The Mountain View company wants to take advantage of the convergence of uses between TV and digital. It can count on its technological know-how… but comes up against the mistrust of the major audiovisual groups.

After having taken over the digital market, Google is attacking the television market and intends to reinvent the TV advertising break in 2019. An ambition that Google justifies by the convergence of uses between TV and digital. More and more viewers are indeed watching Web content, Youtube clips or other, on their connected TV screen and, conversely, live or catch-up television programs on the websites of their diffusers.

And the advertising giant, which has conducted a vast study on the subject, believes that it is best placed to support the major TV groups in this shift. This is anything but a surprise for the French boss of the Spot X video SSP, Sébastien Robin. "It makes sense that Google is interested in such a large market." Although declining, with a 2% drop in investments in 2018 according to the Magna agency, the American TV market remains very juicy. Nearly $41 billion was spent on it last year.

"We will work with our TV partners to imagine solutions that bring together the best of TV and digital," explains Shane Peros, general manager in charge of broadcast, media and entertainment partnerships at Google. The group is now multiplying the ways to decompartmentalize TV and online video purchases as much as possible. In particular, he is working on setting up a single insertion order that will allow advertisers to buy video inventory, whether broadcast digitally or on TV, from his DV 360 purchasing platform. is also at the origin of a coalition placed under the leadership of the IAB Tech Lab for the creation of convergent standards between linear, digital and over-the-top (OTT) TV.

Ad targeting in OTT

Unsurprisingly, Google's offer is the most advanced in digital and OTT. Publishers equipped with Google Ad Manager can already use the dynamic insertion of advertisements, a feature which makes it possible to adapt the spots broadcast on the live Web to the profile of the spectators (whereas on the shelf the latter see all the same spot). The number of impressions served through this tool increased by 60% in the first half of 2018, Google estimates. With a peak during the Football World Cup where they were actually doubled. The digital TV channel, Grupo America announces that it has multiplied its advertising revenues by 4 thanks to the tool. And who says better targeting, says better video ad completion rates. These have been multiplied by 8 at Grupo America.

Publishers can also use Smarter TV Ad breaks to optimize the monetization of their live advertising inventory on the Web. The tool allows them to cut an advertising break in order to get the best possible revenue. “A 90-second break can include two formats of 15 seconds and two of 30 seconds, or one of 15 seconds, one of 60 seconds and two of 6 seconds type bumper ads”, illustrates Google. It is, for each cut, the formula that works best that is put in place.

The advertising inventory of connected TV environments is now booming, says Google. The number of impressions served from Google Ad Manager increased by more than 80% in 2018. Google does not detail their distribution, but a large part of them are attributable to Youtube, whose content is increasingly consumed via Chromecast or Smart TV. "The video platform is more popular there than the TV channels", assures a connoisseur of the market. DV 360 users can also now target people who watch YouTube on their connected TV. The performances of the spots broadcast are excellent according to a study by Ipsos Lab Experiments commissioned by Google. Recall and purchase intent rates increase by 47% and 35%, respectively, compared to Youtube's web environment. And we imagine that the CPMs are to match…

To stick with these new uses, Youtube managers are therefore working to beef up their offer. The platform has notably signed an agreement with the American baseball league, MLB, to broadcast live events. “Youtube relies heavily on sporting events to upscale its content,” confirms Sébastien Robin. This is undoubtedly a must for Google if it wants to weigh in this market. The group is struggling to convince the major American networks to entrust it with the monetization of their inventory. It must be said that in the United States, where targeted linear advertising has been a reality for several years now, most of them market their spots themselves.

"To access this premium inventory, buyers have no choice but to deal directly with the agencies concerned", explains Emmanuel Crego, CEO of the Values ​​media agency. And when giants like NBC, Viacom, Turner and Fox team up to launch a joint platform called Open AP, they turn to Accenture…not Google. "The major networks will find it difficult to consider Google as a credible alternative. Especially since it has long had a strategy of going to see media agencies to encourage them to switch part of their TV budget to Youtube", justifies Emmanuel Crego . Especially since they all have in mind what happened on the Web. "Most television channels do not want to make the same mistake as their digital counterparts who are today hand and foot tied with Google", abounds Sébastien Robin.

However, Google has the advantage of being present on both sides of the fence, via the sale and the purchase. And the door seems easier to open with its DSP, DV 360. In the United States, some American networks are already accessible via DV 360, thanks to a beta integration with WideOrbit which allows marketers to configure their campaigns by geography, time broadcast, type of program or TV networks. "It's a marketplace of local agencies that works on the principle of booking. The buyer offers a CPM and the tool sends the proposal to the agencies, who accept it or not", nuance Emmanuel Crego. We are therefore far from high-end programmatic.

The telco track

More premium broadcast networks should follow thanks to a partnership signed with another market player called clypd. But Emmanuel Crego is rather skeptical. "I doubt that the major networks will agree to become loss leaders for a Google-branded offer, knowing the latter's tendency to favor its own environments." We can also draw a parallel with the French market where Sygma, the IPTV offer common to TF1, M6 and France Télévisions, is exclusively accessible via the Adobe DSP. But still not Google.

There remains one last gateway for the Mountain View firm: the telco operators. "The OTT is one of the rare environments where Google does not have an exhaustive vision, as is the case on the Web", recalls Emmanuel Crego. He would therefore have every interest in getting closer to telecom operators. In France, the latter connect nearly 50% of households to the Internet. Some Free and Bouygues boxes are also powered by Android. Google is also discussing a commercial merger with certain French telecom operators. But the most concrete projects take place in Mexico, where a first partnership with the telecom operator, Total Play, has been announced. It will allow advertisers to deliver advertisements addressed via Dynamic Ads in linear television.