Index Explains: streaming TV
The video advertising market, and particularly streaming TV, is rapidly evolving.
Think about just how fast the market’s accelerated. Viewership surged during the pandemic, streaming providers introduced ad-supported tiers and expanded their content libraries, and marketers continue to increase connected TV ad spend.
Seemingly overnight, the market has grown from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.
Because viewership and adoption has far outpaced technical implementation, it’s made streaming TV and video feel incredibly complex. You’ve got ad pods, AVOD and SVOD, content objects, household IDs, and so much more—it can seem overwhelming.
We talk to people who are deep in the trenches of streaming TV every day at Index. And we’ve realized that there are misconceptions about how the technology and systems actually work.
While video is sophisticated, it doesn’t need to be confusing.
So we’re introducing a new initiative, Index Explains, to break down the complexities of programmatic advertising. We’re kicking it off with a series all about simplifying streaming TV.
Like any channel that has experienced tremendous growth, you start to notice a few growing pains. There are critical, foundational elements that we need to address to unlock the full potential of streaming TV.
We’ve seen this journey before. Index has been around for two decades, since the inception of ad tech. Many of the problems we’re solving for in video today—like quality, transparency, and efficiency—are similar to the programmatic evolution in web.
Solving these challenges requires collaboration across the industry. And that starts with a shared understanding of the nuances of video and how a programmatic marketplace can—and should—work.
Video doesn’t have to be complex. Simplifying and democratizing video is critical to architecting the future of streaming and CTV. We’re here to teach you everything we know.
