What Trends Are The Industry Sleeping On? — TVREV

Happy Autumn, TVREVers. How did it get to be October already. CES is right around the corner and I’m already getting emails about Cannes 2025… speaking of which, I am going to be emceeing and keynoting at MIPCOM’s Connected TV Summit a week from Wednesday. If you will be in la belle Cannes, definitely stop by and say hey.

But enough about me…

For this Hot Takes article, we asked our TVREV Thought Leaders Circle members to identify the one emerging industry trend you’re seeing right now that more people should be paying attention to, and why?

Here’s what they had to say. (Take notes.)

First up is LG Ad Solutions CMO Tony Marlow who talks about how AI is making content discovery far more accurate and how that’s actually a boon to advertisers.

One emerging trend reshaping the TV industry is the integration of AI to enhance the consumer experience, particularly in content discovery. With the vast amount of content available across streaming platforms, viewers are increasingly overwhelmed by choice. AI-driven recommendation engines are solving this by personalizing content suggestions based on user behavior, preferences, and viewing habits. This improves the consumer experience by making it easier to find relevant content and keeping audiences more engaged.

For advertisers, this AI-driven approach presents an opportunity to deliver more tailored, relevant ads that align with the content viewers are already interested in, making ads feel less intrusive and more part of the overall experience. Additionally, companies like LG are leveraging voice recognition to automatically determine user profiles from voice searches, making content discovery even easier and more intuitive. This next step in AI-driven personalization ensures that consumers have a seamless, user-friendly experience while also providing brands with a more accurate way to reach target audiences through personalized advertising. Those embracing this technology now will be well-positioned to meet evolving viewer expectations and maximize the effectiveness of their advertising strategies.

Next up is the normally loquacious map man, Evan Shapiro, Founder of ESHAP, who makes an cogent point on how YouTube’s stealth dominance of the TV market has largely resulted in ostrich-like behavior.

YouTube as the biggest TV channel in America. Despite all the data in front of everyone’s faces, it doesn’t seem to have sunken in or changed the strategies of any of traditional media. Dumbfounding. — Evan Shapīro

Tim Hanlon, Founder & CEO, The Vertere Group/TVREV “Proximity” Columnist points out that local broadcasters are due for a rough landing once all this year’s political ad dollars go away—a trend not helped by the rapid shrinking of retrans fees.

The local broadcast TV business model is headed for a rough landing in early 2025. Sure, the political ad dollars are flowing now, fueling stations through the 2024 election cycle. But once the ballots are counted and the campaigns are over, the industry will face a hard reality: political ad spending has been a crutch. With traditional advertisers shifting budgets online and the continued hemorrhaging of viewers to streaming platforms, local broadcasters are staring down a major revenue shortfall. The post-election slowdown will hit particularly hard as economic uncertainty looms, likely squeezing ad rates even further. Add in the fact that retransmission fees – another key revenue stream – are being squeezed by cord-cutting, and you’ve got a perfect storm. The local broadcast TV business has thrived on temporary boosts from political ads, but that safety net is about to disappear, leaving the underlying structural weaknesses fully exposed come first quarter of next year. 

DBC’s Founder Bill Daddi is looking at the potentially transformative role synthetic data may have on audience measurement, and what that means for the industry as it moves to streaming.

Synthetic data is often used in market insights research to help fill in demographic or geographical gaps in panels, but it could have a transformative effect on audience measurement.  The opportunity – or threat, depending one’s view – it represents for the industry ranges from its use for creation of synthetic panelists to serving as the basis for reach, exposure and even engagement metrics.  While some discussion on synthetic data for audience measurement is taking place, it warrants greater consideration and development.

Mike Fogarty, Director, Platform Sales at Tatari explains why we should be paying attention to the role automation is playing in synthesizing years of advertising data into better campaign planning at a time when measurable outcomes are gaining headway over pure reach.

