Programmatic Advertising: What If Broadcasters Teamed Up with Publishers? 💍

By Max Legrand · GreyFox Ads · A French Open Web perspective

French broadcasters have the screens. French publishers have an extraordinary wealth of editorial audience signals. What if they stopped working in parallel and started joining forces? 🤝

Why do French media need a new strategy?

In the French market, platforms capture a substantial share of digital advertising investment. The figure cited in my original post was 76% (the exact percentage depends on the year, definition of platforms and market perimeter). Meanwhile, many French Open Web publishers face pressure from social platforms, connected TV (CTV), and emerging generative AI experiences.

And we cannot blame everything on the platforms. Traditional formats have been slow to evolve, too: in the original analysis, I noted that standard IAB banners still accounted for around 80% of display investment (a market observation that should be checked against the corresponding study and period).

The challenge is not simply to defend yesterday's advertising model. It is to build a more compelling one.

The broadcasters' CTV dilemma 📺

French broadcasters are benefiting from the growth of connected television, but they face two competitive disadvantages.

First, the advertising experience. Traditional television-style breaks can contain multiple consecutive ads, while some streaming and online video experiences favour shorter breaks. Fewer interruptions can improve the viewing experience and potentially support attention (although the optimal break length depends on content, context and measurement). Read our analysis of why broadcasters should consider shorter ad breaks.

Second, audience data. Broadcasters know a great deal about viewing behaviour. But YouTube can also draw on Google's broader audience ecosystem, combining signals from across products and services under applicable privacy settings. We have explored the magic of Google's audiences and where those audience signals come from.

So what if French broadcasters could enrich their targeting with complementary signals from French publishers?

What could French publishers bring to the table?

News, sport, finance, food, technology, culture, travel… publishers observe readers engaging with a remarkable range of topics. The original post estimated more than 11 billion monthly page views across the top 600 French publisher websites (a scale illustration, not a verified current audience or addressable-ID count).

That diversity could help broadcasters build richer advertising segments, beyond what viewers watch on television. For example, contextual or consented first-party signals from travel content might help create a relevant CTV campaign audience.

But page views are not people. Nor does a page view automatically create a lawful, usable or matchable advertising identifier. That distinction is central to the business case.

The missing link: a common identity 🆔

To connect publisher audiences with broadcaster inventory, both sides need a technically compatible way to recognise or match users or households, where permitted. That is harder than simply pooling data.

The solution also needs to respect the GDPR, ePrivacy requirements, consent or another valid legal basis where applicable, purpose limitation, contractual rights and user choices. A clean room or ID solution does not itself make a data use lawful.

Two possible approaches to audience matching

Option one: email. Registration can help publishers build durable first-party relationships. Some, including L'Équipe in its app, have experimented with stronger logged-in experiences. A clean room could then support privacy-conscious matching or measurement, without automatically exposing raw user-level data to every partner.

Option two: telco-based identifiers. Utiq offers a different route to interoperable identity in supported environments. It is not a universal cross-device key, but it could contribute to a broader solution alongside other identifiers.

These approaches can complement one another; they do not necessarily need to compete.

How could a broadcaster–publisher alliance work in practice?

Rather than launching a giant data consortium on day one, I'd start with a tightly scoped pilot:

For the publisher, the upside is a new way to monetise audience knowledge while continuing to improve on-site advertising experiences. For the broadcaster, it is a more differentiated CTV proposition. For advertisers, it could mean a credible alternative to platform-only targeting (provided the pilot demonstrates incremental value).

Our related articles explore the difficult question of value sharing, 1.5-party data activation and how French publishers could win back video budgets.

Could this make the French Open Web stronger? 🦊

Imagine a French media ecosystem in which broadcasters contribute premium video environments and publishers contribute relevant, responsibly activated first-party audience signals. Instead of each player fighting the platforms alone, they could offer advertisers something genuinely complementary.

It's not magic. There are difficult questions about identity, consent, governance, pricing and measurement. But isn't that a much more interesting challenge than simply accepting the status quo?

And while that collaboration takes shape, publishers can keep experimenting with more immersive formats, including fullscreen mobile advertising. A rather wonderful world, perhaps? 🤩🐓