Feb. 12, 2026

The Streaming Wars: How Media Buyers Win with Jean Carucci, Streaming Strategy Scholar

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Have a question? Send us a text! In this episode, Tim Rowe sits down with Jean Carucci, Streaming Strategy Scholar, to decode the rapidly evolving world of streaming mergers and acquisitions (M&A). They trace the industry’s journey from the Plethora of Plus era and the rise of FAST channels to the current landscape of mega-mergers and consolidation. Jean provides a strategic roadmap for media buyers to navigate the shift from linear-first to streaming-first planning, ensuring brands remai...

Have a question? Send us a text!

In this episode, Tim Rowe sits down with Jean Carucci, Streaming Strategy Scholar, to decode the rapidly evolving world of streaming mergers and acquisitions (M&A). They trace the industry’s journey from the Plethora of Plus era and the rise of FAST channels to the current landscape of mega-mergers and consolidation. Jean provides a strategic roadmap for media buyers to navigate the shift from linear-first to streaming-first planning, ensuring brands remain relevant and effective amidst the chaos.

Key Takeaways

The Shift from Linear to Streaming-First

The media planning landscape has fundamentally flipped. Historically, buyers started with linear TV and used digital to extend reach, today, the strategy starts with streaming, using linear only for incremental reach. Jean explains that we have reached a point of diminishing returns for subscriber growth, forcing major media companies to acquire competitors to gain scale and maintain leadership.

4:20 – The Plethora of Plus era and how the pandemic accelerated direct-to-consumer adoption.
12:20 – Analyzing the Nielsen Gauge: Understanding the 80% growth in streaming viewership over four years.

Two Paths of Consolidation: Prestige vs. Scale

Jean compares two potential merger scenarios, Netflix/Warner Bros. Discovery vs. Paramount/WBD, to highlight the different opportunities for advertisers. While one offers high-touch, premium integrations with limited inventory (Prestige), the other offers massive, high-volume reach across linear and streaming with endemic, sticky content like live sports and reality TV (Scale).

18:22 – A head-to-head comparison of merger outcomes for media buyers.
20:35 – Choosing between limited premium slots and fragmented high-volume supply.
26:20 – Why CPG brands might prefer the stickiness of lifestyle content over high-brow prestige drama.

Future-Proofing for Media Buyers

With consolidation comes technical hurdles. Jean outlines four critical tips for navigating the M&A wave, emphasizing Data Readiness and Engagement. She argues that the 30-second brand awareness ad is no longer enough; buyers must demand interactive, shoppable formats and prime real estate on the streaming home screen.

32:05 – Why scale is the primary driver for mass-market ROI in a merged ecosystem.
34:20 – Four tips to navigate M&A: From data portability to venture buying for tentpole events.

The 5 Must-Ask Questions for the Upfront Season

Jean identifies five critical questions every media buyer should bring to the table this year:

Can I activate my first-party data on your platform?
What is the actual ad-available subscriber base post-merger?
Can we lock in high-affinity tentpoles before prices reset?
Does your ad tech stack support shoppable and outcome-driven formats?
How are you carving out opportunities for my brand on the new user interface?

Connect with the Guest

Subscribe to Jean Carucci’s Substack: The Streaming Strategy Scholar
Connect with Jean on LinkedIn: Jean Carucci

00:00 - Replay Setup And CTA

00:40 - Why Streaming’s Shift Matters

04:20 - The Plus Era And Pandemic Surge

06:24 - FAST Channels And Ads Arrive

10:00 - Sports Bundles And Rumored Mergers

12:20 - Nielsen Gauge And Audience Migration

16:00 - Global Consolidation Trends

18:22 - Two Merger Paths Compared

20:35 - Inventory: Limited Vs Fragmented

23:00 - Ad Scale, CPMs, And Data Clarity

26:20 - Content Fit: Prestige Vs Endemic

29:20 - Integrations And Sponsorship Options

32:05 - ROI Scenarios For Buyers

34:20 - Four Tips To Navigate M&A

37:00 - Jean’s Work With Brands

WEBVTT

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Welcome back to the State of Streaming podcast.

