Performance Power Players: Monica Longoria, LG

Featuring Monica Longoria, Head of Sales Marketing, LG Ads Solutions

Monica Longoria is the Head of Sales Marketing at LG Ads Solutions, the streaming TV advertising arm powering LG’s suite of world-class smart TVs. More than a marketer, Monica considers herself a storyteller — someone who examines vast data points to craft the necessary context so advertisers and brands can make informed decisions in a fast-paced and constantly-evolving landscape. We spoke with Monica to discuss how streaming TV shapes household entertainment habits and how marketers can leverage this powerful channel to maximize Return On Ad Spend.

Key takeaways: 

• Audiences have widely adopted streaming TV, with many forgoing linear TV entirely.

• Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology provides anonymized data to enhance audience targeting and prevent fraud.

• Partnering with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) provides enhanced access to data and brand safety to optimize ROI while advertising on streaming services.

Why should digital marketers add streaming TV advertising to their marketing mix?

Advertisers need to remember the big picture: Brands should be where their consumers are, and consumers are moving toward streaming TV.

Looking at our data, 72% of smart TV users are streaming ad-supported content on their TVs, spending twice as much time streaming as linear TV. Digging even deeper, 54% of households only watch streaming TV content, compared to 4% of households that only watch linear TV. 

The beauty of CTV is that you can achieve linear TV-like audience scale with the precision of digital targeting. When paired with exclusive automatic content recognition (ACR) viewership data from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), brands can target and reach incremental audiences, achieve improved performance, and access more in-depth data insights. Linear TV simply doesn’t compare.

How does the streaming TV advertising channel provide incremental reach to target audiences?

ACR is a powerful tool for marketers. By indexing ads across hundreds of channels, apps, and services, this technology enables us to understand which ads and content viewers see at an anonymized household level. That way, marketers can avoid targeting the audiences they’re already reaching and focus on hard-to-find audiences like cord-cutters and light linear TV viewers instead. 

Additionally, Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) adoption is a rising trend impacting advertisers across streaming TV. These linear-like platforms offer audiences a free alternative to paid TV options, and OEMs are positioning these apps as a critical part of their operating systems. Our data shows that viewers are responding positively to these free options, as apps like LG Channels experience significant year-over-year growth.

What’s the best way advertisers can ensure their streaming TV investment delivers ROI?

Most critical is having clear KPIs and ensuring your CTV partners understand your business goals. Next is to have your measurement technologies in place before a campaign starts. You won’t know how your investment is performing without these ingredients. A benefit of partnering with an OEM is that you can control frequency, so you’re not wasting impressions on an overserved audience.

What should streaming TV advertisers be aware of regarding brand safety in this environment? What safeguards are in place to prevent fraud?

Advertising on streaming services directly with an OEM is one of the best ways to ensure brand safety and prevent fraud. From a content perspective, OEMs have strict guidelines about that can be displayed while advertising on streaming services. Further, we offer additional brand safety controls if a brand would prefer not to be seen in certain apps or genres. 

From a fraud prevention perspective, OEMs use ACR data to ensure that the TV is on and that we reach real viewers. Advertisers should generally ensure their streaming TV partners are fully compliant with industry standards, are Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) certified, and partnered with industry-leading fraud prevention vendors like IAS and DoubleVerify.

What’s your take on the streaming TV vs. linear TV advertising debate? How should advertisers allocate their marketing spend across these channels?

We believe streaming and linear TV work better together, and we are committed to helping our advertisers find the right balance between their linear and streaming TV campaigns. 

There are many opinions about how much to allocate to streaming TV. Some say as little spend as 20%, to as high as 40%. 

Our take? Let your data decide; ACR analyses will help determine where inefficiencies and gaps are in reach. With the right information, marketers can leverage their OEM TV partnership to optimize their budgets in real-time to keep up with ever-changing consumer habits.

What is your prediction for the future of the programmatic streaming TV landscape?

Based on what I am seeing, I have four major predictions for the future of the programmatic streaming TV landscape:

• Buying bundles: We are seeing more and more mergers & acquisitions across streaming TV content providers. I expect these bundlers will start requiring their inventory to be bought as a portfolio rather than across individual apps.

• Data is the currency: With a growing emphasis on precision targeting and tangible campaign results, programmatic platforms that aren’t able to offer robust datasets won’t be able to survive. This necessity will lead to an ecosystem influenced by a few large platforms.

• Transparency required: Buyers have more insight into their campaign performance than ever before, and there is no going back. Platforms will have to offer increased transparency to stay competitive. 

• Buying TV: All forms of TV will eventually be available to purchase programmatically. Now-defunct broadcast TV SSP Video was a good idea; they just showed up before the industry was ready. Linear is not going away, so marketers must account for it in future landscapes.

Thanks for chatting with us, Monica! 

About Monica Longoria:

Monica has spent over a decade as a data analyst and storyteller for organizations like Comcast, Cox Media Group, and LG Ads Solutions. Going beyond merely collecting data, Monica is passionate about finding the natural stories buried within and bringing them to light. She has also brought her expertise to MOLO Story Consulting, providing coaching services for job seekers and helping brands discover their own stories with redesigned assets and updated campaigns.

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For more insights on streaming TV please download our report, The Definitive Guide to Programmatic Streaming TV for Performance Marketing.