, reach and frequency for each market and demographic GSTV sells as part of its national video advertising network.
GSTV, which is distributed across tens of thousands of gas stations nationwide, will have its audience estimates accessible via Comscore’s media ratings via its Plan Metrix Multi-Platform planning service in the U.S.
Both GSTV and Comscore are members of the Digital Place-Based Advertising Association (DPAA), which has been encouraging innovative solutions to place-based media measurement ever since Nielsen abandoned the market in September 2020.
It also includes Comscore rival Epicenter as a member, which has already begun supplying audience measurement estimates to two other DPAA members: national cinema advertising networks National CineMedia (NCM) and Screenvision.
GSTV already has a preexisting relationship with Comscore, which previously conducted proprietary campaign effectiveness research quantifying the effect of GSTV’s ad exposure for marketers and comparing it with outcomes like TV and website visitation lift.
Comscore, which announced its new digital out-of-home measurement service earlier this year, in May unveiled its first customer, the Lightbox OOH Video Network.
GSTV Picks Comscore For Digital Out-Of-Home Viewer Measurement
Comscore will report reach and frequency by market and demo
Comscore announced it made a deal with GSTV to measure viewing of its video network at gas stations.
Comscore will report on digital ad impressions, reach and frequency by market and demo.
"We're thrilled to be partnering with Comscore to offer advertisers trusted, third-party reporting on the scope and scale of GSTV's national viewership," said Eric Z. Sherman, executive VP, Insights & Analytics, GSTV. "We share Comscore's commitment to transparent, accountable measurement for video across all platforms, wherever it is viewed."
GSTV and Comscore have already been working together to measure campaign effectiveness by linking GSTV ad exposure to TV tune-in and website visit.
Comscore said its new digital out-of-home measurement is being integrated into its Media Ratings system and can be used as part of its Plan Metric Multi-Platform campaign planning tool.
"We are excited to deepen our partnership with GSTV by providing granular insights into consumer behavior at fuel retailers nationwide," said Gary Warech, executive VP, Comscore. "As a recognized leader in DOOH, GSTV's addition to the Comscore family further illustrates our commitment to the industry."
GSTV Turns to Comscore for DOOH Audience Measurement
RESTON, Va., July 15, 2021 – Comscore (Nasdaq: SCOR), a trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating media, today announced an agreement with GSTV, a data-driven, national video network delivering targeted audiences at scale across tens of thousands of fuel retailers. Under the agreement, Comscore will report on digital ad impressions, reach, and frequency by market and demo for GSTV’s national video network.
This new offering is part of Comscore’s continuing innovation in digital out-of-home (DOOH) measurement. It is being integrated into Comscore’s signature Media Ratings solutions as part of its Plan Metrix Multi-Platform® planning tool in the US.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Comscore to offer advertisers trusted, third-party reporting on the scope and scale of GSTV’s national viewership,” said Eric Z. Sherman, EVP Insights & Analytics, GSTV. “We share Comscore’s commitment to transparent, accountable measurement for video across all platforms, wherever it is viewed.”
“We are excited to deepen our partnership with GSTV by providing granular insights into consumer behavior at fuel retailers nationwide,” said Gary Warech, Executive Vice President, Comscore. “As a recognized leader in DOOH, GSTV’s addition to the Comscore family further illustrates our commitment to the industry.”
Previously, GSTV and Comscore have partnered to help marketers measure campaign effectiveness by quantifying the effect of GSTV ad exposure on client business outcomes like TV tune-in and website visitation lift.
Building the Future of OOH Measurement
GSTV is the latest company to collaborate with Comscore for OOH measurement as Comscore continues to incorporate this important media channel into its industry-leading cross-platform product suite. Earlier this year, Comscore joined with leading DOOH and OOH groups DPAA and the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) to help advance OOH measurement and ensure that its product innovation was informed by the leading voices in the space.