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Today's episode is actually a replay of a recent LinkedIn Live webinar with Gene Carucci, the streaming strategy scholar.

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The reason for the webinar is to cut through the chaos of streaming TV headlines to narrow it down to the five most important things every media buyer should know about streaming TV.

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You'll hear us mention registering to receive Gene's top five questions that every media buyer should ask.

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And since this is a replay of that webinar, we made it easy to get.

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Go to the show notes or the description wherever you're listening to this, and we put a link right at the top to make it easy to find.

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So do that.

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Grab Jean's top five questions to ask in the show notes or the description of this episode, and enjoy the full conversation that accompanies it so you can be the most prepared buyer in the room.

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Now, without further ado, enjoy.

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That's fun.

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That that is all fun.

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And Jim Kramer loves talking about it on Mad Money.

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But for media buyers, it presents a whole mess, whole mess of trouble.

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We're going to talk about some of that today.

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In the lead up, here we'll look at kind of the last 10 years or so of MA in streaming.

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But why is this topic so near and dear to your heart?

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Why is this so important to you?

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So I started in the streaming ecosystem right at its infancy, probably just shy of that chart of a show.

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And what I found fascinating was back then, media plans were always like, you're going to start with linear and you're going to add digital to extend your reach.

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And at that point, it was called TV Everywhere.

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But I'm an audience, it was a new inventory, it was a new way to sell to them and create edits.

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And now very quickly it's shifted to you're starting in streaming and adding linear to extend your reach.

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That's a lot, right?

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So why it's near and dear to me is I've got to be up to be honest to stay relevant, to offer expertise and compete in that place.

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And I think that there's much information there that people are inundated with it that they can't absorb it.

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So I'm committed to kind of studying it and uh to understand, but I think you know, we'll talk about these mergers and these acquisitions.

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Streaming grew and grew and grew more and more subversive, but now we've sort of just traded off subscribers, right?

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And when we do that, mergers and acquisitions happen, right?

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So there's just so many people who are gonna subscribe to so many streams.

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There's gotta be a point of diminishing returns.

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And now, how do I keep those subscribers?

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Therein lies the challenge for these large media companies, right?

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That's why we're in the state, and I don't think it's going away at a time soon.

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We we've got a piece out today on stateofstreaming.com about exactly what you just said, right?

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These audiences are moving and shifting times MA, times all of the challenges.

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You've defined five specific challenges for media buyers that we'll look at today, but this is a revolving door that we experience as consumers, and it creates really dramatic impact for the brands that we're buying advertising on behalf of.

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So we're talking all about MA and what it means for you on the buy side.

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Gene, take us back in time.

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This is like an awesome visual.

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You've got a great substack that we can point folks to if they want to learn more about the streaming ecosystem and what it all means for media buyers.

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But take us through this trip down memory lane.

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What is this that we're looking at here?

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So, what we're looking at here is what I'll say right the streaming world exploded, right?

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2019 was what I like to call the plethora of plus era.

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Lots of large media companies decide we need a direct-to-consumer app.

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And for whatever reason, they all named it plus for I don't know why, but they just did.

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And on top of that, what happened was we had a global pandemic, right?

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So, right after Disney Plus launched, Apple TV launched, we had lockdown, and now people are in their homes and they're just streaming and streaming.

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So now everybody sort of jumped into it from a direct-to-consumer standpoint.

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So that's kind of the beginning of the explosion here.

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That's the first thing that happened.

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The second thing that happened was very large media companies started grabbing what we call fast channels, those free ad-supported television networks like Pluto that was fired by Viacom, that is now Paramount.

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Comcast acquired um Zumo, Fox acquired Tubi.

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This was all about scale and eyeballs, right?

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People wanted to watch what do they want, when they watched, onto, and sometimes, but they were fine with ads.

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So now we had sale that happened there, right?

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The next thing that happened as more and more answered into the marketplace is those streamers that came in with no ads introduced ads.

