VIZIO Group VP, Advertising and Data Sales, Adam Bergman talks about how streaming, shoppable ads, and brand integrations are redefining viewer engagement.
How has the evolution of television from traditional cable to streaming changed the way brands approach media and advertising?
As a smart television, as a connected TV operating system, as an owner of media, we really think about television and what that means and how you define it. We've lived and breathed the transition from traditional cable and satellite outputs being the primary viewing function into streaming. Now brands are putting more pressure to talk about how that upper-funnel media meet lower-funnel outcomes?
What does your acquisition by Walmart mean for the consumer?
I think from a consumer standpoint, our responsibility as a television manufacturer remains the same. Of course, bring a great visual and auditory experience, but the continued responsibility of delivering a great operating system. The smartphone has sort of made us and it built us in this instant response, instant gratification functionality. When we think about smart television, we want to be simple, we want to be elegant, and we want a high level of functionality for our customers. That really means being organized in content. When we then start thinking about the media side of that, we're thinking about our product set in terms of what's in-stream and what is out-of-stream. In-stream, of course, is connected television. It's media. It's targetable, addressable and measurable video. Out-of-stream is really what we're going to be growing a lot this year.
For us, that means sponsorships, that means branded entertainment and integrations. Last fall, we launched the all new Sports Zone, which is a new curated collection on smart televisions where all your game listings are in one place. How does a brand now integrate into that? That benefits the customer. It benefits brand marketers. So we're just thinking about how to be organized, how to be thoughtful, and how to compartmentalize everything for both the viewer and an advertiser.
What's the one trend this year that you think will surprise people?
Yeah, I made the comment about our out-of-stream suite, which is branded content. It's product integration. I think this idea that it's sort of been here all along, you know, in the television world, we lived off product placement, right? You get a bottle of soda on the counter, you got a car in your opening shot. That hasn't existed at a television platform.
It's existed with content owners. As a television platform, as we bring more integration into the experience, I think that's going to catch some marketers in a positive way. I think they're going to be really surprised about what we can build and how we can generate a whole new product suite for the upper-funnel.
What are you seeing in digital ad formats?
You can imagine that shoppable is definitely a big topic, right?
Again, you know, being part of the Walmart family. People want to understand how quickly can I get to a product? You know, I think we have had this disconnect where the market has asked for more shoppable, more products, but advertisers haven't really put their money there because it's not the perfect customer experience yet. So my thought process is always, how quickly can I get someone to their smartphone, a place where they're comfortable transacting, they have pay functionality and they understand it.
So I think as you explore shoppability, you think about adding to cart, whether that's a digital cart or setting up a delivery, triggering food orders. Right. Food delivery. Those are the types of things that we've been thinking about. And we already have some executions that can deliver on that.
