Growth in Video and Connected TV Advertising
The move towards streaming video and away from linear cable TV is accelerating. Nearly two third of US households do not have a cable subscription, or are planning to cut the cord to linear TV in 2020.
This trend is particularly true for the younger generation. 74% of 18- to 34- year old consumers have never had a subscription, have already cut the cord, or are planning to cut the cord in 2020.
According to eMarketer, the number of cable TV households has been declining since 2016, dropping 4.5 percent from 2019 to 2020 alone.
Programmatic Advertising and Connected TV
As consumers are moving to streaming video, advertisers have quickly followed. And the momentum is continuing to accelerate with COVID 19 forcing more lock downs and time at home. Programmatic ad platforms like Trade Desk saw a 57% increase in daily average available Connected TV inventory in March 2020 compared to March 2019. Likewise, video ad-serving platforms like SpringServe have seen a 4X increase in their OTT video ad inventory over the last year.
Streaming services and channels are integrating technology that allows more targeting of audiences. And device detection provides a key technology that can target audiences in real time and also provide rich technographic analytics for advertisers. Device Detection solutions like ScientiaMobile’s WURFL can help all elements of the advertising value chain add additional targeting information.
IAB Specification for Connected TV
The International Advertising Bureau (IAB) has helped form standards for advertising across many devices, including desktop, mobile, and tablets. The OpenRTB specification has a section that outlines key device information that is passed from publishers up the chain to supply side and demand-side platforms.
For years, WURFL has been the most accurate and trusted source of device information. Advertising giants such as Google, Pubmatic, Smaato, and MediaMath all use WURFL to populate the device section of programmatic ads.
With the emergence of streaming video, IAB has also offered specifications for video. And likewise, WURFL has evolved to offer more targeting for Connected TV-related devices.
Identifying a Device Used for Connected TV
Device detection solutions like WURFL can analyze the user agent (UA) string sent by the Connected TV, game console, or OTT device. UAs help identify what device is currently accessing the site. This can include video-capable devices running apps, clients and browsers for video streaming services. UA strings are designated in the HTTP standard, which says that a UA is made up of multiple product tokens indicating the software and hardware characteristics of the device. Unfortunately, the rules involved in creating UAs aren’t strict.
Smart TV, game console, and OTT device manufacturers, who are responsible for naming the hardware in the UA, are free to format information about the device as they see fit. ScientiaMobile has recommendations about best practices about how to form a user agent.
The WURFL device detection solution is sophisticated enough to correctly interpret UAs, avoid false positives, and stay current with the ever-growing array of device models. ScientiaMobile holds a patent on its WURFL device detection API (application programming interface).
How Device Detection Works
- UA strings relay the information about your device to a server to be analyzed.
- The device detection API parses the UA string. It then uses the device manufacturer’s format to identify a specific model. Currently WURFL device detection solution tracks over 72,000 device profiles.
- Once the device model is identified, the API can retrieve over 500 attributes or “capabilities” of that device model. This includes capabilities that classify a smart connected TV, OTT device, or game console
- Within microseconds, this device intelligence is returned to the requesting application or server.
Video ad inventory publishers, SSPs, ad exchanges, DSPs and Advertisers can all benefit from accurate identification of devices and their capabilities.
Different Classifications of Connected TV devices
When the device is identified, WURFL can return over 500 different attributes of the device. For Connected TV devices, there are several useful categorizations that can segment and target audiences.
form_factor and is_smarttv
At the highest level, the form_factor capability can describe the general type of device. Smart TV is among the values that is returned in the form_factor capability.
is_console, is Connected_TV, and is_ott
For further detail on the type of device, WURFL provides three additional sub-categories for devices already by is_smarttv
- is_console: a TV-based game console.
- is_connected_tv: a TV that can connect to the internet via its built-in networking capabilities.
- is_ott: a device that can provide over-the-top (OTT) content, including set top boxes, but not including consoles.
Top Devices
In Q2 of 2020, here are the top 5 devices in each category.
is_console
Game consoles have included streaming TV capabilities for many years.
Sony Playstation and Microsoft Xbox are most popular brands in 2020 Q2.
1. Sony Playstation 4
2. Microsoft Xbox One
3. Sony Playstation 3
4. Nintendo Wii U
5. Microsoft Xbox 360
is_connnected_tv
LG and Samsung smart TVs have web browsing capabilities that shows up in MOVR data.
1. LG SmartTV
2. Samsung Tizen TV 2017
3. Samsung Tizen TV 2018
4. Samsung Tizen TV 2019
5. Samsung Tizen TV 2016
is_ott
OTT streaming devices come in many physical form factors today.
Amazon’s Fire TV sticks are detected frequently in 2020 Q2.
1. Amazon Fire TV Stick (Gen 2)
2. Amazon AFTMM (Fire TV Stick 4K)
3. Amazon AFTN (Fire TV (Gen 3))
4. Amazon AFTS (Fire TV (Gen 2))
5. Amazon Fire TV Stick
Beyond the IAB Specification
In addition to the device classifications above, WURFL can provide many other device capabilities that are not prescribed in the IAB specification. Advertisers frequently find these useful for further segmentation and targeting.
Economic Device Capabilities are useful to imply adoption behavior or income level of the audience.
For example, release_msrp provides the manufacturer’s suggested retail price at the time of release. With this price, advertisers can get a sense if the device is a premium product or a low-budget item.
Likewise, release_date provides the month and year that the device was released. With this information, you can see if a user is an early adopter or a laggard that holds onto old technology.
How to use WURFL to Detect and Classify Connected TV Devices
Here is sample Python code that uses WURFL InFuze to identify smart TV devices and returns their name, classification, and price:
# Get the device for the current request device = wurfl.parse_headers(http_request) # Get the value for the is_connected_tv static capability is_connected_tv = device.get_capability('is_connected_tv') # Get the value for the is_ott static capability is_ott = device.get_capability('is_ott') # Get the value for the is_console static capability is_console = device.get_capability('is_console') # Get the value for release_msrp static capability release_msrp = device.get_capability('release_msrp') # Get the value for the complete_device_name virtual capability complete_device_name = device.get_virtual_capability('complete_device_name') if is_connected_tv: # If the request is from a connected tv, then print the complete device name and MSRP at release print(f'{complete_device_name} is a connected TV. It cost ${release_msrp} at release.') elif is_ott: # If the request is from an OTT capable device, then print the complete device name and MSRP at release print(f'{complete_device_name} is an OTT capable device. It cost ${release_msrp} at release.') elif is_console: # If the request is a gaming console, then print the complete device name and MSRP at release print(f'{complete_device_name} is a gaming console. It cost ${release_msrp} at release.')
