Chris Pizzurro
Pizzurro had a good year in 2015, helping to drive cable VOD to deliver more than 10 billion ads viewed through the platform, enabling a marketplace of more than $300 million. He believes in dialogue between all players in the advertising ecosystem and has a way of getting all parties to the table to come up with strategic solutions. Pizzurro stays on top of the changing multiscreen universe by staying connected with programming network customers and MSO owners. “We have the luxury of serving these two groups who know what their customers want,” he says. “So, we can just listen to them, then innovate and execute on their needs.”
What does the multiscreen experience look like in 3 years?
To the consumer, it will be as reliable as linear TV is today. Meaning, today, when a consumer sits down at 8pm on a Thursday night to watch TV, they know what to expect. There is a programming guide, a channel lineup, and ads. On the flip side, in multiscreen today, a consumer can have different experiences across various platforms, with vastly diverse guides, lineups, and ad loads. As we all collective figure out “what works”, we will see these elements get fairly more consistent, resulting in a more reliable, multiscreen TV experience, regardless of the platform.
How do you keep yourself and your team engaged and informed on the changing multiscreen universe? By reading trade mags, like CableFAX (really!), and going to trade shows. But mainly, from talking with our programming network customers and our MSO owners. We have the luxury of serving these two groups who know what their customers want. So, we can just listen to them, then innovate and execute on their needs.
To what degree will measurement factor into multiscreen monetization in 2016? Huge as always. Clients have put it on their agencies, who have in turn put it on their programmers, to prove that multiscreen TV can meet their KPI’s. Measurement on each screen is there fairly well today. The next step is to help agencies produce reach and frequency measurement curves on each multiscreen ad campaign.
What are your 3 go-to apps? United Airlines, ESPN Radio, and MetroHero. In shameless family promotion; ESPN, so I can listen to my older son Frank’s podcast, OffSCenter; and MetroHero, which is my younger son James’s app that tells D.C. Metro riders how many minutes away their train is.
If you had to spend a month in the virtual reality, what would your environment be?
The Chris Pizzurro environment. I can’t believe I get to wake up each day and be a part of this industry at this time. Very fortunate.
