Home from CES, people might be caught up on rest by now, but not necessarily on their follow-up emails. This backlog means it was successful CES—a few days packed with connections, insights, opportunities, and a lot of walking.
Among the key points of discussion and predictions for the upcoming year, some themes were expected, like CTV and curation, while others touched on enduring challenges, such as analytics and optimization. The most intriguing conversations, at least for me, centered around the convergence of emerging and evolving technologies, which build upon previous media capabilities to deliver something even better.
That’s not to say the road forward always feels like a simplification process—reducing complexity and friction, especially around integrations, remains a significant challenge. At Peer39, we're deeply involved across publishers, DSPs, SSPs, data partners, and even more, with plenty more on the horizon in 2025.
On the CTV front, we kicked off the week with an exciting announcement from one of our partners: Yahoo DSP will now feature the new Peer39 CTV Quality Score directly within its platform. This enhanced integration offers buyers valuable guidance on the health of their campaigns, focusing on both performance and safety and suitability metrics.
There were also many discussions about the CTV content object and its best applications. These conversations underscored how rapidly the CTV ecosystem is progressing toward open programmatic. It feels like only yesterday—around 2023, in fact—that Peer39 was helping to educate the industry on what content objects are and how they can enhance targeting and reporting granularity. For DSPs and publishers, this knowledge has translated into increased revenue opportunities for programmatic CTV buys.
Fast forward to today, and content objects are enabling content-level targeting and post-buy analytics. While these advancements might not have the flashy appeal of CES innovations like mixed-reality makeup try-on systems, they are undeniably impactful for advertisers aiming to optimize their strategies.
While we didn't do many demos of our Analytics platform, there were surprised faces about how clear the CTV Quality Score (in beta until January 22) is, both in terms of understandability and how it's built. And people were just as surprised that Analytics is provided at no additional cost, advertisers just need to incorporate our tag at the creative level. (Which can be done completely self-serve).
Another hot topic in the CTV space was reporting and analytics. There’s a growing emphasis on improving transparency for both pre- and post-buy processes. One reason the CTV Quality Score resonated so strongly is the overwhelming volume of data available for review and optimization. Even without full transparency into specific channels or shows, streamlined analytics tools remain crucial for delivering actionable insights that advertisers can easily grasp.
Sometimes, what’s old becomes new again. Even if Google and Chrome weren’t actively phasing out third-party cookies, privacy would still be top of mind for advertisers. This concern is especially relevant when paired with CTV targeting; ZIP code-level data, for example, offers granular targeting options while preserving user anonymity.
This isn’t a groundbreaking concept, but its application to CTV targeting adds an extra layer of flexibility and potential for programmatic buyers. Encouragingly, more DSPs recognize that this anonymous data not only safeguards privacy but also meets advertisers' needs.
CES dazzled attendees with cutting-edge AI and for those of us with birders in the family, the Petal camera for watching bugs (a Bird Buddy for insects) looks cool, but the real wins are in the industry’s efforts to reduce complexity, enhance transparency, and deliver better outcomes for advertisers. These developments may not grab headlines, but they represent meaningful progress for everyone involved.
As we look ahead, Peer39 will be actively participating in key industry events, including the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, CTV Connect (with a lively Peer39 roundtable), and POSSIBLE. These events are approaching quickly, so if you’re interested in connecting with us, don’t hesitate to reach out.