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Shockingly, Netflix said, yeah, you know what?

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We're gonna have an ad tier.

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So in 2022, they added Disney Plus said, you know what, we're gonna have an ad tier.

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So they added it as well, right?

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So now we have all the plus ones direct consumer.

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We're grabbing up these fast channels.

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Now we're laying in ads in places that were not literally there before, including prime video.

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This past year, what happened was we leaned into what I like to call the sports sky bundles, right?

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So you saw Fox launch Fox One, ESPN launched their unlimited one.

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So, you know, specific focus on live sporting events.

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And of course, right now, in the middle of the drama, and drama is the word here with the capital D of Warner Brothers Discovery and the will they or won't they between Netflix and Paramount, you know.

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So that's really sort of what happened.

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You had an explosion of um apps direct to consumer, and now what we're seeing is instead of trading off between subscribers, now we're trying to increase our base by acquiring, right?

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These are the mergers and the acquisitions that have been happening.

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Awesome.

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And behind the scenes, Comcast quietly split into NBCU and Verse.

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And at the same time, we've been distracted with Netflix, Paramount, WBD, and all of the uh all of the drama that that's happening there.

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We know that streaming is how we watch TV, but how much has this changed over the last 12 months?

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This is Nielsen's gauge.

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Most recently in December, streaming accounting for 47.5% of that other, it's a lot of VMBPD, it's a lot of live linear broadcast style content access through streaming apps.

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When you look at this, what are you thinking?

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What does this mean to you?

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I think this kind of demonstrates why everyone wants a piece of the Stream Pie because you've gotta follow the eyeballs, right?

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So what we see here on the left-hand side is when the game from Nielson first emerged, which was in May of 2021.

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You can see that in four short years, 80% growth, what we're calling streamy viewership happened, right?

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That's astronomical.

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And the number of direct-to-consumer jumps from what we are putting here is five to 12.

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But truthfully, Tim, there are hundreds of direct-to-consumer streamers that are out there that are not even that are in that quote unquote other category here.

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So, you know, what it is is launching the companies say this is how viewers want to engage with their content.

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We have to be part of it.

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And this actually shows the migration to streaming, right?

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And even though it's doubled in percentage, so have the competitors.

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That goes back to what you and I were talking about in the beginning, right?

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Have we approached this point of diminishing returns where there's so much growth that can happen?

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So now to continue to keep your leadership position, you must acquire your competitor, quite frankly.

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Your subscriber base media buyers, more importantly, your scale and what you can have to offer there.

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When we look at this on a on a household basis, and we use census numbers for this as a as a kind of a directional source of truth, 135 million U.S.

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households, 128 and a half million households connected to the internet.

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Just about everyone's streaming.

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So when we think about scaled reach, streaming really is that direct-to-consumer opportunity for brands.

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And looking at this kind of global MA landscape, when we get outside of just the United States, what do you see here?

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So this just goes that I think 2025 was the year of consolidation.

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So prior to this, we were growing, growing, introducing, launching.

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Now we're acquiring.

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And you can see that not here in the US.

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You see powerhouse brands like Disney finally taking over all of Hulu, in addition to a virtual employees like like FUBO, but you see Roku, which was literally at hardware, getting into acquiring content there.

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From a global perspective, you can see, you know, all around from Europe to Australia, it's about consolidation, right?

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So 2025, in my mind, was the beginning of this year of consolidation.

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And all we've heard at the end of the year and the very first quarter here is how it's continuing, especially here in the US with these powerhouse brands here.

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Awesome.

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Let's start to look at what those challenges are that are presented.

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We're going to use the WBD, Netflix, Paramount example, but really this could be anyone.

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And surely it's going to be lots of different names and logos that we've already talked about here.

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But this is the merger we're all talking about.

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What are the high-level talking points uh that we see here?

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So I think, you know, um it it's a long time for uh being solved here, you know, who is going to own whom.

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But I like this chart.

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It gives an understanding of the assets that people are really bidding on, right?

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So I won't go into all of them there, but you can break them down into two.

