In this episode of The Speed of Culture podcast, Tony Marlow, chief marketing officer at LG Ad Solutions, joins Suzy founder and CEO Matt Britton to discuss the “big shift” from traditional television to connected TV, and from subscription to ad-supported models.

Did you know that 70% of connected TV viewers in the U.S. prefer ad-supported models? If you had asked that in 2020, that number would’ve been close to zero.

Marlow is a well-rounded marketing professional, thought leader and digital nerd who uses data-driven insights to lead all aspects of marketing and communications. Before LG Ad Solutions, he held various marketing leadership positions, including CMO at Integral Ad Science and Data Axle, and vp and head of B2B marketing insights at Yahoo.

Marlow is also the co-founder of Appy Dragon, a mobile app development organization that made the popular Racer Tracer.

Key Takeaways

03:03 – 04:31 – The Art and Science of Advertising – Creativity and data science are equally significant for advertising. But it seems most marketers prefer to focus more on the data side. Historically, at a macro level, marketers had to choose between performance and brand marketing. Now, a new breed of marketers—performance storytellers—use science to drive creativity, connect with their audience more meaningfully and convey relevant messaging. Marketers don’t have to choose anymore. In fact, they need both creativity and data science to be successful.

05:58 – 07:50 – The Big Shift – With the onset of the pandemic, television consumer behavior changed significantly and rapidly. Marlow calls this The Big Shift, which consists of two phases. The first phase was the shift from traditional to connected television (CTV). Now, we are in the second phase—moving from subscription models toward ad-supported models.

09:50 – 12:42 – Direct to Glass  – Phase one of the shift meant the death of dongles. It also made consumers go “direct to glass”—or directly to the OEM TV—to experience personalized content. Going direct to glass helps marketers shape consumers’ advertising experiences within connected television and make those marketing connections in a privacy-friendly way.

18:41 – 20:20 – The CTV Experience – Connected TV offers marketers the ability to do things they can’t do on traditional television, like shoppable ads, creative units that integrate into the UI, and QR codes, which help unify the experience between mobile and TV. It’s all about creating a seamless, personalized and engaging experience for the consumer.