Member Spotlight: A+E Networks

What does your company do, and specifically how does it serve the digital ecosystem?

Sarah Shriver, Vice President of Digital Ad Sales

“A+E Networks provides top quality, professionally produced live linear and on demand programming. We provide a premium, clean environment across all platforms, devices and points of access for the consumer to enjoy in a multi-screen world. As an organization we embrace the digital ecosystem with its opportunities and challenges as consumer behavior, consumption patterns and monetization models evolve. We embrace our ability to be a fast mover on the front lines of new partnerships and platforms in an effort to keep our brands top of mind with consumers and advertisers. We strive to deliver a quality user experience while maximizing our monetization capabilities.”

What are some recent accomplishments worth noting?

R. Lee Barstow, Vice President of Digital Ad Operations & Solutions

“A+E Networks continues to update and shift based on marketplace demands. There are a number of recent accomplishments to highlight:

• In an effort to deliver cutting edge content we recently opened 45th & Dean which is our multi-platform video storytelling hub and social media agency.
• We’ve been aggressive in our implementation of Programmatic solutions as well as the expansion of TV Everywhere authentication to increase yield and maximize monetization strategies.
• Through partnerships with leading technology companies like Krux and Yieldex we’ve been able to refine and improve our audience targeting, forecasting, optimization and reporting capabilities across our brands and screens.
• We are early adopters to Operationalize Set Top Box Dynamic Ad Insertion capabilities on Day 4 + video assets across the Canoe/Freewheel footprint.
• We’ve implemented Video Player Improvement Plan (VPIP) to improve consumer experience through quality of service area’s such as repetitive ads and latency.
• A+E has aggressively acted on Consumer Ad Blocking mitigation strategies to educate, inform and change consumer behavior when consuming A+E Video assets.
• We’ve addressed buy side viewability concerns by proactively engaging MRC accredited solutions (Moat) to report out at campaign level across Desktop, Mobile Aps and OTT/CTV platforms.”

Learn

How did you/your team leverage IAB resources over the past year to learn and what was your take-away from the experience?

Sarah Shriver

“There were numerous IAB learning opportunities that our organization tapped into over the past year. Here are a few:

• In an effort to keep our entire sales force informed on the latest digital trends our linear sales and partnerships teams participated in a modified IAB certification program.
• Our trafficking team recently earned their Ad Ops Certification and participated in Ad Blocking Lean Principles Documentation and Paper development.
• Employees across the organization attended several industry events including: the Leadership Summit, Ad Operations Summit, Ad Blocking Summit, Sales Leadership Event and numerous educational webinars.”

Lead

How have you leveraged a leadership role at IAB over the past year and what was your take-away from the experience?

R. Lee Barstow

“The ability to discuss, compare and contrast issues relevant and impactful with other senior advertising executives across buy side, sell side and ad tech is invaluable from my perspective. The opportunity to impact and drive the ad eco system to improve the consumer experience while maintaining and growing revenue streams is facilitated through the IAB and its members. For me personally it has provided a great two-way information exchange that has helped drive strategic development and our ever evolving road map in the IP and STB VOD space as we prepare for the convergence of traditional linear and digital worlds. Specifically, participating in the IAB’s Ad Blocking working group helped expedite our strategic development in this space and allowed us to take action in line with industry guidance. This has had on immediate positive impact on our revenue.”

What initiatives is A+E looking forward to working with the IAB and its member companies on; and how do you motivate your colleagues to get involved?

R. Lee Barstow

“We continue to support the ad blocking initiatives as well as IAB’s efforts to bring consistent and accurate measurement to the OTT space. Additionally, we are champions of the Vast 4.0 agenda in an effort to get all parties within the digital video ecosystem to embrace it. This will help the industry to evolve; improving the user experience through improved ad quality and reduce fraud and non-human traffic, all in line with the IAB’s focus on user experience.

Succeed

How has your engagement with IAB supported your company’s growth in the digital ecosystem?

Sarah Shriver

“From the ad tech side it has allowed us to surface and escalate issues internally regarding ad blocking and viewability, providing the internal checks-and-balances needed to ensure that we’re on top of our game. Among our clients and agencies it has given us a foundation for best practices, and that gives us the confidence that with the IAB’s resources and support we can go about our business effectively.”