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Each one of these entities has a deep uh library of original programming, right?

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Must watch.

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I've got to have this app to actually watch this kind of programming here.

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Each one of these also has film franchises that they can rely on, right?

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That are in theater, but more importantly, deep libraries that you can see.

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They also have a significant amount of what I'll bucket as news and reality, sometimes on um just a show basis, but more often than not, entire networks that concentrate on this content.

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Each one of them is leaning into kids and animation.

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So now you're auditing from just adults sort of uh content there, but it's an entire family can participate and watch it.

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Each one has sports rights.

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This is such an important part of this deal, I think, because live sports is what the number one engaging content that you're seeing on streaming.

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And that's been a big part of this sort of land grab over the last couple of years.

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Each of these companies has their own sort of um league affiliations there.

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And finally, while we don't talk about it a lot, I think the gaming IP that's available at each is something to keep an eye on.

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And each one of them offers some significant sort of um devotion to that.

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I think over the next few years, we're going to be leaning into gaming from an advertising standpoint.

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So you need to own that IP to kind of be part of that next iteration for uh for advertisers.

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So this is just a nice little snapshot of what each one of these companies offers.

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Great snapshot.

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We played Pictionary on Netflix at Thanksgiving and had a blast.

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It was so much fun.

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I can see the gaming being a big, big piece of this as we go forward.

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All right.

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So, what are the obstacles?

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What are the opportunities presented by these big mergers?

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So, just to level set here, I want everybody to remember that of these two mergers, Netflix and Warner Brothers is only about the film and streaming assets only, does not include their very endemic, what we'll call cable networks.

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For a Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, they are bidding on literally the entire company there.

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So I think that's really important for us to remember as we go into each one of these obstacles and opportunities for advertisers.

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So if we go to the first one, I think it it kind of hits on what the primary obstacle for advertisers is.

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And what it is is for Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery, what you're going to get is limited premium inventory.

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Premium, no doubt.

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Each one of these companies has an ultra-light ad load, right?

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For streaming, it's four to six minutes.

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That will severely limit the number of ad slots available.

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And I would question the scale you're going to get for each one of those.

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So, yes, very premium content, but it's limited.

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Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, on the other hand, has a lot of inventory.

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But I would say that at this point, it's fragmented.

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It will require two separate ad platforms.

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And when that happens, for advertisers, there are going to be different requirements for the metadata and how you buy.

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And more importantly, for advertisers, you may need to have different creative versions.

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They're going to have two separate platforms for quite a while.

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So, first obstacle is about inventory, whether it's limited or it's fragmented.

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That's the first obstacle for these scenarios, quite frankly.

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Feels like a big one.

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That's generally right where the planning kind of starts.

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Like, what can I buy?

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And we'll talk about this later.

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And this is one of the most important questions.

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As an advertiser, you need to remember going into any upfront when there's a merger available.

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It's about inventory.

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Is it limited?

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Is it fragmented?

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How can we solve it?

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Let's talk about opportunity number two.

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Yeah.

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So the second is all about ad scale and data.

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Okay.

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So for Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery, I can assure you that those will be very high CPMs.

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Remember, it's already limited.

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So they're going to be high CPMs.

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And I would call their data burky.

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Again, I say this because I've been on that side pitching it out to advertisers, right?

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Let's remember that uh Netflix has really provide published subscriber numbers.

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They gave us overt subscriber numbers just this past one.

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Uh they have traditionally relied on monthly active viewers, and that actually just inflates the household reach number, right?

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Warner Brothers Discovery, H averages between 8 to 10 million subscribers.

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No doubt about that, but not nearly as large as some of the competitors, right?

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So that would be sort of the ad scale limitations, I'd say.

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And from a data perspective, I don't know how transparent it's being.

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For Paramount and Wonder Brothers Discovery, massive high volume reach.

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No doubt.

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Remember, it's the entire company there, right?

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You're combining linear and streaming, you're going to offer huge reach, right?

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More volume options and more endemic inventory.

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We're going to talk about that in a minute.