As part of its focus on delivering the next generation of OOH measurement, Comscore is developing solutions to precisely measure traditional outdoor platforms such as roadside billboards, street furniture, and place-based advertising platforms that are designed to reach consumers in retail spaces, business and medical offices, entertainment venues, transportation hubs and cinema.
Measured DOOH audiences will be made available to advertisers and agencies through Comscore Plan Metrix® Multi-Platform and existing APIs. Plan Metrix® combines consumers’ desktop and mobile behavior with detailed information about their lifestyles, interests, attitudes, demographics, and behaviors for a unified and unduplicated view.
About Comscore
Comscore (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms. With a data footprint that combines digital, linear TV, over-the-top and theatrical viewership intelligence with advanced audience insights, Comscore allows media buyers and sellers to quantify their multiscreen behavior and make business decisions with confidence. A proven leader in measuring digital and TV audiences and advertising at scale, Comscore is the industry’s emerging, third-party source for reliable and comprehensive cross-platform measurement. For more information, visit comscore.com.
About GSTV
GSTV is a data-driven, national video network delivering and engaging targeted audiences at scale across tens of thousands of fuel retailers. Reaching 1 in 3 American adults monthly, GSTV engages viewers with full sight, sound, and motion video at an essential waypoint on their consumer journey. Analysis of billions of consumer purchases demonstrates that GSTV viewers spend significantly more across retailers, services, consumer goods and other sectors, following a fuel transaction. While offering consumers entertaining and informative content, GSTV drives immediate action and creates lasting brand impressions, delivering measurable results for the world’s largest advertisers. Visit gstv.com for more information and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Press
For Comscore
Neil Ripley
Head of Corporate Communications
646-746-0579
For GSTV
Noelle Dong
Director, Marketing Communications
noelle.dong@gstv.com
Media Buying Briefing: The shift to programmatic in digital OOH creates ‘muscle memory’ for an outlier industry
By Michael Bürgi, Digiday
For better or worse, out-of-home (OOH) media has always been an outlier of sorts relative to TV or digital, from both a buyer and seller perspective. It was largely seen as a local medium, and approached for its locational value rather than quality of audience.
However, the steady advances OOH media companies have made to convert to digital inventory — incorporating digital video, dynamic signage and other forms into their offerings — have enabled the industry to incorporate programmatic into the buy/sell process. And the toehold programmatic has secured in digital OOH (DOOH) is shifting perceptions and pushing the medium into greater consideration for omni-channel media buying and planning, as a result of it being evaluated as audience-driven as much as a location-based buy.
One sell-side executive described programmatic’s effect on DOOH buying as “creating muscle memory” in that it’s more measurable and targetable alongside other media than it has ever been before
Programmatic currently accounts for only about 10 percent of all DOOH inventory, but media buyers and sellers agree that number will surge as media agencies strike alliances with programmatic providers and DSPs.
“Programmatic will become much more important within digital out of home,” said Ameet Shah, partner and vp of publisher operations and technology strategy at Prohaska Consulting. “Audience [as a means of assessing OOH] has always been there, but never was the focus because it was hard to transact and put in place.”
One agency holding company is putting those assets into partnership for mutual benefit. Digiday has learned that GroupM has quietly cranked up its Sightline partnership, which pairs the programmatic abilities of its Xaxis unit with its OOH media agency Kinetic Worldwide. The partnership was formed a year ago, just before the COVID pandemic forced large-scale lockdowns across the globe, so it never quite got off the ground until recently.
But Michael Lieberman, Kinetic’s U.S. CEO, said Sightline has run efforts for 22 clients this year (he declined to name any specific clients), attracting new business from CPG, retail, finance and national auto advertisers. “National advertisers, who may have looked at us for a heavy-up in one or two markets, are now thinking of us as an audience platform that can sit alongside their video, their display, their connected TV, or audio [buys],” he said.
“We’re able to attack budgets from both sides,” added Gila Wilensky, U.S. president at Xaxis. “This lets Xaxis unlock more out-of-home dollars and for Kinetic to finally offer programmatic — previously neither of us had access to this.”
