00:04On va désormais rentrer dans le détail opérationnel de ces enjeux et vous offrir aussi une vision internationale au travers
00:11de l'interview de Ricarda Jepsen, Managing Director de Virtual Minds, qui est réalisée par Julia. On peut l'applaudir.
00:20Hi Ricarda, let's take a seat. So we are going to switch in English for this interview. And with you,
00:28Ricarda, we are going to talk about silos, not silos, the Apple TV series, which I recommend. I don't know
00:35if you've seen it, but silos between linear TV and digital.
00:41So we've been talking about total video and linear convergence for years. But today, is it a concrete technological reality
00:55or still just a commercial argument?
00:59I think in the most markets, and first of all, hello everyone. I'm sorry I'm not capable to speak French.
01:05I hope everyone can follow.
01:09I think in the most markets, it's a commercial promise. It's a sales pitch. It's a debate about currencies. Because,
01:20I mean, in the end, everyone is selling it and is claiming total video, but they're planning the inventory together
01:29and they're reporting the inventory together.
01:31What they're missing is the piece in the middle, the optimization part. So, no one is currently really able to
01:37optimize the inventory together. And that's the big, big mistake. Because if you're not optimizing it together, you will never
01:46be able to really fully monetize the whole reach.
01:49And what is actually blocking the day-to-day operations of sales houses and agencies?
01:59I mean, in the end, the digital budgets are growing and they're aiming for the linear world. So the linear
02:07budgets are still massive, but that's a gross case for the digital streaming platforms and all that stuff.
02:15I mean, what's blocking them? I mean, what's blocking them? The processes and the systems, of course. I mean, linear
02:22is trading in a completely different way than the digital world.
02:25And so it's hard to bring them together. With the media manager, which is our newest product, we try to
02:33build the bridge between the linear and the digital world by adding digital KPIs, the pacing and all that stuff
02:40to really be able to compete with the digital world.
02:45Because I don't think that no one, or as well as well, the advertisers who are not booking linear anymore,
02:52don't believe in the power of TV.
02:56It's just not working or consistent with the workflows. They're usually, they're now adding to the planning.
03:06So you need to find a way to make linear comparable with the digital metrics. Otherwise, you will be left
03:14out even if linear is still very, very powerful.
03:18And let's talk about a concrete case. In both France and Germany, major advertisers like Lidl temporarily threatened to abandon
03:31linear TV in favor of digital platforms.
03:35I know you can't talk about specific cases, but you successfully, in Germany, brought them back to linear TV by
03:44making it viable using digital metrics like CPM through your media manager.
03:52Does this mean that in the long run, the traditional GRP will lose its position as the main currency for
04:02TV advertising?
04:05Maybe let's start with the GRP topic, because I don't think that it will lose the impact, but I really
04:13would like to decouple the GRP from the currency and the measurement.
04:18Because I truly believe the panel still will be the anchor of trust, because that's the only thing we have
04:25in the linear world.
04:26Of course, the panels need to adapt to keep up with the digital world.
04:30That's what we saw, for example, in Austria, where the AGTT, the JIG in Austria, defined to add digital data
04:39to the panel and to really have a better view on the viewership.
04:46So, I don't think that the GRP doesn't count anymore, but we really need to decouple it from the measurement
04:55and the currency, and that's very, very healthy, I guess, for the industry.
04:59When it comes to bringing back, a few weeks ago, I've heard the CMO of Deichmann, Deichmann is a big
05:10German retailer for shoes, they have online store and as well offline stores, and she said what she's missing is
05:19really a cross-screen measurement and optimization.
05:24So, that's why she decided to put all their budgets to the platforms, because they're offering it, which is kind
05:32of funny, because, I mean, the platforms are black boxes, and obviously, they're doing all those stuff for their own
05:38purpose.
05:39But I think that's something where we really need to work on as an industry of broadcaster, because we need
05:45to stick together and to find a way to optimize and to verify what we are doing.
05:50And let's now talk about AI a little bit.
05:57I love AI, as you know.
05:59You are currently exploring AI technologies and new protocols, like MCP, to interconnect fragmented systems and replace traditional APIs, which
06:13are notoriously heavy to maintain.
06:16What is your opinion on this, and do you think it's a realistic and economically viable solution in the long
06:27term?
06:28I think when it comes to Gen AI, I really would like to separate between the decisioning and the planning
06:38and forecasting.
06:39I think when it comes to planning and forecasting, Gen AI makes absolutely sense.
06:43When it comes to decisioning, especially in the broadcast world, so our system doesn't use Gen AI for decisioning, because
06:54decisioning is really based on deterministic data, and that's really important, because in the end, we don't want to be
07:01the next black box.
07:02The sales source needs to explain to the advertiser why a certain slot was booked for the campaign, and you
07:14need to be auditable with every campaign, and that's what we are really aiming for.
07:20When it comes to MCPs replacing APIs, I believe that the API will still be the contract to the systems,
07:29but what MCP is really, or hopefully will be beneficial, is to add a layer on top.
07:37To add a layer on top of all those APIs to give the possibility to have a much faster onboarding
07:45of new clients, to have much faster proof of concepts, to include the data, to have first tests with broadcasts
07:56and all those stuff.
07:56I think it will fasten our product development, but I don't think that it will replace APIs, not now.
08:06It's not a miracle solution or technology, but it can help maybe in some cases.
08:11Yeah.
08:12Okay.
08:12And what you said about black boxes is very interesting, because we are doing the same thing in a way
08:19that a few years ago, so I think the main goal is not to do the same thing with AI
08:27and new platforms.
08:29Yeah, and I mean, in the end, no one knows how agents react.
08:32I mean, we had now cases where the agent had a certain rule set, but the agent decided, oh, the
08:39rule set is shit.
08:40I'm just doing it the way I want to do.
08:43So that's maybe you should be a bit aware of the sweats as well.
08:48But I'm German.
08:49I always see, first of all, the sweats.
08:53If I invite you back on this stage in three years for another future of Total Video event, what will
09:04have definitely disappeared to you?
09:08GRP, TV, media planning, separated from digital, both maybe?
09:15I think hopefully in three years of time, it's not the future of Total TV, it's more the reality.
09:21Future of future.
09:22Yeah, the reality of Total TV, that would be very, very great.
09:25I think definitely the decoupled planning will have disappeared because if you want to stick to digital but growing budgets,
09:35you need to be able to sell audiences as well.
09:39And the linear, I mean, our audiences, they don't care where they're watching the content.
09:45Either it's linear or digital or CTV app, they don't care.
09:49And we as an industry really need to catch up with this.
09:52Otherwise, it's going to be very, very worse.
09:56GRP, I think GRP will still be kind of a measurement system for broadcaster because they're used to and it's
10:07absolutely valid.
10:08The panel, as I already said, is the anchor of trust.
10:12That definitely will be there.
10:15But hopefully it will be news that Total TV is not a project anymore, that it's running smoothly and that
10:24the whole optimization part is solved.
10:28So we are currently working and the person who's working on that is here as well.
10:34So if you want to talk to her later, Victoria, we are currently working the whole decoupling part.
10:41And that's really heavy.
10:42But if you can solve that in a very transparent and good way, then you can actually optimize everything between
10:50every silo.
10:53Transparency and simplicity, I think, are the two.
10:55And verification.
10:56And verification, of course.
10:58Well, I think we are running out of time.
11:02But thank you.
11:03Thank you, Ricarda.
11:04Thank you.
11:04Vous pouvez l'applaudir.
11:06Merci beaucoup.
11:07Thank you.
11:08Thank you.
11:09Thank you.
11:10Thank you.
11:11Thank you.