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I think because it's not a unified planning process and it won't be for a while, I question the duplicated reach.

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And I really think that frequency caps going to be a problem, right?

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Am I reaching the same people with the same ad over and over again?

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And anybody who's streamed and a bit inundated with the same ad in one hour knows how frustrating that can be, right?

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So for it's either high CPMs, murky data, mass reach, and high volume, but and sort of problematic because it's not a unified um system, even though it has incredible scale at that point.

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I love this slide.

00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:52.000
I think that this juxtaposition of the two potential outcomes is really interesting and helpful to think about, right?

00:18:52.160 --> 00:19:00.480
Like I don't think that this gets talked about enough when we go when we talk about going beyond the headline and creating clarity from all the chaos.

00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:02.240
This is a really helpful slide.

00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:05.759
All right, let's talk about the key content vertical.

00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:06.400
Right.

00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:09.839
So this is what I teased it in the one before you, right?

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.960
So what kind of content is actually available with each one of these mergers?

00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:22.480
Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery will be able to offer premium drama and film access, right?

00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:29.119
Very prestigious drummers and programming, but a low frequency of events, right?

00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:35.599
Those prestigious drummers don't have a deep library or 22 episodes, right?

00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:37.039
They're much less.

00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:43.359
So the ability, there'll be an ability to advertise an award-winning content, no doubt.

00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:53.359
But the kind of content you're going to be um sort of able to advertise on, all great to advertise on succession, right?

00:19:53.680 --> 00:20:03.599
But you know, what kind of if you're a consumer product goods, what's the relevancy of advertising on that highly prestigious show, right?

00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:11.680
So high, you know, premium drama and film, but you know, low frequency and relevancy remains elusive.

00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:20.160
For Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, you've got endemic content, you've got reality, and you've got live sports.

00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:28.079
And what that offers is what I like to call real, sort of deep, sticky lifestyle content.

00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:32.000
Sticky because advertisers just love it.

00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:37.599
Food, home, eating, competition.

00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:39.119
Think about that.

00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:43.119
I mean, advertiser relevancy is very, very high there.

00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:50.160
A combined company here would really strengthen the live sports lineup, no doubt.

00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:59.039
I mean, locking up the March Madness, um, extended beyond just NFL to NHL.

00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.880
It rounds out the live sports library.

00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:15.920
And I would say this combined company would um be a fierce competitor to the juggernaut of um Disney's ESPN, no doubt, right?

00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:18.640
Because the breadth and depth that they can offer.

00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:23.839
Um, it also creates authentic integration opportunities.

00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:28.400
We just talked about the sort of could CPG be part of accession.

00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:43.519
I think I can tell you from experience that for food and home and adventure, very easy to have a brand be part of that content, increasing your relevancy and in a very organic way.

00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:50.960
So that's the that's the uh opportunity from a content perspective for advertisers.

00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:51.759
Awesome.

00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:52.640
Heating up.

00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:58.079
This is I think this is spicier than uh than the news even really allows us to believe.

00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:59.119
This is this is exciting.

00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.759
All right, how about?

00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.400
Integrations and sponsorships.

00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:02.960
Yeah.

00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:06.559
So again, I'm sort of building off that whole content question there.

00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:18.160
So for Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery, I see very high touch integration and sponsorship opportunity, but again, limited spots there, right?

00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:27.440
So the focus is going to be on really premium product placement and very high dollar commitment.

00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:31.200
And the timeline for production is quite long, right?

00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:41.839
I think I mentioned this a while a couple of weeks ago, but HBO Max just told us the location for the fourth season of White Lotus.

00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:49.519
And I can assure you that every premium brand out there is inundating them to say, how can we be part of this?

00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:51.759
They haven't started filming yet.

00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:55.119
That's that long production timeline I just talked about.

00:22:55.279 --> 00:23:06.319
So there's a scarcity of inventory that limits the opportunity and increases the dollar amount for any integration and sponsorships.

00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:17.039
Paramount and uh Warner Brothers, on the other hand, um have a tremendous amount of uh opportunity integration, even cross-platform, right?

