Great response to MTG programmatic; next step is introducing first-party broadcaster data

MTG will introduce its own first-party data into its programmatic advertising trading solution in the second half of this year, at which point user data from its multiscreen platforms including log-in data and behaviour will be harnessed. This represents the next phase in the programmatic strategy at the pan-European broadcast group, which introduced programmatic trading on its AVOD (advertising funded VOD) services in April. “We strongly believe there is value in that data for both the buy side and the sell side, and that value is becoming greater. And it guarantees the validity and definitions in the data,” a spokesperson comments.

Several advertising campaigns that were traded programmatically are currently live in the Nordics on MTG AVOD inventory but the broadcaster cannot name buyers at this point. But a spokesman says there has been a great response to the programmatic offer from agencies and advertisers. “It is clear that programmatic inventory is highly requested.”

The programmatic trading platform, called VideoRange, was implemented by MTG’s digital accelerator arm, MTGx. Its purpose is firstly, to streamline and speed up the process of buying premium online video advertising and secondly, provide access to more data so advertisers can design better and more precisely targeted campaigns. “This makes it even easier for our ad buyers to use our digital entertainment platforms to reach and understand their customers,” Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, MTG President and CEO, said when VideoRange went live.

The AVOD inventory is found in catch-up content from MTG Group’s free TV channels and also in original short-form content. Currently you can buy programmatically in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Inventory is available on TV3 Play in all three markets plus TV6 Play, TV8 Play and TV10 Play in Sweden. MTG says VideoRange is the first service of its kind in each of these markets catering for full-length premium video. 

“The market for programmatic advertising trading is still young and our service is the first one covering full length professional TV and sports content,” Madsen Lindemann declares. Short-form content is treated exactly the same as long-form, so is now monetized via manual direct sales and programmatically.

MTG will implement VideoRange on its AVOD inventory in the Baltics, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic later. No launch date has been set for these markets. The inventory there will be on TVPlay (Latvia), TV3 Play (Lithuania and Estonia), Prima Play (Czech) and Nova Play (Bulgaria).
 
MTG is setting aside an undisclosed and dynamic proportion of its inventory to programmatic trading. The proportion will change based on the demand levels for direct deals versus programmatic transactions. A spokesman adds: “The idea is that we can scale the programmatic side by gradually shifting the advertisers who are interested in it from the manual side.”
 
The VideoRange programmatic trading platform is based on LiveRail’s Supply Side Platform (SSP) technology and MTG has also implemented the market leading Data Management Platform (DMP). With these platforms the company can forecast supply and demand for AVOD inventory in the MTG universe. 

The general sales model is for invite-only auctions with deal IDs for each advertiser. “It is not reserved inventory by definition, although we do try to allocate dedicated inventory to facilitate the volumes we get requests for,” MTGx told Videonet. 

In terms of price setting, the company normally sets a rate for the specific advertiser based on the annual agreement they have with them. But after that MTG uses an auction approach to allow buyers to dynamically increase their bid level at their convenience, “should demand pressure be higher than the volumes we are able to allocate.”
 
A spokesman explains: “If our buyers choose to increase their bid rate to buy greater volumes, then the market sets the price.”
 
Madsen Lindemann declared at the launch of VideoRange: “We have a long tradition of always innovating the way we do business and the launch of a fast, digital and flexible trading platform for online video advertising is the next step in the evolution of our industry.”

MTG points to estimates that 15% of total online video spend will be programmatic in 2015 and that this proportion will grow to 36% in 2020 in MTG’s European AVOD markets. “Programmatic advertising spending is also expected to grow by 31% annually until 2020 in these territories,” the broadcast group declares.

More information

Arnd Benningshoff, Deputy CEO at MTGx will be speaking at this year’s Connected TV World Summit in London when he will outline the anatomy of a digital innovator in the broadcast market. He will address:

• MTGx as the ‘digital accelerator’ within Modern Times Group
• The role of ‘digital first’ content, created for digital audiences
• The impact of our investment in No.1 Nordics YouTube MCN, Splay
• What MTG gives to Maker Studios; what Maker Studios gives to us
• New opportunities for brand advertisers targeting 13-25 year-olds
• Covering every angle with TV, online, pay, free, SVOD, AVOD, TVOD
• Our future connecting EVERYONE with the entertainment they love.

You can see the full conference session here.

Interested in programmatic advertising?

And if you are interested in programmatic advertising, check out Future TV Advertising Forum in London every December – the leading thought leadership event in Europe for TV advertising strategy and technology.