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2 Marketers Must Follow Consumers As They
Embrace Digital Video
A Fragmenting Video Landscape Requires
New Media Strategies
Advertisers Embrace Digital Video For Reach,
Flexibility, And Measurement
Advertisers Seek A Solution To Manage
Complex Video Campaign Execution Needs
8 Video Advertising DSP Evaluation Overview
Advertisers Focus On Inventory Quality And
Cross-Screen Capabilities
Evaluated Vendors Give The Buy-Side
Comprehensive Video Ad Features
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display, advertisers currently use capabilities to measure viewability, avoid fraudulent inventory, and
screen out potentially offensive content. Advertisers also look for flexibility in the KPIs they measure
their campaign by, the ad formats they use, and the type of programmatic buying process they use.
Ad delivery controls to limit frequency or sequence ad creatives round out todays capabilities.
Video planners will look for cross-device capabilities; mobile video ads next. We also asked
which capabilities will be important for video DSPs to offer in the next three years. While quality
capabilities remained among the top needs, cross-device capabilities to identify individuals and
optimize ads jumped into the top 10 along with the ability to use the advertisers first-party data.
Mobile ad inventory beat out over-the-top TV ad inventory as the most critical future type of video
inventory (see Figure 3).
How is your firm organized to manage television and digital video advertising?
Only digital, Other
5%
no TV
7%
A single group
handles both
32%
71% of respondents
coordinate TV and
digital video
Different TV and
digital groups,
but plan jointly
39%
Base: 86 survey respondents
Source: The Forrester Wave: Video Ad Platforms, Q4 2015 Customer Reference Survey
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Does your company use the following capabilities in its video marketing?
(Please select one response per row.)
Currently using
No plans to use
1
72 3
71 3 2
69 3 4
67 3
66 4
65
11
62
60
55
53
10 3
63
65 4
7 3
66
5 3
67
5 3
68
13
15
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3-1
Support for first-party data and cross-screen capabilities will grow in importance
Please rate the importance or unimportance of a video DSP platform
offering the following capabilities in the next three years.
Not important
Somewhat important
Important
Critically important
12
62
13
62
58
16
57
17
18
55
18
55
16
54
18
53
20
52
21
53
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FIGURE 3 Cross-Screen Capabilities And Mobile Inventory Top Future Needs (Cont.)
3-2
Somewhat important
Mobile apps 3
6
10
11
12
7
Video-on-demand
Professionally-produced web-based video content
(e.g., Stylehaul, Machinima, etc.)
15
9
Linear television
6
37
34
16
42
25
Critically important
25
Mobile web 4
Important
28
37
27
30
27
35
25
29
25
14
33
20
17
33
20
10
23
31
12
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Product evaluated
AOL
DataXu
Tremor Video
TubeMogul
TubeMogul Platform
Turn
Viant
Videology
Videology Platform
Yahoo
BrightRoll DSP
Vendor selection criteria
final two criteria, one looks at the breadth of ad inventory across the entire spectrum of video types
available, while the other reflects the satisfaction ratings on 15 capabilities that the reference clients
of each participating vendor indicated in an online survey that Forrester administered.9
Strategy. To determine whether the company has a strategy that will meet the expected changes
in this fast-evolving area, Forrester evaluated the breadth of expertise of the management team
and the product strategy for its robustness in addressing the need for cross-device individual
identification, incorporating all forms of digital and video advertising, and the ability to provide
quantitative, scientific measurement of campaign results.
Market presence. These eight criteria examine four areas of each firms position in the market:
customer base, revenue, revenue growth, and global capabilities.
Evaluated Vendors Give The Buy-Side Comprehensive Video Ad Features
Forrester included 10 vendors in the assessment: AOL, DataXu, Google DoubleClick Bid Manager, The
Trade Desk, Tremor Video, TubeMogul, Turn, Viant, Videology, and Yahoo BrightRoll. Each of these
vendors has:
Capabilities to enable the buy side. In order to qualify, vendors had to have a set of features
designed to enable advertisers or their agencies to plan, buy, and execute video advertising
campaigns. While some of the included vendors offer platforms intended to be used by both buy
and sell side, pure sell-side platforms were excluded from consideration.
