Tim Sewell
CEO, Yospace
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but 2024 marks Yospace’s 25th anniversary!
We were founded in September 1999 with a focus on mobile internet, which at the time was based on the WAP protocol. Whilst we were presented with a different set of challenges then, mainly the proliferation of devices, we set ourselves an early example of how to embrace complexity and innovation that we continue to follow today.
Our first foray into video delivery at scale was around user generated content. Prior to the launch of YouTube, we worked with mobile operators enabling VOD delivery to what at the time was a landscape of devices with very disparate capabilities in terms of video support, but relatively quickly, with the emergence of 3G, we moved into live streaming events.
We started to work with larger media businesses - typically broadcasters and news agencies who were looking for dynamic ad insertion into VOD. Then, from the end of 2011, the iPhone, with support for segmented streaming protocols, allowed us to really start focusing on what is today known as server-side ad insertion (SSAI).
Some of the early POCs involved just inserting a synthetic break at a relevant point into the stream, but the target was always to seamlessly replace the original linear break and allow the same sort of targeting that had been possible for VOD on live linear streams. Our first proof of concept for live SSAI was at the very start of 2012 with ITV, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Whether viewers are watching catch-up TV or live streaming, they just expect that the viewing experience is identical. The advertising experience should be seamless without any hint of the huge complexity happening behind the scenes at an ad break. This focused view of the end user experience for well over a decade has helped us become experts in the space. Today, we have over 30 broadcasters/ media owners around the world using our technology to power their advertising, resulting in massive scale. During the Euro 2024 month alone, we stitched 6bn addressable ads worldwide. During the 19 days that Paris 2024 ran, we stitched 4bn addressable ads across four continents.
Digital advertising offers significant benefits, not least through the ability to target ads so they are more relevant to the viewer, drive higher engagement, and achieve higher value. Also, in markets like the U.S. and Australia, there's a heavy reliance on programmatic, which gives you a wider, more diverse set of advertisers. Underpinning all of this value is fill-rate. At a point where you've got audiences in the millions, ensuring that you're achieving 95%+ fill rates is essential to success. Then there is the quality of execution to consider. If an issue with the advertising interrupts the viewer experience, then the reputational damage is on a par with the loss of advertising revenues.
In 2012, I naively predicted to our board that every single UK broadcaster would be working with us by the end of the year. It took another two-and-a-half years to get the first one. So, I’m not sure I should be predicting anything but I’ll try!
The direction of travel for TV is towards all-IP, or near-all-IP, delivery. At that point all advertising becomes addressable, which will finally give broadcasters the opportunity to genuinely compete on a level playing field against the big tech companies. They will be able to offer the same level of audience segmentation and measurement. Real-time reporting for sports events is particularly important: rights-holders can’t afford to wait 24 hours to see what’s happening.
From a scale point of view, the audiences will become bigger and bigger. Meanwhile, consumer expectations of the viewing experience will increase around some of the more advanced features like scrubbing and the ability to move around a live timeline during very long programs. Addressable advertising will have to be able to scale even further while supporting these advanced features.
If TV can deliver on its digital promise, while also delivering the mass reach that brands are struggling to find elsewhere, then I think broadcasters have a fantastic opportunity to protect their linear CPMs, and then build on that platform to grow their advertising revenues even further.
It’s been nice to revisit the huge changes we’ve seen play out in the media industry, and I’m very proud of the leading role Yospace has played up to this point. Stay tuned, there’s plenty more to come!
Book a meeting with Yospace at IBC, Amsterdam, 13-16 September:
