The Future is Programmatic: Unlocking New Revenue Streams for Broadcasters

Author: Shilpa Kolte, Director, International Partner Sales -India and Southeast Asia, Microsoft Advertising

Connected TV Growth in APAC:

The Connected TV (CTV) landscape, which gained momentum during the Covid-19 era, continues to thrive even five years after the pandemic, signalling a paradigm shift in media consumption habits. This is most evident in the United States where streaming consumption has already overtaken cable-based consumption. This trend is mirrored across the Asia-Pacific region, where CTV is rapidly evolving into a dominant force in the advertising ecosystem.

India, a key player in the region, is projected to see its CTV ad spend reach an estimated 400 million USD by 2027 (Source: The Changing Landscape of Indian Television’ report launched by GroupM’s Finecast and Kantar) underscoring the significant investment and confidence in this technology as a revenue generator. 

For broadcasters and advertisers alike, the message is clear: the future is programmatic, and CTV represents a lucrative channel that cannot be overlooked. More broadly, the Asia Pacific region saw a +43% YoY increase in CTV ad spend. (Source: Pixalate Global CTV Ad Supply Chain Trends Report Q1 2024).

Ref: Over the Top (OTT) Market Size, Share | Forecast – 2027 (alliedmarketresearch.com)

Asia’s CTV Paradox

Despite the growing demand for CTV inventory in Asia through programmatic channels, driven by shifting viewer habits and the surge in streaming services; supply remains scarce. This can be attributed to several factors:

1. Most CTV inventory in the region is direct-sold at fixed price points. While this approach provides stability, it also restricts access and limits media owners from tapping into a broader buyer pool.
2. Consequently, broadcasters often fall short of achieving a 100% sell-through rate due to these constraints.
3. Meanwhile, buyers struggle to find sufficient CTV inventory with premium, professionally produced content. Additionally smaller advertisers are unable to access the inventory easily if they do not have access to an agency.

The Role of Programmatic Advertising in Addressing the CTV Paradox

From media owners and distributors, including major TV programmers, to web-first omnichannel publishers who own a multitude of digital inventory types—common operational and monetization challenges remain in the complex task of managing diverse ad formats and sales channels across numerous platforms. Programmatic advertising serves as a catalyst for broadcasters, bridging the gap between demand and supply in the CTV ecosystem. Here’s how:

Educating advertisers: Programmatic partners actively educate advertisers about the value of CTV. By augmenting the broadcaster’s direct sales efforts, they emphasize:

• Audience Insights: Programmatic data reveals which audiences engage more with CTV content, allowing advertisers to target effectively.
• Importance of Medium: Advertisers learn why CTV is a valuable medium, especially given its reach and engagement potential.
• Technological Advancements: Features like targeted advertising and customizable messaging empower advertisers to optimize their campaigns.

Efficient transactions: Programmatic providers facilitate CTV inventory access through curated deals. These deals align with key goals such as reach, completion rates, and contextual relevance. By offering varied deal options (e.g., Programmatic Guaranteed or Floor price deals), programmatic partners safeguard media owners’ revenues while enabling premium pricing through specialized targeting and data utilization.

Removing barriers to entry: Broadcasters often impose minimum spend requirements for CTV supply through direct channels. Programmatic platforms democratize access by allowing smaller advertisers to participate without these barriers while empowering businesses with self-serve platforms. The net result is that this streamlines transactions, ultimately maximizing revenue opportunities for broadcasters in the dynamic Asian market.

Among publishers, there is a need for streamlined solutions that simplify execution across all types of inventory and transactions, creating time and space to focus on buyer relationships and the consumer experience.

An advanced ad-serving technology stack—one that understands the intricacies of long-form video, latency effects, and accurate forecasting—empowers broadcasters and publishers to allocate supply confidently. In an increasingly complicated and chaotic marketplace, that means opting for a sell-side provider rooted in trust, transparency, efficiency and innovation.

Choosing the right technology partner

The key to unlocking the full potential of your CTV inventory lies in harnessing cutting-edge technology coupled with a strategic partnership.  To achieve success and maximize monetisation of your CTV inventory, consider opting for a single, unified stack. Consider partners that think as big as your business does and are willing to meet you exactly where you are.

Consider these three criteria:

1. Global scale. Partner with a platform that offers expansive connectivity, enabling you to engage with premier global brands, advertisers, and agencies across a multitude of formats and devices. A gateway to an open, reputable, and secure marketplace amplifies your scaling capabilities through distinctive, high-caliber demand generation. This not only enhances revenue streams but also elevates the viewing experience for your audience.
2. Collaborative approach. All too often, ad tech partners offer a one-size-fits-all, rigid solution that you then have to customize. Be sure that the partner you select is flexible and transparent, with a track record of meeting businesses’ specific needs and a platform that’s dynamic enough to adapt.
3. Innovative mindset. Choosing an ad tech partner that prioritizes innovation and invests in critical growth sectors is crucial to future-proofing your business. Aim for a partner that is leading and investing heavily in areas like privacy and identity, AI, new methods of demand generation and reporting capabilities.

Microsoft Monetize: your holistic inventory solution

Microsoft Monetize, powered by Xandr, is a strategic selling platform, which enables publishers to unlock the full value of their programmatic inventory with holistic inventory management controls and differentiated buyer demand. With Monetize, Microsoft’s audience insights and data-driven platforms are leveraged to increase demand and monetization opportunities and secure your businesses’ future across various channels. As one of the largest programmatic marketplaces, Monetize offers premium demand access across all formats and devices, including Connected TV (CTV), video, display, native, audio, and mobile. Our vision at Microsoft Advertising is to ensure publishers have access to a platform that offers a holistic approach to selling and buying in a secure environment.

The CTV landscape in Asia presents a unique opportunity for broadcasters to leverage programmatic advertising and unlock new revenue streams. As we look ahead, the industry must continue to innovate and embracing programmatic technology will be imperative for broadcasters to maximize their inventory and meet the growing demand for premium, professionally produced content. To succeed with this, publishers need monetization models built on trust, transparency, efficiency and innovation, with a collaborative partner who will put your business before their own.

Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft Advertising offers scalable technology solutions, spanning search, native, display, video, and retail media, to reach consumers across all aspects of their digital lives. Connect with more than a billion people using Microsoft experiences that have a proven track record of higher buying power and online spending or reach any audience across the open web. We operate one of the world’s largest global marketplaces and are using our data-driven platforms, audience intelligence, and AI-capabilities to transform the industry. We are committed to making the web work for everyone – consumers, advertisers, publishers, and platforms alike. Our end-to-end solutions and globally scaled advertising business serves partner properties, and buyers and sellers of media to help them deliver business results. 

Website: Microsoft Advertising

About the author

Shilpa is a veteran in the programmatic advertising industry, with over 15 years’ experience across process management, business development and sales. She is currently Director of International Partner Sales at Microsoft Advertising. In this role she oversees strategic relationships with leading broadcasters in the region, enabling them to adopt a technology-driven monetization strategy. With a wealth of experience and expertise as a thought leader on mobile and OTT / CTV advertising, Shilpa is passionate about creating moments of connection between marketers and publishers through smart use of technology. As a woman in tech, she also cares deeply about challenges faced by women in the workplace, actively advocates for other women and aims to make the workplace more equitable for the next generation of women entering the workforce.

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This post was written by Microsoft Advertising