The pursuit of TV ad budgets remains a powerful driving force for ambitious internet start-ups and entrepreneurs, most recently taking shape around technology that can automate ad buys for online video.

The continued fragmentation of online audiences has spurred the use of preset algorithms to make it easier and cheaper to deliver ads across thousands of sites, a practice known as programmatic buying.

Automated buys via programmatic video however, are taking off at a much gentler pace.

Many large TV advertisers in Asia already include online video in their brand campaigns, in developing as well as developed markets. Nonetheless, media owners are reluctant to release premium video inventory into automated marketplaces, wary of commoditizing access to their audiences.

Attitudes are changing but slowly, noted Phu Truong, Asia MD for video ad tech specialist TubeMogul.

Truong, who has also worked on digital operations for companies such as the BBC and Wall Street Journal, was speaking at ATS Singapore, an annual conference discussing the development of automated media buying in Asia-Pacific.

“There’s no secret that we’re having a hard time getting premium local publishers into programmatic,” he said. “But it’s a matter of time.”

One starting point is persuading media owners to try out hybrid trades dubbed programmatic direct, which automate parts of the deal while keeping relationships with specific advertisers intact.

“The only way to get them to test the waters out and fulfill the promise of programmatic is if they try it, and the first time they try it is through programmatic direct,” Truong explained. 

“I don’t think it’s going to be a long-term solution but once they are there and can figure out how they can manage price, how they can keep their relationships and control what gets bought by whom, they can move onto the next step.”

IMPERFECT METRICS

One mooted advantage of automated ad sales is the ability to sell individual impressions in computerized split-second auctions, known in the business as real-time buying (RTB). This potentially drives up prices for media owners, while allowing advertisers more precise audience targeting.

Fixed price deals are still common however, due to concerns over measurement and how inventory is valued. 

The use of sophisticated programs to mimic human browsing for example, enabling fraudsters to siphon off spend, is holding back programmatic worldwide. 

At the same time, shortfalls in data used to segment online audiences in many Asian growth markets will keep most large brand campaigns on TV – despite rising pressure on marketers, and in turn agencies, to squeeze more value from existing media spend.

However, programmatic video may not need a massive shift from TV to enjoy a significant boost. 

Facebook, one of the world’s biggest media companies with a wealth of demographic information on its users, recently underscored its ambition in this space by buying a video ad tech company, LiveRail, for a reported US$500 million.

The social network has been working hard to make itself more appealing to advertisers over the past one to two years, reframing itself as a place to drive awareness as well as engagement.

The success of new tools from Facebook aimed at big spending brands, leveraging the company’s massive repositories of data, bodes well for the future, noted Rahul Vasudev, head of digital in Asia-Pacific for MediaCom, a media agency. 

“I think they will be a massive player,” Vasudev said, also speaking at ATS Singapore. “It will help us move much more spend to video. It’s much more targeted, and contextually relevant."