With HbbTV technology, targeted and personalised advertising messages can be brought into live (linear) TV broadcasting. The first tests and implementation of such a solution have already taken place, according to the HbbTV Symposium, an international expert meeting held last week in Prague.
For example, the Italian media company Mediaset presented at the conference its experience in replacing advertising in linear broadcasting with targeted advertising messages using HbbTV. Thanks to dynamic insertion of advertising into linear broadcasts, it is possible to target advertising and achieve that a different ad spot is shown on each device. It is possible to switch quickly between dynamic advertising and linear advertising, described Andrea Conte of Publitalia '80, which represents Mediaset Group TV stations in the advertising market.
DTG, on the other hand, has been exploring in the UK market the feasibility of using existing video content delivery devices to replace linear advertising with targeted advertising. In doing so, it found that around half of the existing devices in UK households dedicated to viewing free content could be used for targeted messaging. Around 65% of devices (7 million in absolute terms) on which HbbTV can be used are currently capable of handling ad replacement at the required quality in the UK market. As a result, this can increase the incremental reach of campaigns, improve targeting and advertiser ROI parameters, and also increase the relevance of advertising messages to viewers, Ranjeet Kaur of DTG described to conference attendees. By 2030, she said, the proportion of devices on which it is possible to switch between linear and targeted advertising is expected to increase to 80 to 90 percent.
Personalised and targeted advertising is key for broadcasters, according to RTL Deutschland's Andrea Prahl, in the context of changing habits of recipients as well as the transformation of the media and advertising landscape, in which digital is gaining a stronger position every year. "Advertisers will still use TV advertising, but they like the benefits of digital advertising - precise targeting and a greater variety of changing creatives, which means that traditional TV sales have to adapt," he outlined, adding that HbbTV ads may be the way to go. He urged interested broadcasters to join an initiative that has been set up in Germany, involving TV groups RTL and ProSiebenSat.1, to standardise the use of targeted advertising (HbbTV TA) technologically. "This is a chance to start and bring the solution to life. It is intended to deliver a technical solution first and foremost and thus also enable the commercial development of this platform in a clear environment," he outlined.
According to Omdia's forecast, advertising revenues from online TV and video (catch-up, streaming) will almost double by 2027, with broadcasters earning more to three times what they do from streaming subscribers. "The subscription market is saturated, it's a cycle that repeats itself regularly. Viewers switch to subscriptions, then they don't want to pay and they come back," described Omdio's Paul Gray. He also believes that hybrid advertising and subscription models are proving workable for the future, and that gaming revenues will also play a more significant role. Linear TV is still the number one audience then, and linear TV advertising revenues still make up the majority of broadcasters' total revenues.
Estimated evolution of online video content revenues to 2027, source.
Time spent watching video content in each country by platform, source: OmdiaRecordings from the two-day HbbTV Symposium, which took place on 9-10 November 2022 at the National House at Vinohrady in Prague, can be found here and here.
Source: mediaguru.cz