Broad video content including inventory in television programs. With consumer viewing behavior
shifting to diverse online, over-the-top, and TV everywhere options, advertisers need a tool that can
reach these viewers to fill the increasing gaps in traditional television ad plans as linear TV ratings
sag. We focused on vendors who tap into the entire spectrum of video opportunities, including linear
television, while excluding vendors who handled web-native video alone.
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DSP functionality means some more television-focused functions are not yet present. Vendors
from the display advertising side, including DataXu and Turn, have added video inventory to their
offerings but lack capabilities that support the branding objectives that video primarily serves. Viant
envisioned a new platform and built its Advertising Cloud through a series of acquisitions that show
strong promise. DoubleClick Bid Manager is relatively new to the video space and opted not to
participate in the evaluation, but given the importance of this vendor in online advertising, Forrester
included it as a nonparticipating vendor.10
This evaluation of the video advertising DSP market is intended to be a starting point only. We
encourage clients to view detailed product evaluations and adapt criteria weightings to fit their
individual needs through the Forrester Wave Excel-based vendor comparison tool.
Challengers Contenders
Strong
Strong
Performers
Leaders
TubeMogul
Videology
The Trade
Desk
Viant
Turn
Tremor Video
BrightRoll
Current
offering
DataXu
Go to Forrester.com to
download the Forrester
Wave tool for more
detailed product
evaluations, feature
comparisons, and
customizable rankings.
AOL
Market presence
Full vendor participation
Incomplete vendor participation
Weak
Weak
Strategy
Strong
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10
Challengers Contenders
Strong
Strong
Performers
Leaders
TubeMogul
Videology
The Trade
Desk
Viant
Turn
Tremor Video
BrightRoll
Current
offering
DataXu
Go to Forrester.com to
download the Forrester
Wave tool for more
detailed product
evaluations, feature
comparisons, and
customizable rankings.
AOL
Market presence
Full vendor participation
Incomplete vendor participation
Weak
Weak
Strategy
Strong
Vendor Profiles
Leaders
TubeMoguls video-first heritage empowers the buy side. TubeMogul was founded as an online
video platform and designed to serve brand-focused advertisers, a departure from most online
advertisings direct response bias. Its emphasis on serving branding objectives is confirmed by the
strong offer of TV network private marketplaces and the platforms capabilities in planning online
video that complements a linear TV schedule. TubeMogul customers gave it strong ratings for its
data sourcing and management abilities, fraud prevention, and ad delivery controls. Ad agencies
and marketers who want to directly manage their programmatic video buying will find the self-serve
platform compelling.
To maintain its leadership position, TubeMogul needs to strengthen its cross-device individual identity
graph, the weakest capability area as highlighted by its customer references, but key to the ability to
give brand-focused advertisers optimal control over the reach and frequency of their campaigns.
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Videology excels at mastering the convergence of television and online video. Videology
designed its solution with the view that the TV buying process would eventually be automated
and the thinking behind TV planning would drive online video buying. As a result, Videology has
the most sophisticated media optimizer to analyze the right allocation of TV and online video
to optimize reach and campaign cost, a compelling feature for media planners grounded in a
traditional TV discipline. The firm serves both advertisers and publishers notably Comcasts
Spotlight ad sales but maintains its neutrality by not owning any advertising inventory.
Videologys bidding engine and in-flight optimization client reference scores lag, and the firm
will need to improve these functions as video advertising evolves from content placements to
impression-by-impression buying.
The Trade Desk combines strong programmatic technology for digital video inventory. This
firm, a Leader in our demand-side platforms Q2 2015 Forrester Wave, has built a strong technology
platform for digital media buying based on its roots in online display advertising.11 These digital
roots show in its strength in digital video inventory, bidding engine, and in-flight optimization
capabilities. The Trade Desk received the highest customer satisfaction ratings of all participants,
and most capabilities scored significantly above the median for each. The firm aspires to move
beyond its display heritage to be the platform for everything digital, and these broad capabilities
are best for ad agencies and marketers with large budgets distributed across all forms of display
and video ad opportunities.
