The Future of Premium Video Publishing with Paramount

What’s next for media companies in the cookieless era?

Innovations in ad formats, premium content, targeting, and personalization are ushering in a new golden age for TV. With its multiple properties and brands across the premium video landscape, Paramount plays a critical role in defining how the TV industry shifts and adds value for consumers and brands alike. 

During a recent Ad Age webinar, DISQO had the opportunity to chat with Jennifer Strapp, VP of Audience Impact and Intelligence at Paramount. She brings over 20 years of experience in ad sales and research roles for a range of TV innovators like MTV and VH1. In her current role, Jennifer measures full funnel and cross-platform ad impact for Paramount’s advertisers. In the webinar, she shared her thoughts on the future of premium publishing and ad measurement in the post-cookie world which we’ve summarized below.

Q: Cookies are finally going away. How will this impact TV media owners?

Adland relied on cookies more than was ever necessary. Maintaining privacy and compliance will always be important, and the deprecation of cookies has pushed media owners to recognize how our audiences expect us to handle it. 

Those with a strong handle on their first-party data have the opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors. Paramount is fortunate to have direct consumer offerings and connectivity. We're also licensing third-party data to connect to our first-party data to understand coverage of the full footprint. 

Q: What steps has Paramount taken to future-proof your measurement strategy? 

Paramount has been operating mostly without cookies for a long time now. Our Paramount+ app is cookieless, and 90% of our impressions are still delivered on the TV glass. Looking ahead, we will continue to increase our direct consumer offerings and connectivity. We've also been getting ahead of the transition by passing our viewer and exposure data to third-party vendors like DISQO for direct attribution measurement. 

Q: Streaming TV has skyrocketed as consumers grab more access to premium content. How is Paramount adapting? 

Streaming TV is a huge portion of entertainment today, and content is at the heart of everything we do. So, we’re continuing to create premium content with mass appeal and monetizing it across multiple platforms, which includes linear and streaming. Our viewership models the viewing behavior of our audiences at-large. So, we're leveraging our best IP to drive growth across multiple genres to serve the entire household – sports, news, kids content, and more. There’s also so much opportunity to bring “old” content to new audiences. 

Q: DISQO’s recent Ad-Supported Streaming TV report found that receptivity to ads in streaming experiences is growing. Do you agree? 

Absolutely. Consumers understand the value exchange between ad exposure and discounted access to premium content. Now, there are so many different streaming services to choose from (and pay for), so they’re more likely to subscribe to a service with an ad tier at a lower price to keep access to more content across publishers.

Q: What new ad formats in streaming are resonating with your viewers?

We are always innovating ad formats to raise the bar on the experiences we deliver for our viewers and ad partners. Overall, people are more receptive to creative advertising approaches. Paramount is fortunate to have a full-service branded content agency offering creative services to our partners. This includes in-show integrations, ad creative, branded content, influencer extensions, and more. A strong measurement framework is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of these new formats and to optimize for the future.

Q: Where do you think linear TV is headed as streaming grows in popularity?

Linear is still the most valuable marketing vehicle for shared viewing, but digital is a must have for greater total reach. You'll continue to see digital advertising commitments grow as a complement to linear, but there's always going to be a need for live content, like news and sports. Linear viewing generates excitement about live airing and directly involves viewers in the moment, so I think it will always be an important piece of the viewing model.

Q: How important is cross-platform measurement in proving campaign effectiveness?

Paramount sells and programs across all platforms. So, wherever our viewers are and wherever we have content, we need to be able to measure it. We find a lot of value in examining how platforms collectively drive overall campaign success and how each platform complements one another. Most campaigns run across multiple platforms today, so it's critical to understand how they work together. DISQO plays a huge role in helping us break down silos and glean those cross-platform insights that are so crucial to holistic ad measurement.

Q: What are brand clients asking for in proof of efficacy?

Brands want proof that their marketing dollars are well spent. This goes beyond viewership numbers to the quality of our audience. We need to demonstrate that what we deliver to their audience is driving brand impact across the funnel. And, we need to distill it down to the power of our platforms, because we don’t have control over outside factors. The right insights are those that show that an advertiser has invested their resources most effectively and efficiently through Paramount.

Learn more about the latest innovations in premium publishing!

Paramount is leading the charge in shaping the future of premium video in the cookieless era. For more expert insights on this topic, listen to the on-demand Ad Age webinar where Jennifer is joined by Warner Bros. Discovery’s Sunil Soman and DISQO’s Stephen Jepson.