As brand and agency professionals increasingly prioritize measurable outcomes over sheer reach, machine learning and automation are transforming the landscape at an accelerated pace. The introduction of tools like ChatDSP is just the beginning. Forward-thinking advertisers and agencies are already tapping into vast datasets from years of campaign management and billions in media spend, using AI-powered planning to move faster and deliver more accurate results. Whether you’re new to TV or a seasoned buyer, embracing this shift is crucial to staying competitive in a world where speed and measurable outcomes are now non-negotiable.

Gavin Douglas, CEO of Drawbridge Labs draw attention to the role interactivity—interactive 3D experiences in particular—are going to have on TV, in terms of both content and advertising.

So here’s the thing – TV isn’t just something we “watch” anymore. Nope, we’re way past that. The real action now? It’s all about giving a TV show’s reach some serious muscle, engagement and measurement by bridging to interactive 3D experiences on mobile. Whether watching linear, streaming or live, if we can keep viewers inside our brand’s ecosystem before, during and after the closing credits, then we’re looking at some significant brand loyalty and revenue.

We need to be paying attention to those TV shows and their brand activations with real people, real places and real moments. Thanks to interactive 3D tech, these TV shows, TV commercials and brands are taking the audience on a wild ride far beyond the TV screen, keeping them engaged in 3D mobile experiences. 

As our attention-challenged viewers are watching a show or commercial on TV, we need to be extending their entertainment to their phone, so they can get to chat with their favorite characters, explore 3D backstage adventures, seamless shopping and enough shiny objects to keep them locked-in way after the episode ends.  

As an industry, we need to be on this train already or prepare to be left standing on the platform.

Natalie Bastian, Global CMO at Teads also hones in on the growing role of interactivity, this time in the form of shoppable ads, which she sees becoming more and more mainstream as retail and media continue to merge.

CTV shoppable formats are a hot trend in TV advertising thanks to the format’s ability to turn passive viewing into active engagement. These interactive ads allow consumers to shop directly from their TV screens, blurring the line between entertainment and commerce. As shoppable features expand—letting viewers pause shows to explore and buy products featured on screen—brands have a new, powerful way to boost conversions and capture attention. Now that CTV is considered an integral part of the media mix, its influence is only growing. It’s the future of retail and media merging in real-time, changing how advertisers can reach target audiences in a fun, engaging way.

Asaf Greiner, General Manager, Protected by Mediaocean points out the changing value proposition of ad verification—from a should-have safety measure to a must-have value creation tool.

For years, the prevailing ad verification models centered on risk elimination. The mantra was clear: block ads from unsafe environments, whether it be non-human traffic, non-viewable placements, or brand-unsafe content. But this approach, while necessary, has reached its limit and will not support a thriving CTV ecosystem. 

It’s time for a paradigm shift in ad verification—one that moves from mere risk mitigation to active value creation, from avoiding the environments where brands shouldn’t appear to finding the ones where they should. This new approach will build a bridge of trust between advertisers and publishers, ensuring both parties benefit from more reliable and user-friendly measurement solutions. 

Leading this new wave of verification is Protected by Mediaocean, which is now being used by 17% of customers per TechValidate research. As the CTV landscape continues to evolve, these new measurement paradigms will play a crucial role in balancing advertiser needs with user experience, ultimately driving the medium’s growth and effectiveness.

Rose McGovern,  Head of Programmatic & Digital Ad Sales at  DIRECTV Advertising discusses the ways that contextual targeting can be a panacea in today’s fragmented television landscape and why this data-driven approach is worth paying attention to.

In a shifting ecosystem, it’s important for advertisers to prioritize solutions that meet the moment and reflect where we’re headed. Contextual targeting and content metadata have become increasingly crucial for ad buyers grappling with widening fragmentation and evolving viewership habits. 

Embracing a nuanced, data-driven approach empowers brands to go further than simply matching ads to content; it unlocks the full potential to forge deeper connections with audiences, elevate brand safety and maximize campaign performance. 

At DIRECTV, we’re leveraging forward-thinking strategies to create seamless and more relevant experiences for marketers and consumers. Contextual signals allow advertisers to reach the content that consumers love at a more granular level, while ensuring it’s aligned with brand safe content.

