Top 5 Tips for Getting Started in Programmatic TV

By Chris Pizzurro

Getting started in TV advertising using programmatic tools can be daunting for both newcomers and traditional TV buyers and sellers. After honing our skills in this space during the past three years, Leap Media Group is happy to offer our top 5 tips to brands, buyers, and sellers.

These are not “Programmatic 101” topics, as those can be found with a simple Google search. These are practical tips for running the efficient operation that those in performance media demand.

1. Commercial Production: Save money in creative production by reusing successful assets from other media, including social. Prepare outlines and scripts in advance, leverage stock video/music, and utilize AI voiceover tools now found in many video editing programs.

2. Media Planning: Carry over best practices from traditional TV by establishing clear goals. Select networks and audience segments that match your demographics, target geographically, set realistic budgets, and manage frequency caps. Often, consumers will see the same ad repeatedly because the brand or agency did not specify a frequency cap.

3. Media Execution: Carry over best practices from digital and social. Set up daily data feeds, monitor campaigns closely, adjust executions mid-flight by optimizing to what is working. And — again — watch for frequency caps. In addition to data, set up eyes-on-glass monitoring so you can see your ad in context. A Roku or Amazon stick could be your best friend here.

4. Reporting: Match reporting to goals and invoicing, and address discrepancies. By default, a seller’s reporting data set may not match what the brand/buyer needs. Address this before the campaign starts and watch for discrepancies early in the campaign.

5. Choosing the Right TV Partners: While brands, buyers and sellers can manage programmatic TV advertising utilizing existing in-house staff, we recommend partnering with experienced programmatic TV professionals. This may mean hiring a programmatic TV person in-house or farming out to experienced shops like Leap Media Group. Either way, key qualities to look for in a programmatic TV partner include those who inherently know: reliability, flexibility, communication, premium inventory, brand safety, scale, and daily reporting.

Leap Media Group: A Trusted Partner

Leap Media Group positions itself as a producer, distributor, and buyer of streaming TV ad inventory since 2009. The company offers programmatic ad insertion, custom integrations, and long-form branded engagement shows, helping brands reach consumers through innovative TV solutions.

I hope these five tips help with your programmatic TV endeavors, and of course, feel free to reach out to me for more details on anything in this article.

Chris Pizzurro is co-founder and principal of Leap Media Group LLC. He can be reached via email at chris@leapmediagroupllc.com.