The Trade Desks digital roots expose weaknesses for more brand-oriented advertisers: planning
screens that focus on impressions without the ability to calculate a campaigns unduplicated reach
and frequency and only average brand lift measurement capabilities.
Strong Performers
Turn offers a solid video DSP but can improve on ad inventory quality controls. Given Turns
history as an early provider of programmatic advertising, its no surprise that the firm scores highly
for core DSP capabilities, such as its bidding engine and in-flight optimization. It has augmented
these strengths by tapping into all the major video and television inventory sources, such as
clypd and One by AOL: Video Marketplace. Turns media path to conversion and optimal reach
and frequency to drive actions analyses will appeal especially to brands in high consideration
categories where the consumer decision path is long and likely moves across many touchpoints.
Turns customer reference scores for its fraud prevention capabilities were well below average, and
we found its viewability and brand safety features middle of the pack. Like other programmatic
platforms that started in the display space, its platform lags in offering tools to plan digital video
buys that fill gaps in TV buys.
Viants integrated stack aims to slash the technology tax. Viant has assembled its Advertising
Cloud from a series of acquisitions with the goal of squeezing costs out of todays ecosystem of
disparate specialist services, such as viewability, DMP, attribution, etc., that constitute the so 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law.
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12
called technology tax that siphons off up to 60% of the online advertising budget.12 The firm further
differentiates itself with its offering of 1 billion proprietary deterministic cross-device, people-based
profiles derived from Myspace, which it acquired in 2011. Its focus to date has been on digital
media, including video (through its 2010 acquisition of Vindico), but the firm plans to launch its
Xumo platform in connected TVs in the next six months to build its TV inventory and viewer data.
Advertisers who dont want day-to-day management of their campaigns will appreciate Viants
managed services focus.
Viant needs to enhance its bidding engine, ad delivery controls, and planning capabilities and expand
beyond connected TV inventory to have a full video solution to move into the Leader category.
Tremor Video makes the transition from ad network to video marketplace. Started as a video
ad network in 2007, the firm saw the market move away from the network model and has spent
two years evolving its capabilities to serve both buy and sell side with its VideoHub. Tremor Video
shows strong progress in its DSP, offering credible capabilities in all areas and particular strengths
in its audience forecasting and in-flight optimization, while its customers further rated its brand lift
and attribution measurement abilities highly. This combination of features is well suited for brand
advertisers who allocate a significant portion of their budget to digital channels.
While the firm needs to continue to strengthen its fraud and brand safety capabilities, it also needs
to build out its television inventory and tools for converging TV and digital video planning, which
the firm told us is on its road map for 2016.
BrightRoll offers strong digital video inventory for digital advertisers. BrightRoll was a pioneer
video ad network, launching in 2006, and pivoted to the programmatic space with the launch
of BrightRoll Exchange in 2010. Yahoos acquisition of BrightRoll in 2014 should have bolstered
the DSPs cross-device individual identity graph with first-party deterministic data, though client
reference scores indicate this hasnt been fully realized yet. BrightRoll users give it strong marks for
inventory availability, and Yahoos integration of mobile analytics tool Flurry strengthens BrightRolls
mobile advertising offering. Advertisers whose budget is predominantly digital will benefit from this
breadth of ad inventory.
But BrightRolls platform is built around online display advertising processes and metrics that dont
fully support the objectives of a converged TV/online video plan. To become a leader, BrightRoll
needs to improve its tools to help media planners understand how digital video will extend and
complement their TV schedules.
