ALL OLV IS NOT CREATED EQUAL: Well you knew this was going to happen. As brands rush headlong into OLV we’re starting to symptoms of an overplay. The first and most obvious sign was the brand safety backlash in Q2. It’s like all of a sudden brands woke up and realized they had no idea where their OLV impressions were running or what content they were being associated with. Now we’re also starting to see a bifurcation of the marketplace, with video inventory settling into two camps – network and premium. On the network side think of pre-roll inventory run on a collection of sites which can’t easily prove Viewability or Audience Verification metrics. OVL buyers are learning the hard way that these impressions aren’t even worth their discounted CPMs. On the other end of the spectrum think of site-served video inventory next to native content, which is sometimes even endemic to the publishers’ own content. This inventory is usually served in a “lit room” environment, so brands know who they’re buying. Not surprisingly Viewability, Verification and Engagement scores are strongest here. The point to the attached Digiday article is that buyers must pay special attention to which bucket of OLV they’re buying. It seems like pretty simple advice, but my guess is many clients and agencies think they’re buying the filet mignon of video and instead end up with the ground chuck.
THE WFH DILEMMA: Even if you don’t work for a company which allows the option to work from home you probably know someone who does. On paper this seems like an ideal arrangement. Employees have the ultimate flexibility of working in their pajamas and employees can even save money on office rent. Sure, some less motivated employees could take advantage of working less from home, but many employers who think of their workers as mature adults (and not kindergarteners), have been willing to take that chance. So in the last 20 years this practice has become much more prevalent. But things are starting to change. As it turns out, the biggest downside to WFH isn’t homebound employees taking secret naps, but the overall drain on coworker collaboration. The attached Bloomberg link does a nice job of explaining what’s going on. As companies start to organize themselves by functionality, working groups become more important than individuals. And unless group members are sitting near one another in almost-constant communication the collaboration will suffer. My guess is this factor will lead to the pendulum swinging the other way from WFH to being at your office desk.
THE ALPHABET OF ROCK FOLLOW UP: Over the past 24 hours I’ve received a ton of guesses from DG Nation about the bands behind these letters. A few of you even asked for the answer key so they could share it with clients and coworkers. Your wish is my command – see the answer key below. I’m scratching my head a little on Nazareth and UFO – was U2’s logo not available?!? Remember, this is for Rock so not all genres are represented. So who got the most right?!?
Have a great Thursday to all you rockers out there!