Programmatic’s adoption among OOH media agencies will continue apace. “We typically use managed service, partnering up with DSPs,” said Chris Olsen, U.S. president of IPG’s OOH media agency Rapport, who noted the agency has bought more inventory programmatically to date this year than any prior full year. “In the second half of 2021, we’re looking to have our own programmatic division within Rapport,” he said.
As more digital OOH media firms build out the reach and sophistication of their technology, they see significant opportunity to work OOH into consideration sets alongside other media from the buy side — especially when programmatic becomes the tool used on both ends.
“It’s helping reverse-engineer audience thinking and audience transacting,” said Sean McCaffrey, CEO of GSTV, which runs a network of video screens at gas station pumps. “That’s one of the key drivers of its growth and acceptance. I can think about audience in out of home not just as LaGuardia airport or the 405 freeway, but as Chevy drivers, kids in the household, golfers — the same way I’d think about audience in other digital media.”
Still, obstacles remain in place — not least of which is that the majority of OOH inventory (more than 60 percent, one source estimated) remains non-digital. There’s also the issue of third-party data deprecation and mobile providers’ limits on tracking users. Just as the DOOH embraces programmatic, some sources of data could end up limited.
But even here, industry executives are split on how significant an impact data deprecation will have.
One one side, both Kinetic’s Lieberman and Rapport’s Olsen acknowledged that a dropoff in third-party data, particularly location-based data, could throw a curveball at the insights needed to power effective use of programmatic.
But Prohaska’s Shah said he sees upside relative to other digital media. “Look at what’s important — context, value, audiences. Digital out of home remains fundamentally unchanged in the level of data [it needs] … So by default the value of this inventory goes up.”
Color by numbers
It’s seemingly impossible to have a conversation in media or marketing without bringing up third-party cookie deprecation. So it is with marketers and agencies, who named it their top challenge for 2021 in Adswerve’s most recent survey of 284 executives. Here’s how they responded and where other concerns fell in priority:
Decline of cookies/changes in availability of 3rd party data: 66 percent
Difficulty in providing ROI of data-driven programs: 35 percent
Business recovery from COVID-19: 29 percent
Siloed organizational structure/poor data-sharing protocols: 29 percent
Lack of internal experience/talent: 24 percent
Limited budget/lack of funding: 24 percent
Government/data privacy regulation: 15 percent
Takeoff & landing
Mike Bregman was named chief data officer for Havas Media Group North America, and will join the media agency’s leadership team. Bregman comes from Accenture’s Applied Intelligence unit, where he was global managing director overseeing customer, marketing and sales analytics.
Omnicom’s PHD USA hired Sarah Clayton as its first head of commerce, joining from drugmaker Bayer, where she was U.S. marketing director.
Playbook Media, a full service independent agency, partnered with measurement service TVDataNow to offer clients media buying and management, as well as measurement and performance optimization to clients looking to spend in the CTV/OTT space.
Direct quote
“We’re not just marketers … we’re storytellers. Has anyone mentioned that today? We’re storytellers. In fact, we’re telling you a story right now. Not a true story … the story we’re telling, you know, is completely made up. But what do you expect us to do? Tell the truth?”
— Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, during Disney’s upfront presentation to media buyers last week.
Speed reading
Missed last week’s upfronts presentations? Then you’ll want to read Digiday senior media editor Tim Peterson’s Future of TV Briefing, which analyzes the impact on streaming of the surprise WarnerMedia/Discovery Communications merger, and offers a cheat sheet on all the major presentations.
Digiday’s platforms, data and privacy reporter Kate Kaye details Publicis Media’s efforts to more effectively evaluate data and tech partners, as a means to rooting out negative cultural or racial stereotypes.
Venturebeat looks into the gains Google’s Android ad sales platform is enjoying in the early days after Apple’s IDFA implementation.