DataXus strong platform hasnt fully translated to videos branding power. As a Leader in the
DSP Forrester Wave, its buy-side platform starts with strong in-flight optimization capabilities and
a powerful bidding engine. The vendor backs its claims of strong fraud prevention with a moneyback guarantee that differentiates it in the market. Large advertisers who dont use TV and whose
business has a direct response focus will find the platform capable for their needs.
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But the firms omnichannel approach only applies to digital channels, including video, and it lags
others in linear TV inventory and planning capabilities. In addition, its display heritage comes
through in its focus on impressions and clicks, and with other actions and gaps in its ability to
serve brand objectives.
DoubleClick Bid Manager shows potential to be a strong competitor. DoubleClick launched
its video capability at the end of 2013 and opted to be a nonparticipating vendor in this evaluation.
Despite the limited information Forrester was able to gather, the firm earned Strong Performer
status, particularly for the strength of its in-flight optimization and cross-device individual
identification, which benefits from Googles broad first-party relationship with over a billion Internet
users globally. Television is a high priority for DoubleClick, and it demonstrated a clear vision and
strong strategy for how it will expand its capabilities. It is also committed to further integrating
the measurement capabilities acquired through Adometry, enabling users to optimize to business
results. The firm reported strong growth since the launch of its video capability, and DoubleClick
will be an easy addition for advertisers already using the platform for their display advertising.
One by AOL: Video is a new platform that needs improvement to fulfill its promise. The One by
AOL: Video platform launched in April 2015 as the result of a series of acquisitions, including video
platform Adapt.TV in 2013 and attribution technology Convertro in 2014. AOLs 30 owned media
properties, such as the Huffington Post and TechCrunch, give the platform a strong foundation
of first-party deterministic identities. The platform also offers unique television capabilities, with
audience data for all television programming and its proprietary tRatio metric. Advertisers will
appreciate the ability to use digital ads to fill gaps in TV schedules as audiences rapidly migrate to
non-linear viewing options.
Despite these strong capabilities, One by AOL: Video earned the lowest satisfaction scores among
all participants, suggesting the firm must better integrate these capabilities. The firm has two
additional integrations in process: Millennial Media and Verizon customer data. If successful, it has
the potential to be a future Leader.
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Analyst Advisory
Supplemental Material
Online Resource
The online version of Figure 5 is an Excel-based vendor comparison tool that provides detailed product
evaluations and customizable rankings.
Data Sources Used In This Forrester Wave
Forrester used a combination of three data sources to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each
solution:
Vendor surveys. Forrester surveyed vendors on their capabilities as they relate to the evaluation
criteria. Vendors provided detailed descriptions and supporting evidence pertaining to their current
offering, strategy, and market presence. Where necessary, we conducted vendor calls or written
requests to gather additional details of vendor capabilities as they relate to the evaluation criteria.
In-depth briefings and product demos. We met with each vendor for a two-hour briefing and
demonstration of their products functionality, including two scenarios we designed to provide a
standard process for understanding key features. We used findings from these product demos to
validate details of each vendors product capabilities.
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Customer reference survey. To validate product and vendor qualifications, Forrester also
conducted an online survey with up to 10 of each vendors current customers.
The Forrester Wave Methodology
We conduct primary research to develop a list of vendors that meet our criteria to be evaluated in this
market. From that initial pool of vendors, we then narrow our final list. We choose these vendors based
on: 1) product fit; 2) customer success; and 3) Forrester client demand. We eliminate vendors that have
limited customer references and products that dont fit the scope of our evaluation.
After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we develop
the initial evaluation criteria. To evaluate the vendors and their products against our set of criteria,
we gather details of product qualifications through a combination of lab evaluations, questionnaires,
demos, and/or discussions with client references. We send evaluations to the vendors for their review,
and we adjust the evaluations to provide the most accurate view of vendor offerings and strategies.
