Why Hyper-Local Planning Agency Novus Media Likes Buying CTV Programmatically

Since taking on AdExchanger’s CTV beat at the beginning of March, I’ve learned a lot about the industry from the perspectives of publishers, measurement companies, platforms and even a few brands.

So next year, to round out my education, I’m setting a goal for myself to start talking to more media planners, agency executives and buy-side experts.

But why wait until 2026? I’m already on the hunt for more agency leaders to talk to – like Paul DeJarnatt, the head of digital at Novus Media, whom I spoke to last month.

Novus is a bit unusual compared to other independently run agencies, as it specializes in ZIP code-level media buying at scale. In fact, the “new challenge” of a geography-focused lens is what initially drew DeJarnatt over from his previous role at Publicis in 2022, he told me.

Novus also stands out from other independent agencies by working with a lot of big, non-region-specific companies that you wouldn’t expect to be thinking in terms of hyper-locality, like B2B cloud software services and national health care providers, said DeJarnatt.

After all, for every customer base that exists, there’s got to be a place that contains the highest population density of that customer base.

Or, as DeJarnatt put it, “Birds of a feather flock together. And the reason people flock together isn’t always obvious, but there’s always a through line.”

AdExchanger: What are the most common questions or concerns you’re hearing from clients about their CTV strategies?

PAUL DEJARNATT: A lot of clients want the pricing advantage and flexibility of CTV, but they also want the ability to buy specific programming. As it exists today, those are still two separate things, and so we have to continue that education and understand the advantages and disadvantages of both.

We do try to talk to our clients about having a diverse viewpoint, strategically, in the way they go to market with video. There are times that call for specific programming or specific direct deals to get access to inventory measurement, or audience segments that might be kind of locked behind a partnership deal.

What we find, though, is that most of our clients appreciate and enjoy the flexibility of a programmatic buy, and that allows us to just shift dollars and react to the marketplace way faster. You may not be able to guarantee a particular show or a spot, but it tends to perform better from a business perspective.

It’s interesting you bring that up, because some publishers (like Paramount) are experimenting with fixed CTV placements within their programmatic environments. Do you think there’s value in that?

Yeah, I do, particularly with our clients. Frequently, in organizations that have franchisee systems, the owners and operators really know their business, but they don’t know marketing. They’ll see a dashboard or numbers on a spreadsheet, and they’ll say, “I never see my ad. I don’t feel it.”

There’s value in being able to say, “Tune in at this time, and you, and everyone around you in the neighborhood that happens to be watching that show, will see the spot.” And where you find value, you find the opportunity to charge a slight premium. So it’s not a shock to me that some publishers might go down that route.

A lot of agencies are having ongoing conversations about how connected or siloed their linear, CTV and online video channels should be from one another. How are things currently structured at NOVUS?

The currency of the industry still separates it, right? YouTube is its own walled garden. OLV is still its own budget line item. But from an activation perspective, in some cases, we are combining video formats.

A lot of times, we’re combining offline and online versions of the same thing. There are nuances and differences – you can do things in terrestrial radio, like with a DJ going to a location, that you can’t really do with streaming audio. So we’ll understand the nuances of each channel, but the job to be done within those channels is strategically the same.

What kinds of trends within CTV are you most interested in exploring?

What’s always interesting are the headline grabbers around who’s carrying what, like YouTubeTV losing access to Disney’s channels. Our lean toward programmatic has helped us a lot, because we’re basically accessing that inventory no matter where it’s carried.

I also feel that the way the marketplace is fragmented is going to shake out a little bit. You’ve got all the big publishers and streaming platforms that you can do direct deals with, or that you can find programmatically. But you’ve also got the hardware and set-top boxes that are trying to sell inventory, and they each have their own specific use cases.

I do think the hardware manufacturers could offer some interesting options for us as buyers with greater consumer insights. If they open up that data a little bit, it would be more enticing from a strategic perspective.

Why Hyper-Local Planning Agency Novus Media Likes Buying CTV Programmatically

An interview with Paul DeJarnatt VP, Managing Director NOVUS

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