Programmatic ads will come live via satellite and streaming as part of an arrangement announced Monday by Dish Media.
The advertising operation of Dish said this new National Linear Programmatic (NLP) solution will allow advertisers real-time programmatic buying across all 7 million-plus households reached by Dish TV’s satellite and streaming services.
“Pioneering this new capability is another step in our effort to build more open and interoperable solutions for our advertisers,” the release quoted Kevin Arrix, Dish Media SVP. “The television marketplace is evolving, and providing our valuable linear TV inventory via programmatic technology is another positive step in this direction.”
Dish has lined up two firms, SeaChange International and Beachfront, to help run this service by providing sell-side and ad-insertion tools.
“Adopting the principles of addressability and automation from the digital landscape to enable real-time auctions for linear TV through industry-standard digital advertising marketplaces is a game-changer and a growth milestone for the industry,” said Chris Klimmer, president of Boston-based SeaChange.
“Advertisers are constantly looking for the fastest, most efficient use of time and money,” added Chris Maccaro, CEO of New York-based Beachfront. “Having access to DISH TV's national linear TV inventory with the tools required to get a campaign live in a day will provide a lot of new flexibility.”
Like many TV providers, Dish has been working to make its advertising more easily and accurately addressable. Last April, Dish Media co-founded the TV Data Initiative with several other ad-tech companies to streamline targeted TV ads. In a statement at the time, Dish’s Arrix said. “As data-driven TV continues to grow, it’s increasingly important for us to find solutions that align data and identity with marketers' efforts for improved efficiency and measurability, without jeopardizing customer information.”
After multiple quarters of subscriber losses, Dish could certainly use a bump up in advertising income. Most recently, the company reported a Q2 net loss of 275,000 subscriptions across its Dish satellite service and its Sling TV vMVPD, with most of the losses happening on the older service.