Why brands need to take an omnichannel approach to marketing

Deepika Nikhilender — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 22:00:24 +0000

Consumers now have more TV content choices than ever before, and many more ways and places to watch it. For modern viewers, traditional TV just won’t cut it anymore: they want variety at their fingertips, value for money, and flexibility to watch whenever and wherever they choose. It’s no surprise that they’re shifting to over-the-top (OTT) content streamed through connected TVs (CTV) and other devices.

Cord-cutters and cord-nevers—are you one of them?

These are ‘cord-cutters’ – consumers who have cut down on their pay TV subscriptions to opt for other services such as on-demand streaming. In recent years, the number of cord-cutters across the globe has been rising. The Leichtman Research Group reported earlier this year that U.S. cord-cutting nearly doubled in 2018. In some countries where connected TV is more established, we’ve seen a segment of ‘cord-nevers’ (consumers who have never had a traditional TV subscription) emerge and growing. While still in its infancy, a similar trend is being observed across the Asia-Pacific region.
A report by the Asia Video Industry Association last year found that one in four pay TV subscribers in the Philippines and Singapore intended to cut the cord over the next 12 months, with a further 20 percent of remaining subscribers planning to downgrade to a cheaper package. A similar trend was observed in Thailand, where one third of pay TV subscribers planned to cut the cord over the next year. We expect this is just the beginning.

Reaching the elusive crowd

For advertisers, the shift towards OTT and CTV viewing has led to more fragmented and elusive audiences. Advertisers need to re-evaluate their longstanding advertising strategies and adapt fast to accommodate the new normal. Advertising simultaneously across several channels on multiple connected devices can help brands reach those cord-cutter viewers who are ‘unreachable’ through traditional TV.
At Xaxis, our clients see the need to drive incremental reach over and above free-to-air or traditional TV for their campaigns. CTV in particular has been increasingly sought-after. Research by The TradeDesk revealed that Vietnam and Australia appeared to be the fastest growing market for CTV, with over two-thirds of Vietnamese households owning a CTV device, and of the 1.8M+ Australian households surveyed, all households confirmed owning one or more CTV devices.
In Vietnam, Xaxis extends reach to custom automotive audiences across premium TV content with connected TV applied for multinational automotive company Ford for its Ranger, Everest, Raptor and Ecosport campaigns. Xaxis imported custom automotive audiences into our proprietary data management platform. The campaigns were activated on Smart-TV devices programmatically with automotive audience targeting, brand safe environment (licensed/censored content), premium inventory from top TV channels, impactful data insight with scale from 5.1M monthly active TV set and 15M unique user.

What will your omnichannel video strategy look like?

Like any emerging channel, there will be gaps and challenges. However, the benefits of CTV advertising are abundant and enticing to media buyers and sellers alike. The viewer experience is comparable to the big screen of traditional TV, but it also offers more effective targeting by weaving contextual and behavioral data into media buying decisions, such as timing ads to air alongside specific shows and genres, so advertisers can offer campaigns that are much more effective at driving the desired outcomes and equip brands with new levels of control and accuracy.
The most attractive aspect of CTV is its potential for omni-channel video marketing. Users today watch videos across multiple devices throughout the day: the average viewer might watch TV shows from her mobile phone while commuting, browse the latest news clips on a desktop computer at work, and then go home to stream shows on a smart TV at the end of the day. What this means for advertisers is the opportunity to engage viewers more effectively across multiple linear, on-demand and live streaming TV devices.
Over time, behavioral attribution will grow stronger as syncing across devices improves and users are able to link their viewing channels with other digital accounts, including social media profiles. Brands will be able to run omni-channel video campaigns with streamlined audience targeting over different devices and channels. By gaining insights from a user’s social media profiles, the brand can then show ads on the user’s CTV, mobile and desktop platforms that are highly relevant and interesting to that user. Buyers can also view impression results in real-time, enabling them to optimize the campaign against performance metrics whilst activity is live.
As an Outcome Media Company, we are at the forefront of change to provide our clients with pioneering solutions in any addressable media channels that arise. While still in its nascent stages, including CTV advertising as part of an omnichannel video strategy provides an exciting opportunity for advertisers in the Asia-Pacific region to capture viewers’ interest seamlessly across multiple platforms. Broadcasters and publishers should view this as an opportunity to prepare for the future by rethinking inventory, content and technology to better bridge the gap between marketers and audiences.
A paradigm shift is taking place in the TV advertising landscape, and the time has come for brands to deliver seamless lean-in consumer experience across screens in concert with broadcasters and publishers.