GSTV Seeks Great Creativity for Its Video Network at Service Stations
Sean McCaffrey on the growing platform's approach
Last Halloween, service stations across the country jolted millions of consumers as they filled their tanks. On GSTV’s nationwide network of pump-based screens, video host Maria Menounos morphed into a freaky, threatening dude via deep-fake technology. The segment hyped a hair-raising digital experience from filmmaker Jason Zada exploring the dangers of rampant data collection (and updating themes from his viral "Take This Lollipop" effort a decade ago).
The stunt generated 18.4 million impressions in 11 days, illustrating GSTV's ability to reach a captive, highly diverse audience.
"It was a flash of 'What did I just see!?' It got viewers buzzing," recalls GSTV president and CEO Sean McCaffrey. "As a national video network, we want to entertain and inform our viewers, while in this case also highlighting very real concerns."
McCaffrey joined the network at its 2017 inception, driving growth by developing snackable content for folks on the go, and enticing advertisers to come along for the ride. His road to the future runs through some 25,000 current locations—double the number at launch. By year's end, another 5,000 stations should come online.
With McCaffrey at the wheel, the network, which reaches roughly one in three Americans each month, "has transformed every area of the business, from the content experience to the depth and breadth of advertisers that partner with us," he says. "We've also solidified our product offering and improved the tech platform by which it's delivered. Every change was led and informed by listening to our audience."
For example, GSTV carries food hacks from So Yummy and music news produced by Live Nation and Loop Media because "those who fuel up tend to be on their way to eat or to a drive-thru, and many consumers are also listening to music in their cars," McCaffrey says.
"Loop's short-form gaming and music content is perfectly suited for GSTV's captive platform format and audience," says Greg Drebin, Loop's marketing and content chief. Loop airs a segment each week with snippets from trending music videos and video games.
Other providers powering the network's stream include Cheddar News, Stadium, Wave.tv and What's Trending, along with GSTV's own Ignite creative studio, which develops original programs. Podcast star Menounos joined the lineup last summer, covering lifestyle, health and celebrities. Some programming runs seasonally, notably sports highlights. Regional targeting also comes into play, with the network's Octane analytics arm leveraging data from Claritas, Dstillery and the U.S. Census Bureau to craft flexible, targeted brand opportunities based on demographics and consumer behavior.
Shooting for the MoonPies.
"We don't consider ourselves parallel to other platforms out there," such as screens in taxis, trains and airlines, or Clear Channel Outdoor, where McCaffrey spent 16 years overseeing strategy, marketing and partnerships, he says. Instead, he views GTSV as a hybrid, fusing "broadcast's reach and scale with the targeting and measurement capabilities of digital, and the real-world opportunity of mobile and out-of-home media."
Because so many different types of people criss-cross our nation's roadways, the network can help brands reach commuters and travelers of varying ages, backgrounds and ethnicities "at a moment they are both paying attention to advertising, and on the path to purchase," he says. "We work with partners to message at the lower end of the funnel with calls to action directing viewers to a drive-thru or convenience stores—and at the higher end of the funnel, for low-frequency buys, like auto or financial purchases, building affinity through a routine weekly engagement."
One such low-end play took place on Super Bowl Sunday in 2020, when MoonPie and creative agency Tombras ran an 80-second commercial, reaching GSTV viewers as they picked up snacks for the game. Fittingly, part of the spot was set at a filling station.
"It got a lot of buzz because people thought it was a fun, irreverent idea—but for me, it was important because it was such a smart idea," says Tombras creative chief Jeff Benjamin. "We could have spent a gazillion dollars running a Super Bowl commercial on television, and it would have run for 30 seconds, one time during the game. Instead, we got so much more value running on those pumps."
All told, that campaign generated 5.3 million impressions in a single day.
"It cost less [than a Big Game buy], and we were able to engage with consumers over a much longer period of time," Benjamin says. "Plus, the audiences were steps from convenience stores, where MoonPies are sold. There was a dramatic sales lift on game day and for a period after that."
Doing good in Covid times.
While entertainment is key, the network's screens also broadcast critical information in times of floods, fires and natural disasters. "GSTV was a network situated on the essential front lines alongside our retail partners who never shut down and served as an essential source of fuel, food and information," McCaffrey explains.
