Telaria : Observations from CES 2019

From the BreadBot to 3D printed dentures, there's never a dull moment at CES. While TVs rolled up on the show floor and self driving cars zoomed around the strip, our Chief Commercial Officer Adam Lowy and VP of Publisher Partnerships Laura Buchman situated themselves at the Aria (AKA CES MediaLand) to filter through the innovations and trends that will impact the video advertising landscape in the months and years to come.

Without a doubt, the arrival of 5G will be the inflection point that brings us closer to a fully connected, automated, IOT world. True 5G will dramatically reduce latency and hasten the rate of cord cutting as IP delivery and OTT becomes faster and more reliable, speeding up the decline of cable and satellite TV. While viewers will rejoice in their ability to download full series of shows in seconds or minutes instead of hours, 5G also presents opportunities for content creators and advertisers. With the ability to transfer huge amounts of data at much faster speeds, the value of programmatic will become easier to capture for both buyers and sellers. This weaves into the conversations we had at CES around connected TV growth and the ability to use data for personalization and addressable targeting. While there is some work to be done to get there, 5G will introduce a ton of positive opportunity for the industry.

The amount of TV and video content just waiting to be watched is staggeringly high, but, not to worry, CES has a fix for that: connected, self-driving cars! In the not-too-distant future when drivers are free from the constraints of paying attention to the road, they'll have ample time to watch a feature length film sitting in gridlock or catch up on live news while running errands. Just think about all the addressable and geo-targeting advertising possibilities! On the flipside, could this be the thing that sounds the death knell for radio.

On the media front, everyone we spoke to wants to learn more about connected TV (CTV). Content producers and brand advertisers want to be on the cutting edge of premium video and they know CTV is something they need to jump on as soon as possible. All we can say is, keep an eye out for some major OTT and connected TV partnerships in the coming months!

We wanted to give a special shout out to our partners at Adobe for inviting us to their executive cycling club where we connected with peers in the great outdoors. It was a welcome reprieve before we headed back home to New York and Los Angeles. After a few whirlwind days at CES, we're excited to see which innovations take off with consumers. One thing we're certain of is that the future of TV is bright and video advertisers will have a lot of new ground to cover.