00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:24.319
I love this idea of creating a cross-platform genre that an advertiser can be part of.

00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:42.960
If you wanted to lean into the genre of adventure, let's say, imagine being part of Survivor, one of the biggest franchises that Paramount has, and Shark, which is another sort of iconic annual sort of um event that clients just love.

00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:47.599
So there's massive amounts of cross-platform opportunity there.

00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:57.279
The integration has a much lower price point than Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery, and a much shorter production timeline.

00:23:57.440 --> 00:23:59.200
We just do it more often, right?

00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:04.880
That goes to those endemic shows that it's easier to be part of.

00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:14.079
And finally, for this Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, there's an abundance of what I like to call turnkey sponsors.

00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:18.079
There's just so many of them that you can own a show.

00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:19.839
You can own the first pod.

00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:27.279
You can own so many different opportunities that are in their library of ad products there.

00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:41.359
So again, high touch limited spots for Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery, a lot of opportunity and ease of ships for Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, and a much more affordable way to go.

00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:41.920
Right.

00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:49.359
Well, there's a lot to be excited about as an advertiser for both of these potential outcomes, a lot of challenges that they both present.

00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:52.640
And we'll talk about the five must-ass questions here in a second.

00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:57.519
But this is probably the number one thing via after inventory.

00:24:57.680 --> 00:24:59.839
It's did it make me money?

00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:00.880
ROI.

00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:03.039
How are we going to measure ROI?

00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:08.319
So for Netflix and OneBear Discovery, that no doubt there's a return on investment here.

00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:11.039
I just think it's a minimal opportunity, right?

00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:16.400
I think it's great for luxury and high-ends that are seeking prestige, right?

00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:22.160
It's just not going to work if you're a mass market kind of company that is looking for scale.

00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:31.119
So it I think it might be difficult to grow a robust ad revenue from this combination, right?

00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:41.039
Especially when I compare it to Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, which I think has, from an advertiser, a very high opportunity for return on investment.

00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.319
It's ideal if you're seeking scale.

00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:50.960
It's perfect for brands who are looking for that sticky endemic content.

00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:57.039
And you really have an ability to tap into this excitement of live sports.

00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:05.920
Again, this combined company kind of feels the deal on a lot of different sports across the spectrum here.

00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:12.079
So again, I think uh uh an advertiser can be successful with either one of these.

00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:20.160
It's just, you know, what kind of advertiser you are, and is there small opportunity or large opportunity here?

00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:33.519
You keep that in mind for all of these mergers and how it'll affect your business and your ability to connect with viewers and reach your internal advertising goals.

00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:38.640
So these are the four tips that you've got for media buyers navigating MA.

00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:40.880
And then we're gonna look at the five questions.

00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:44.160
What are you what are you advising brands and buyers?

00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:45.759
What are those, what are those four tips?

00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:46.559
What's on here?

00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:48.319
I think we said this in the beginning.

00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:51.759
This is not going to be the the last merger that's ever happening, right?

00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:53.279
So I would remember this.

00:26:53.359 --> 00:27:00.480
We're we're it it if last year was the year of consolidation, this year is the beginning of the mega mergers, right?

00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:05.200
So whenever you're faced with that, I think you have to remember these four things.

00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:10.720
The first is you need to prioritize data readiness, right?

00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.319
What do I mean by that?

00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:24.720
First party data is fantastic, but you can't just rely on that platform's first party data to ensure that you're going to get the most robust campaign.

00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:37.519
Make sure you can bring your own data to the table and combine it to reach those sort of viewers that are your most promising prospects from a sales perspective.

00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:40.000
So it's about data readiness.

00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:47.279
The second is what I'll call um pivoting from volume to venture buying, right?

00:27:47.920 --> 00:28:01.519
So when you get a seat at the table, make sure that you have the ability to lock into these prestigious 10 pull or live events before the thing goes out of control, right?

00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:03.119
And that'll take some time.

00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:04.240
Lock in.

00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:07.519
They will probably want to give you volume.