At the height of Covid, GSTV delivered messages from the American Red Cross, the U.S. Centers fro Disease Control and Prevention and Feeding America, among others, while also thanking UPS workers and other front-liners for their service.
"GSTV has been instrumental in helping to extend the reach of our CDC PSAs in the OOH market, particularly during the past year," says Liz Johnson DeAngelis, the Ad Council's VP of growth and managed platforms. "When Covid first hit, they helped distribute life-saving messages around staying home and social distancing."
More recently, the network "stepped up to help support and amplify 'It's Up to You,' our vaccine education campaign," DeAngelis says. "They delivered relevant messages to Hispanic, Black and general market audiences in key markets using six different 15-second spots." That's a wide net—critical for driving vaccination participation en mass, Rushton says. In just a few months, GSTV's pro-bono support generated 48 million impressions.
At the same time, the service has expanded its partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to share images of missing kids and help build a robust alert network with retail partners. "We know that recoveries can often happen at or near fueling and rest stops," McCaffrey says.
Driving into the future.
Of late, McCaffrey has shifted GSTV's own profile into higher gear. In March, for example, the brand joined with Muse by Clio to become the presenting sponsor of Tagline, a podcast that tells the stories behind legendary ad campaigns.
"One of our goals is to work more closely with creatives and creative shops," McCaffrey says. "We're a network that is poised for creative storytelling in a unique consumer context. We believe we are one of the increasingly few places you can get real reach and be in the 'right place, time and moment' … and without skipping, blocking and interruption."
Reaching "ad nerds"—passionate folks at agencies and brands on creativity's cutting edge—is essential because GSTV views itself as a robust resource, capable of real innovation. Wild ideas and bold directions—such as "Take This Lollipop 2" and MoonPie's Super Bowl spot—are welcome, if they work across the three to five minutes users typically spend filling up, McCaffrey says.
With summer fast approaching, and the U.S. emerging from the pandemic, McCaffrey's 2021 plans include a renewed push for vacationers' attention with GSTV's "Great American Road Trip" series, a wide-ranging celebration of travel and discovery, produced in-house.
"The series has integration opportunities built in for clients and opens up natural opportunities for brands and categories that contribute to a memorable road trip—travel and tourism, of course, but also QSRs, CPG, automotive, etc.," he says. "Our team is always looking for the next great creative campaign, and we want to be a partner in helping clients explore and push the boundaries on the possibilities with our network."
TV advertisers are warning they'll shift spending elsewhere if prices get too high, and streaming video and audio could be the big winners
Television ad buyers and sellers are readying themselves for a transformational TV upfront.
Ratings are down, but TV ad prices are expected to increase by double digits.
Advertisers plan to shift dollars to streaming video and audio if prices get too high.
After a year that's been compared to the Great Depression, TV advertising is expected to rebound to a 9.3% increase in 2021, GroupM forecast in March.
But the numbers mask another reality. With ratings declining, marketers are sucking money out of linear TV. Of the TV buyers who are already putting their money into connected TV, 73 percent said their budget was coming from linear TV, according to an Interactive Advertising Bureau report.
And with the cost of a CPM (cost per one thousand viewers) expected to increase by double digits at this year's upfront, TV networks' annual pitch to advertisers, some advertisers are ready to move dollars to digital video and audio.
"We can shift significant money; we are not at the mercy of ridiculous rates of change," warned one ad buyer. "Media partners are going to try to milk their traditional business for as much as they can get."
TV ratings keep falling, but prices are rising
People continue to trade pay-TV packages for non-ad supported services like Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney+ and HBOMax, and ad-supported streaming ones where the ad inventory is far smaller than that of traditional TV.
Bernstein's Todd Juenger reported this week that broadcast primetime viewing fell 22 percent among 18-49 year olds in the third week of April versus a year ago. Meanwhile, digital video viewing leapt 25.4 percent to 133 minutes per day, per eMarketer.
