From 'Dead Air' To a Revenue-Generating Performance Machine: How Origin's Creative Solutions Are Changing The Future of CTV Marketing.

In a recent interview Origin had with Matthew Keys from TheDesk.net, a discussion which started by talking about the issue of 'dead air' and unfilled CTV inventory became far-reaching discussion about the creative solutions being built by Origin (and others) which are empowering performance brands to 'turn streaming platforms into revenue-generating machines'.

Here is an excerpt from an article TheDesk published following the interview:

Standardization is one part of a broader formula to kill the slate. The other involves creative ways to engage the viewer when ad inventory is filled. On a platform level, a 15-second or 30-second spot is delivered in a targeted way, with different levers - age, median household income, geography and other demographic elements - allowing for more-precise targeting than the conventional broadcast TV spot.

Historically, that is where the magic ends - on a FAST platform, a commercial spot largely resembles the type of ad a viewer might encounter on TV, with few exceptions.

Origin, a creative tech & media buying agency that recently opened its first offices in New York City, is hoping to change that by offering ad buyers a better way to deliver more-personalized and more-engaging spots across FAST and other parts of the CTV ecosystem.

Origin does this with two core products.

The first, Aperture, brings the best elements of digital display advertising to FAST and other CTV platforms. It allows brands to add dynamic overlays to their existing ad spots, in a way that is deeply targeted and personalized.

That can be useful for beverage companies that want to point streamers to the nearest grocery store where their product is offered, or automakers who want to advertise the nearest dealer.

Aperture can also use push-up bars and split screens to showcase new products or offer a QR code with digital coupons, light boxes that offer timely messaging through layered windows and feature boxes that include more information about a product, service or brand.

To see examples of Aperture in use - click here.

The second, Slingshot, involves a custom asset that is wrapped around or inserted into a traditional TV spot. The format can use custom elements that touch on personalization and localization - such as the current temperature in a particular city, if

the ad is for a tourism board - or display a desired call-to-action.

Slingshot can also gamify an ad to drive more attention to the screen, at a time when some viewers might tune out.

A brand might quiz a viewer at the beginning of a spot, and then reveal the answer once the commercial plays out.

To see examples of Slingshot in use - click here.

Chloe Morawski, the Head of Agency and Brand Partnerships at Origin, said Aperture and Slingshot are about serving a good ad experience to the viewer as much as it benefits the ad buyer.

“The viewer deserves more than a national/general ad within an ad break,” Morawski said in an interview earlier this summer. “We’re here to help provide a unique, personalized experience for the viewer and, at the same time, unlock a super simple way for the brand to provide that experience without having to produce thousands of versions of an ad.”

The formats have universal application, but it might be particularly beneficial to local TV stations that offer largely-unmonetized FAST feeds of their local news and community-oriented programming.

In the past, many local TV stations aired a “time and temperature” interstitial that promoted a local business - with the downside being that the temperature was largely based on the current weather in the same city as the station, even if it served an area with several microclimates. Origin’s formats can revive that format for the 21st century - Slingshot can do it as an ancillary asset to a longer, traditional TV spot, or Aperture can enhance a spot of its own.

“If a broadcaster wants to monetize FAST and needs to enhance their spots, we could easily help with that - even creating those ad spots for the channels that provide a spot for sponsors to be highlighted on, giving the channels a potential revenue model as well.” Morawski said.

The solutions Origin offers work equally on other CTV platforms like ad-supported video on-demand (SVOD) and subscription video on-demand (SVOD) as much as they do on FAST. But both are likely to have the biggest impact on FAST channels, where ad inventory goes unfilled and viewers are given little more than a countdown with a promise that a show is about to start again.

By streamlining the process through transparent watermarks and giving ad buyers and content distributors a way to enhance their creatives, Origin is hoping that the integrity and reputation of the ad buying experience improves, and that the money starts flowing to CTV - because, once it does, the commercial break interstitial will be a relic of the past.

If you find this topic interesting and would like to know more, you can schedule a consultation with one of Origin's CTV specialists by clicking here.

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ABOUT ORIGIN 

Origin is a multi-award winning provider of creative solutions and services for media buyers, creative teams and brands who want to transform conventional CTV ad creatives into powerful, personal and provocative advertising experiences.

With unparalleled creative capabilities and proprietary ad serving technology, Origin’s unique suite of dynamic ad overlays and native CTV ad extensions allows advertisers to engage distracted audiences and achieve the results they need.

Founded by media veterans Stephen Strong and Fred Godfrey, Origin is driven by the belief that winning viewers today requires breaking free from how it was done yesterday.

Learn more at: originmedia.tv