00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:10.000
Look at this deep library, and that's great.

00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:12.319
And we can have a whole nother webinar on that.

00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:20.799
But where the excitement and the engagement is, is in what I call this venture buying, tent pull events, live events.

00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:26.480
Make sure that you can get in um at the get-go when you're planning.

00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:32.160
The third tip is about embracing engagement as your standard.

00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:35.920
It's not about 30-second ad that you can run anymore.

00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:47.359
You have to make sure that your newly merged company will allow you to tap into any interactive and shoppable ads there, right?

00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:48.960
What is their ad stack?

00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:57.119
Their capability of doing this, because a 30-second ad just to increase brand name awareness is done.

00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:11.680
This has got to work harder, and you need to be able to make sure they have the technology available to make that happen, that engagement rather than just, you know, watching.

00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:19.279
And finally, what's going to happen is a newly merged company will have an entirely new user interface.

00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:25.119
And let's say, as viewers, how many times did you go on and say, where the hell is my show?

00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:32.000
That home screen is the most valuable piece of real estate in streaming.

00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:44.079
As people need to navigate through this new user interface, you need prominent position and ability to be back on the screen because that's when the decision happens.

00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:51.759
And how fabulous for your brand to be front and center on that exact decision phase.

00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:58.079
That's really where you break through and create a sort of well-rounded campaign.

00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:00.559
Be on that glass right away.

00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:03.039
Make sure you have an opportunity to do that.

00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:03.839
That's awesome.

00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:17.440
Gene, speaking of front and center, we're going to bring those five questions up in just a second, but I want to take a moment for you to have an opportunity to talk about how you work with brands and buyers and publishers and platforms professionally.

00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:26.960
What's the focus of your work is extending content like this and education to teams and to companies that are really trying to navigate this?

00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:28.000
How does that work?

00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:43.359
Yes, I really help having worked in advertising at an agency, at a KTV provider, at networks, I have seen every possible point of view of streaming and advertising.

00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:50.799
I know what we need to do is create a really powerful go-to-market narrative.

00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:53.279
And that's what I help companies do.

00:30:54.079 --> 00:31:05.680
An ad tech company or a publisher or a platform, I help you understand where you fit in the media and streaming uh landscape.

00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:21.440
Here's that unique brand promise that you can bring to market, and I really help create, you know, powerful ad products that are make sense of it.

00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:28.240
Finally, what I really enjoy doing is helping folks internally make sense of all this.

00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:35.359
I run webinars like this, I do learn all the time because there's so much data out there.

00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:36.559
It's chaotic.

00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:48.160
And what I love to do is take all of this and actually create it into a comprehensive format that people understand and feel empowered to take to market.

00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:58.319
End of the day, what I do, Tim, is I create sales materials that make your successful and then into your company.

00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:02.720
Yeah, it's something that everyone can appreciate, making it simple to sell more.

00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:03.839
All right.

00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:06.160
So making it simple to buy more.

00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:12.880
What are the five questions that we have to ask this year going into the upfront season?

00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:16.240
What are the questions on your mind for buyers to be asking?

00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:16.880
Okay.

00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:19.680
So kind of plays off the four tips.

00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:23.119
I know there's five here, but I went into a little bit further here.

00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:27.119
So the first is that data independence question, right?

00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:37.359
You need to ask them, can I active my first party data on your platform, or are we relying solely on your native targeting tools?

00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:39.680
This is super important, guys.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:46.720
As the ownership shifts, you need to safeguard your targeting consistency, right?

00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:56.079
You need to make sure that your data uh portability is protected in these campaigns.

00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:00.880
Ask them what the data independent qualifications are.

00:33:01.039 --> 00:33:02.160
Very, very important.

00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:06.880
The second is about the reach and the scale, right?

00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:11.519
That's let's get on that key data I talked about earlier, right?

00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:19.279
What is the ad available subscriber base and impression supply that you're going to be able to tap into, right?

00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:26.240
After the merger, they need to blend total audience with clear visibility, right?

00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:30.640
You need to make sure that you understand what's available.