Separately, broadcast network scatter pricing, an indicator of upfront pricing to come, is running 27 percent higher than upfront rates paid last year, according to a Standard Media Index report for MediaPost.
Advertisers are left with fewer linear TV viewers, but even as they're eager to spend to capture what is being termed "COVID revenge spending," it's unclear how much they're willing to pay to reach them.
"It's transformational," said Sean McCaffrey, CEO at national video network GSTV. "Last year slayed the sacred cows of the industry: How it's done; how it's transacted; impressions, distribution, production. Never have all the advertisers and all ad agencies at the same time thought about re-arbitraging value and where they invest. They're all considering the shift into the next normal."
Traditional TV is getting too pricey for some advertisers
Some advertisers are already looking to spread their dollars elsewhere if TV ad prices get too rich.
"Linear ratings are declining, pricing is going up, and inventory is getting tighter and tighter," said Katie Haniffy, PepsiCo.'s head of media. "So I think strategically, we'll place a couple of big bets in the places we want to play and then we'll try to build a holistic media strategy across the board and be more inclusive of other channels because audiences are reachable elsewhere."
Geoff Calabrese, chief investment officer at Omnicom Media Group, North America, said: "Clients are preparing themselves for a different marketplace. It's all about ROI, and if we need to expand the aperture beyond the largest partners, we will. The biggest thing you're going to see is partners wanting less linear and more streaming because that's where consumption is going and that's where sales models have moved."
If the price to value equation gets too out of whack, one agency buyer said they'd shift dollars to audio, where players such as iHeart, Spotify and Pandora, are ready to catch the ball.
"Maybe there are different channels where we can shift significant money and find audiences so we are not at the mercy of ridiculous rates of change where the media companies have acknowledged they are going to try to milk their traditional business for as much as they can get because demand is through the roof," the buyer said.
Meanwhile, at the IAB NewFronts this week, digital video purveyors from magazine companies to TV set makers rolled out their attempts to grab linear TV dollars.
Two broadcast network owners, Fox and NBCUniversal, are playing in both sandboxes, pitching their streaming ventures. On a call with investors on Wednesday, for example, Fox chief executive Lachlan Murdoch spent a sizable portion of the time discussing just how big Tubi is. "We are deeply integrating Tubi into this year's upfront discussions," Murdoch said. "Tubi represented 275 million hours of total view time streamed in March, a monthly record for the platform. We also set a record for total view time in the third quarter, with 800 million hours streamed, up more than 50 percent year-over-year."
TV buyers will come to the Upfront with digital video numbers and more buying options fresh in their memories.
In last year's upfront, when the pandemic wreaked havoc on advertising plans, networks let buyers cancel their buys on a much shorter schedule than normal. Buy-side executives want flexibility to be the buzzword of 2021, too. Networks that typically require a month to 45 days notice for cancellations will have a hard time competing with connected device Roku, which is letting clients cancel 100% of their commitments on two days' notice.
Are network owners fueling their own demise?
Big media companies might argue their record-breaking, multi-billion dollar outlays to the NFL in March is a sign they are still investing to amass big audiences. But network TV, once the ultimate gatekeeper of premium TV, is now competing in an ever-expanding universe of streaming channels awash with the bottomless archives of the Hollywood studios.
Ad dollars that used to fund original programming on network TV are now funding their streaming initiatives, whose viewers are younger than network TVs, further degrading network TV viewing and boosting pricing.
"It's not like the media companies are investing in new content to get the ratings to return to traditional linear," said one agency TV buyer. "They have given up on that. Yet they want clients to pay these incredible rates for access to that inventory, and they're using current investments in data, tech and media to fund their future DTC streaming business."
If there's a saving grace for TV, digital video sellers have their own issues, such as a smaller available ad inventory, high prices, and a lack of standardized measurement.
"The last year just accelerated existing trends, the shift from linear, the rise of connected TV," said GSTV's McCaffrey. "Digital has been the make-good for broadcast, but now that digital has its own challenges. It feeds into the narrative that brands are truly reconsidering everything. It's unlike any moment that I've ever seen."