MVPDs, Vizio Form Addressable TV Ad Initiative

U.S. video distributors and Vizio announced the Go Addressable initiative Tuesday to promote integration of addressable TV functionality into advertising and marketing. Participants plan industry education and recommendations, while “remaining committed to protecting personal information,” said the group, whose members are Altice USA, Charter, Comcast, Cox Media, AT&T's DirecTV, Dish Media and Frontier. Its goal is to increase access to addressable inventory and reduce fragmentation in addressable TV ads by identifying best practices. “Addressable capabilities open up tremendous new opportunities for advertisers by marrying the reach of TV with the precision of audience targeting,” said Mike Dean, senior vice president-advanced advertising, ViacomCBS, which is delivering national addressable campaigns with distribution partners, “but the growth of addressable requires standards, scale and industry participation.” Interest in addressable TV ads “is strong” and Go Addressable can help resolve existing challenges and “pave the way forward for the industry, which is currently at an inflection point,” said Video Advertising Bureau CEO Sean Cunningham.