00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:36.559
So you have the most accurate planning at a guaranteed scale you need for any campaign.

00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:41.119
The third is what kind of content are you buying, right?

00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:53.279
That's locking those high affinity tech poles or events that you can lock in now before the price resets in the marketplace, right?

00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:58.480
Premium inventory is going to become competitive very, very quickly.

00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:09.760
Try to commit early so you can get the best value for that very premium content that everybody's going to want to be part of.

00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:14.320
Fourth is the interaction standard, right?

00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:20.880
This is all about the ed tech stack that is available in this new company, right?

00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:28.239
Can it fully support interactive, shoppable, and outcome-driven format?

00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:36.800
This is going to be one of the biggest continuation and involvement of ad products in streaming.

00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:45.119
You have to remember that this new company has an ad tech that is up to date and dare I say innovative.

00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:48.639
Go in there and ask them what their capabilities are.

00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:53.119
And finally, it is that real estate uh question.

00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:56.000
You know, it's all about location, location, location.

00:34:56.159 --> 00:35:01.119
And for advertising streaming, that location is the home screen, right?

00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:16.480
You need to be on that home screen during their time of transition as people are discovering what kind of contents on there, because that is what I like to call the decision-making time.

00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:23.280
And if your brand can be there at that moment of selection, that's a win-win for you.

00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:25.519
So, how can you be part of it?

00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:30.159
How are they carving out an opportunity for you on that home screen?

00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:47.360
So, these five questions, I think, in a very crazy time for mergers, if you can go in with these five, at the very least, you're going to be able to go back to your clients and say, hey, we've done everything we can to protect the data that we're bringing.

00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:58.480
We're selecting content that's reengaging in formats that are interactive, and we're placing it on the most important screen in streaming.

00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:06.960
So I think if you can get good answers to these five questions, then you're going to have a very successful pronunciation.

00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:08.960
Such a great point, Gene.

00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:20.480
Reinforcing the value that we bring as agencies, as buyers to our clients, we're asking good, thoughtful questions that are beyond this quarter's campaign.

00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:30.800
We're thinking about 12, 18, 24 months out, we're thinking about how can streaming can be a pillar to your media strategy going forward.

00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:33.440
So this has been a great session.

00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:40.000
If folks want to get this, if you're if you're watching and you haven't registered yet, there's going to be a link nearby.

00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:41.039
Go register.

00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:46.880
That's going to get your email to us so that we can get Gene's five must-ass questions to you.

00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:55.760
Gene, if folks want to get in touch with you, you're obviously here on LinkedIn and that's linked close by, but you've got a very active Substack.

00:36:56.000 --> 00:37:00.079
Tell us about the other ways to get in touch and to connect with you.

00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:04.320
So on Substack, I am the streaming strategy scholar.

00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:06.079
I'd love for you to subscribe.

00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:06.880
It's free.

00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:08.639
You can find me on LinkedIn.

00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:16.719
I know you're active there, or at uh Kuruchi Consultants.com, which is the name of my consultancy agency.

00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:19.760
But um, please do connect with me on LinkedIn.

00:37:19.920 --> 00:37:23.280
I love to meet new people, uh, new industries.

00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:24.559
But thank you, Tim.

00:37:24.719 --> 00:37:35.360
Thanks so much for the opportunity to come and sort of share my soapbox, so to speak, on on mergs and acquisitions and how we can stay ahead of it.

00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:38.880
We keep a whole bunch of soapboxes in the room in the back.

00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:40.960
So please, you're welcome anytime.

00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:48.239
This is obviously tremendously valuable content, and we're excited to help bring it uh to bring it to lots of folks today with you.

00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:49.920
So, Gene, thank you.

00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:51.920
Audience, thank you for tuning in.

00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:53.679
This is our first LinkedIn Live.

00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:55.840
So if you enjoyed this, let us know.

00:37:56.079 --> 00:37:57.440
Comment in the chat.

00:37:57.519 --> 00:37:59.119
Uh, that link will be close by.

00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:03.599