Beachfront introduces Pod Bidding for Connected TV advertising

Beachfront Introduces Pod Bidding for Connected TV Advertising, Built on Prebid Open Source

NEW YORK — Beachfront, an independent video ad management platform at the convergence of digital and TV, is introducing a new Pod Bidding solution for connected TV (CTV) advertising. Built on Prebid, which is a transparent, open source solution, Beachfront’s Pod Bidding product is designed to help premium video publishers properly construct and auction ad pods [‘ad break’-style sequences of ads] across more than 100 demand partners and disparate delivery executions — including VAST, RTB and Prebid Adaptors — while fully supporting deduplication and competitive separation.

Beachfront has been actively engaging with media owners and TV networks since its Pod Bidding for CTV product development began several months back, and the company is experiencing accelerated interest over the past 30 days. The product is currently in beta, and interested parties can learn more or request a demo here: http://evolve.beachfront.com/pod-bidding-for-ctv-beta

CTV advertising is expected to surpass $10 billion by 2021, per eMarketer, and these estimates are conservative when considering premium video publishers’ struggles to maximize yield from inventory scattered across ad-supported streaming TV services such as Roku, Hulu, Vudu, Tubi, PlutoTV (ViacomCBS), Xumo (Comcast), and VIZIO’s WatchFree.

“Drawing on more than a decade of experience solving the biggest monetization constraints facing premium video publishers, we believe pod bidding is the next evolution of CTV advertising. Pod Bidding will enable publishers and advertisers alike to maximize CTV inventory while improving the viewer experience,” said Beachfront Founder and President Frank Sinton. “It was also important that we base Pod Bidding on Prebid open source, an underlying infrastructure that has a lot of industry momentum and gives more granular transparency back to publishers.”

“We’ve identified an opportunity to solve the major issue for premium video publishers where they garner single-digit CPMs for extremely coveted connected TV inventory,” said Beachfront VP of Advanced TV Ben Abbatiello, who joined Beachfront from SpotX last year. “The issue is that the connected TV ecosystem is fragmented, so this premium video ad inventory isn’t exposed to the full breadth of advanced ad buying marketplaces. That’s why we need both a new solution and a unique open source approach to ensure publishers can run their businesses to their maximum potential.”

Pod Bidding for CTV key features and advantages include:

• Properly construct and auction ad pods across Prebid Adaptors, VAST and RTB demand sources — while supporting deduplication and competitive separation.
• Execute pod monetization strategies based on key dimensions such as desired margins, ad intervals, price floors and slot values – all while optimizing the user experience.
• Speed up auction times by 37% with simultaneous Server-to-Server calls, decisioning across the entire ad pod (at once), and tools for blocking latent buyers.
• Improve the advertising experience by better constructing pods, mitigating delivery errors and uncovering issues with ad frequency and ad cadence.