We set default weightings to reflect our analysis of the needs of large user companies and/or other
scenarios as outlined in the Forrester Wave document and then score the vendors based on a
clearly defined scale. These default weightings are intended only as a starting point, and we encourage
readers to adapt the weightings to fit their individual needs through the Excel-based tool. The final
scores generate the graphical depiction of the market based on current offering, strategy, and market
presence. Forrester intends to update vendor evaluations regularly as product capabilities and vendor
strategies evolve. For more information on the methodology that every Forrester Wave follows, go to
http://www.forrester.com/marketing/policies/forrester-wave-methodology.html.
Integrity Policy
All of Forresters research, including Forrester Wave evaluations, is conducted according to our Integrity
Policy. For more information, go to http://www.forrester.com/marketing/policies/integrity-policy.html.
Endnotes
Ed Papazian, the president of Media Dynamics, notes that this decline hasnt been seen before and in total,
spending is down 11% since the 2012 to 2014 season. Source: Wayne Friedman, Broadcast, Cable Upfront Spending
Drops Again, MediaPost, September 9, 2015 (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/257973/broadcastcable-upfront-spending-drops-again.html).
Millennials are defined here as 18 to 35 year olds, while older adults are 36 and older. Source: Forresters North
American Consumer Technographics Online Benchmark Survey (Part 1), 2015.
Younger consumers continue to drive the adoption of mobile video, seeing it as the core of their entertainment
universe. Source: Ooyala Q2 Global Video Index, Ooyala (http://go.ooyala.com/wf-video-index-q2-2015).
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16
The ANA/White Ops study notes: Almost a quarter of video ad impressions in the study were identified as bot fraud,
as were 11 percent of display ad impressions, while 17 percent of programmatic display bot traffic was fraudulent, and
bot fraud for retargeted ads averaged 19 percent. Source: Michael J. McDermott, Fraudsters, Liars, and Cheats,
Association of National Advertisers, March 1, 2015 (http://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/id/ana-2015-mar-fraudstersliars-cheats).
Forrester forecasts a 21% compound annual growth rate for video advertising on PCs through 2019, and an almost 40%
growth rate on mobile devices. Source: Forrester Research Online Display Advertising Forecast, 2014 To 2019 (US).
Source: Jason Lynch, A First Look at Nielsens Total Audience Measurement and How It Will Change the
Industry, Adweek, October 20, 2015 (http://www.adweek.com/news/television/first-look-nielsen-s-total-audiencemeasurement-and-how-it-will-change-industry-167661).
As advertisers grow more comfortable with the new way of buying video ad inventory, television programming
delivered online, in apps and across devices will be progressively pulled into programmatic buyings orbit and will
eventually arrive at televisions doorstep. See the How Software Is Eating Video Ads And, Soon, TV Forrester report.
Different types of video content have higher or lower value to advertisers, largely depending on the perceived level of
production quality; advertisers often consider video content produced for TV broadcasting at the top of the pile. As
the advertising industry gains experience with programmatic buying, the practice is morphing beyond its original open
real-time bidding format, creating four types of programmatic buying models. See the How Software Is Eating Video
Ads And, Soon, TV Forrester report.
Forrester invited vendors participating in this Wave to provide up to 10 client references each. Forrester fielded an
online survey to the 88 references provided, asking them to prioritize the importance of DSP platform capabilities and
rate their satisfaction with their vendor on 15 of these capabilities. These results formed the basis of the customer
satisfaction criterion in the Forrester Wave model.
Occasionally, vendors we choose to include in a Wave decline to actively participate in the process. If the analyst feels
the vendor is important in this market, he or she may choose to include it in the report as a nonparticipating vendor.
Nonparticipating vendors do not go through the formal evaluation process; instead, Forrester uses public information
and data gathered via briefings and/or independently sourced client references.
10
To learn more about our assessment of the demand side platforms market, see the The Forrester Wave: DemandSide Platforms, Q2 2015 Forrester report.
11
The term technology tax refers to the significant percent of the advertising budget that is spent on intermediary
technologies and data sources such as ad servers, DSPs, et al., instead of purchasing media. For one estimate of the
size of this tax, visit the following link. Source: The Technology Tax, Aol Platforms (http://www.aolplatforms.com/
research/technology-tax).
12
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