ITV is Supercharging Programmatic Advertising with Planet V

Since bursting onto the marketing scene over a decade ago, programmatic advertising has given procurement teams the tools they need to expand the effectiveness and efficiency of their promotional campaigns.

Now the concept has been with us for a significant period of time, many marketers are looking for ways to bring programmatic out of its nascent stage and take it to the next level of maturity. This means players on both sides of the programmatic interaction – buyers and sellers – are looking to make serious strategic shifts in order to keep pace with constantly shifting customer behaviour, regulatory frameworks, and the inexorable advance of modern technology.

As we enter this second cycle of programmatic advertising, a number of industry players and their customers are investing significant time and resources into developing a unified, transparent, and consistent framework that will help drive the business of marketing procurement through 2022 and beyond.

ITV

As the UK’s oldest commercial television network – launching as Independent Television in 1955 to offer viewers an alternative to the BBC - ITV has seen its fair share of marketing trends come and go.

However, seeking to find its place in the crowded television market of the 21st century – one more often defined by social media videos and instant streaming services – the free-to-air television network has recently launched a new programmatic platform designed to transform the TV advertising experience for procurement professionals – Planet V.

“Planet V is an end-to-end, programmatic solution that has been built for and by the television industry,” said Director of Advanced Advertising at ITV, Rhys McLachlan. “It will enable us, and our partners, to have complete control of the value chain. It is unique firstly in that it’s a truly end-to-end, complete solution, but also because we are not proposing to integrate with any third-party buying platforms. In many respects, we are unashamedly attempting to establish a walled garden proposition that maximises retained value for broadcasters.”

Planet V gives advertisers access to programmatic, data-targeted VOD in premium and brand safe environments where they can be confident their marketing campaigns will reach millions of home viewers. With massive audience drawing shows such as Trigger Point, Love Island, Dancing on Ice, and Good Morning Britain, ITV is watched by over half of all TV users in the UK (56%) with a viewership of 43.2 million a week.

“This is a completely transparent model, because all the technical requirements for a programmatic workflow are contained within Planet V,” added McLauchlan. “There is no disintermediation by third-party technology agents – who, more often than not, extract value in the chain. So, it is designed to be transparent and holistic, in the sense that you can manage the entirety of your programmatic requirements in the platform.”

Planet V

Demonstrating its commitment to constant innovation when it comes to programmatic maturity, ITV has recently announced the addition of advanced weather-based targeting to the Planet V advertising proposition.

Through this feature, advertisers will be able to trigger automation of campaigns to go live, pause, or adjust creative copy on ITV Hub the moment their specified weather criteria are met across any one of the network’s 22 broadcast regions, and features real-time options to target a range of weather conditions, including temperature, rain, and even the pollen count.

For example, if the pollen count is particularly high, the advanced AI at the heart of Planet V could trigger and promote more advertising for brands which sell antihistamines and make sure their messaging reaches hay-fever sufferers during the periods when they’re most needed.

“More than ever, advertisers need to be able to adjust in real-time based on what’s happening in their target geos and across their target markets,” said ITV in a press release. “Applying cutting-edge hyperlocal weather intelligence at scale is enabling advertisers to reach target demographics in advance and in real-time. With weather and climate in the news on a weekly basis these days, we are already seeing brand leaders utilize new ways to incorporate weather parameters such as precipitation or air quality into their go-to-market strategies, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Final Thoughts

Programmatic maturity is sure to become an ever more prevalent part of the marketing procurement conversation as we move through 2022.

Advanced AI powered platforms packed with the latest developments in the world of digital technology are allowing broadcasters such as ITV to provide advertisers with an ever-expanding portfolio of options when it comes to reaching their desired demographics with digitally targeted marketing campaigns.

You can hear ITV Director of Advanced Advertising, Rhys McLachlan speak at ProcureCon Marketing EU 2022, being held in June at County Hall, London.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.