Michael Scott, Vice President, Head of Ad Sales and Operations, Samsung Ads sees outcome-based performance advertising growing thanks to the increased availability of high quality data.

Historically, TV has been all about reach – from top of the funnel to incremental and optimal reach. Now, there is a huge opportunity in performance, and data as a component of performance. Ultimately, the industry needs to take steps out of the purchase cycle. At Samsung, we’re seeing and addressing the continued need for outcome-based performance driven solutions, such as mobile conversion and web conversion. We are combining the best of TV, streaming and mobile to make CTV a performance-driven platform.

Rohan Castelino, CMO, IRIS.TV points out the growth of contextual targeting on FASTs, where AI is now able to ascertain what they’re watching, but also why.

One emerging trend that deserves more attention is the rise of video-level contextual targeting in FAST, which aligns with viewer mindset and attention. Unlike traditional TV, FAST viewers are in a more intentional, focused state when choosing content, and AI is now able to analyze not just what they’re watching, signal why they’re watching. This enables advertisers that serves ads aligned with the viewer’s current mood, interests, and environment, making the ads feel more relevant and less disruptive. The result is a more meaningful connection between viewers and brands, driving higher engagement and improving ad performance while respecting the viewing experience.

Raf Bagdasarian, Co-Founder & CEO, Paket offers an interesting take on how digital innovators are working to tap into highly engaged fan communities on FAST.

At Paket, we’re doing our part to help FAST platforms better leverage internet scale to deliver more niche, relevant experiences to viewers. While many key players set out to replicate the ‘everything to everybody’ model of old (cable), we’re still contending with poor discovery, low fill rates, and reluctant advertisers. The internet offers an opportunity to do things differently… For example, why not offer FAST as a service (FaaS)? Aggregating highly engaged fans around smaller EPGs curated by creators, brands, and talent could be just the kind of environment advertisers need to reliably connect with their target audience.

Mike Woods, CEO, OrkaTV, sees brand-building making a comeback on streaming as the sector continues to expand its viewer base.

At OrkaTV, we’re seeing growing interest from agencies and advertisers seeking unique brand-building opportunities, and ways to introduce their brand story to consumers using our streaming TV inventory and products. This shift away from a pure performance marketing model has really accelerated in 2024 and has momentum going into 2025 

Finally, Adam Bergman, Group VP, Advertising & Data sales, VIZIO, sees the value of monetizing the discovery experience, letting brands play a role in helping viewers more easily find the shows and sporting events they’re looking for

In today’s TV landscape, sports programming is considered the last vestige of appointment viewing, but for fans, the biggest challenge remains “Where do I find my stuff?” What we’ve found is that great customer experiences translate to great brand opportunities. Aggregating content into broad-reaching themes and collections gives brands an opportunity to reach a wide audience in one piece of advertising real estate before they begin their viewing experience. For instance, a brand can sponsor a page within the VIZIO Sports Zone that includes a custom collection of game-day content, like what we offered during this year’s NFL Big Game Day, or for the college basketball tournament. This gives participating brands sole ownership of that space, as opposed to competing with dozens of other advertisers around a single game, and it captures the attention of viewers before they start watching the game itself.

Our TVREV take? While we think a lot of people are sleeping on the value of contextual targeting and the growing acceptance of shoppable content and interactivity, we think more people should be paying attention to the need to manage the massive amount of fragmentation that will be with us for at least the next five years. And by that I mean that while linear TV is leaking viewers, it’s a slow leak and the vast majority of viewers are still watching both linear and streaming, albeit in different amounts depending on the time of year. (Football fans will watch a lot of linear in the fall, for instance.) Add to this an unwieldy number of streaming services, both SVOD and FAST, and consumers are feeling overwhelmed. Ditto advertisers.

The good news is that the tools are available to make order out of chaos, largely thanks to the availability of generative AI.

Now all we’ve got to do is get everyone rowing in the same direction and realizing that the real enemy is not other media companies but tech giants like Google and Meta for whom TV is still largely a hobby business.

A very profitable hobby business, but a hobby business nonetheless.