Originally published on Campaign Asia

A Mountaineer’s Experiences Inspire Me to Find Purpose In Work and Life

Deepika Nikhilender — Mon, 06 May 2019 15:21:45 +0000

Why do we do what we do? In particular, why do we do the work that occupies the majority of our entire adult lives?

I recently had the pleasure of hearing and learning from Dhiren Doshi, Vice-President (Industries & Digital Leadership) of SAP Southeast Asia and an avid mountaineer, who was a guest speaker at our recent Sharpening Your Axe event.

This internal event was created to help Xaxis employees equip themselves with the latest industry knowledge, and identify areas to focus in and skillsets they can look to improve. On the first day of the programme, Dhiren, shared his experiences -- some inspiring, some unbelievable and some harrowing. He has scaled seven summits, and most recently became the first Singaporean to plant the nation’s flag on Dhaulagiri, a summit infamous for being technically challenging.

As Dhiren recalled his adventures, I couldn’t help but relate his experiences as a climber to the challenges we face as a programmatic company. I saw strong, practical parallels between what it takes to be on an expedition and managing our business. The determination, perseverance and out-of-the-box thinking it requires to take on mountaineering made me reflect on how we non-mountaineers can find purpose in work (and life).

The digital landscape is a dynamic industry, time is finite and fleeting. At Xaxis, we do not believe in waiting for the industry to revolutionize. Instead, we choose to seize the moment and spearhead change. What better time is there than the present? Those who got to the top of the mountain did not just fall onto the summit – they took bold leaps to stay ahead of the curve. The ascend to the summit is oftentimes fraught with obstacles and dangers such as perilous terrain, sub-zero temperatures, high-altitude sickness, possible storms and avalanches. Yet, there can be no way for mountaineers to navigate these challenges without determination coupled with a clear sense of intent. When Dhiren faced a near-death predicament, anyone would have understood if he had chosen to give up, but he pressed on. He had an unshakable vision and crystal-clear focus. He knew exactly what his goal looked like, sounded like, felt like. He learned from his mistakes and went back ever more prepared to scale the summit. And he did.

It is the same for life and work: with strength and perseverance, we have a chance to win the grail, but purpose is what we need to face the upward trail. As a company, there will be times where decisions and actions are taken unwittingly. But leaders with vision understand this is not a transgression, and it is acceptable to learn from mistakes. We fail fast, learn fast, and get it done. We stay true to our mission because we all live and believe in its purpose – that our clients get true value for their investment in responsible marketing, and that advertising is made more relevant and enjoyable for each client’s audience.

There was something in particular Dhiren mentioned that really stood out for me. He climbs mountains because he wants to see how far he can go and how much he can endure to get to some of the hardest places on earth. When he goes out there, the sheer magnitude and dominance of nature puts him at the mercy of the elements and ultimately reminds him of his size and insignificance in the grand scheme of things – “it truly humbles you”, he affirms. Similarly, the programmatic work that we do at Xaxis creates far-reaching ripples within the industry as a whole. But for an industry to constantly progress, we have to stay humble and continuously conquer new personal and professional summits.

As to why I continue to do the work I do, I want to be a part of the bigger picture, paving the digital road with fresh innovations and sharing Xaxis’ purpose to always prioritize our stakeholders – our clients, our audience and the industry that we co-exist in. And in the end, if there was one piece of wisdom I took away from this, it’s that if the mountains are calling then you simply must go.

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Deepika Nikhilender - Xaxis