00:09welcome back you are in the c-space
00:12studio with me James kotki we're here at
00:14CES 2024 talking to marketing media
00:17advertising and branding leaders and in
00:19fact right now we are talking to Adam
00:20Bergman group vice president advertising
00:23and data sales Vio welcome to the c-pace
00:26studio James great to be here thanks for
00:28having me all right so Vio is on display
00:30here at CES as we were talking about
00:32before we started rolling cameras here
00:35but can you define the Vio brand here
00:37what does it mean in 2024 sure uh Vio is
00:40about endless entertainment you know we
00:41are a uh 20 plus year old company this
00:44year I'll be celebrating our 22nd
00:45birthday uh we are a minority-owned
00:47us-based television manufacturer uh we
00:50create televisions and Soundbars and as
00:52I mentioned endless entertainment our
00:53job is to put incredible technology
00:55easyy to use experiences in front of
00:57millions of households that rely on us
00:59every single day to get their content uh
01:01whether that's streaming whether that's
01:03film television live sports they rely on
01:05our products every single day and so for
01:08us it's about maintaining that
01:09relationship with our customers
01:10constantly pushing ourselves to innovate
01:12and deliver great products uh and we're
01:14customers too we're huge fans of
01:16television and the home theater
01:18experience so this year is about
01:20continuing that tradition advertising
01:22and data sales what does that look like
01:23in the context of that larger Mission
01:25yeah um you know we're we're a really
01:28simple and streamlined company I would
01:30say we build televisions we make
01:32Soundbars and we create a platform
01:34experience chalk full of content for our
01:35customers um when you turn on any Vios
01:38Smart Television uh whether you bought
01:40it yesterday or five years ago we're
01:43delivering you an unbelievably Rich
01:44content experience through our native
01:46operating system uh that means hundreds
01:48of free channels of live live television
01:51that means thousands of movies in an on-
01:52demand Library every Premium app and
01:54channel from uh key partners that you
01:56would want in the marketplace so for us
01:58that really rich entertainment
02:00experience is of course chalk full of
02:02unique branding opportunities we live by
02:04a really simple Mantra when you create a
02:06great customer experience advertising
02:08and brand opportunities organically
02:10appear so for us advertising is about
02:12how do we enrich that experience how do
02:13we deliver free ad supported television
02:16to our customers and on the other aspect
02:18of that we are in a unique position we
02:20own the hardware we own the operating
02:22system and we own all the data that runs
02:24through it so for us it's really
02:26important that in order to deliver a
02:27great experience we have to collect real
02:30really rich data and use that to our
02:31advantage so uh we collect opted in
02:33viewership data from our consumers to
02:35better understand what they watch on
02:37television what apps are they streaming
02:38what ads are they exposed to we can then
02:40use that data to inform recommendation
02:43engines on the platform to build out
02:45unique content experiences and inside of
02:47watch free plus our free streaming
02:49services we we use that data to program
02:52content uh and we can then hand that
02:53back into the advertising community so
02:55we can plan buy and measure media more
02:57effectively um that was great by the way
03:00um you that was it was a great synopsis
03:02of what you're up to and it leads me to
03:03my next question which is what is the
03:05optimal consumer experience here what
03:08are you offering consumers when it comes
03:09to how ads show up so a simple way would
03:11be I turn on TV and it's kind of kind of
03:13it's linear or at least it feels like
03:14it's linear and I'm getting ads in the
03:16way that I would expect to get but I
03:17imagine that there's other things that
03:18you could offer in terms of advertising
03:20there so what are you what are you
03:20looking at and what are you doing well I
03:22think I look I think you're spot on I
03:23think one the average consumer has a
03:25really good understanding of the
03:27relationship between advertising and
03:30uh in years past I don't really know
03:31that that was the case right you watch
03:33television scripted television was built
03:35in with pod braks and commercial breaks
03:37and the average consumer understood that
03:39as we moved into the streaming
03:41environment of course on demand non-ad
03:44supported environments really are what
03:46broke the mold now you're seeing a
03:48couple different things you're seeing
03:49customers churn in and out of different
03:51apps based on content calendars in this
03:53past year especially you've seen maybe
03:54some more downward pressure on wallet
03:57right how much someone is spending on
03:58entertainment in a monthly basis
04:00so with that comes the rise of AD
04:03supported right so whether that's ad
04:04supported live whether that's ad
04:06supported on demand it's really about
04:08fair value exchange so again when you
04:10buy a Vio Smart television at any one of
04:12our great Retail Partners out of the box
04:15you are chalk full of endless
04:16entertainment as I mentioned uh apps
04:19channels movies Etc so I think there's a
04:21fair value Exchange in there to say this
04:23relevant advertising is going to support
04:25this free content experience for all
04:27intents of purposes I'm providing you a
04:28free cable service out of the box I
04:30think there's a really unique
04:32relationship there with customers and
04:33how are you using AI to think about
04:35optimizing this I mean everybody's
04:36talking about AI here cs224 I can't not
04:39ask you about that yeah certainly so so
04:41what does that mean in your context yeah
04:43I mean look I you're absolutely right I
04:45think AI has gotten a lot of attention
04:47in the space and rightfully so I think
04:49as a uh as a digitally native company in
04:52a lot of ways we're always thinking
04:53about what are the techn technological
04:55advancements that can help us think uh
04:57in in a more unique way for our
04:58customers um for us you know like AI is
05:01an umbrella where there's a lot of
05:02different technical capacities
05:03underneath it what I would say is we use
05:05Technologies like AI like machine
05:07learning to constantly better understand
05:10what our customers are interested in we
05:12say constantly our consumers vote with
05:14their behavior my my owned and operated
05:17data set is television viewership as I
05:19mentioned what shows did you watch what
05:20channels are you viewing what apps what
05:22ads did you see consumers vote with
05:24their behavior when 5 six seven million
05:26televisions are telling me that they
05:28like to watch f and garden and travel
05:31content well I can then use that
05:32information then turn around and program
05:34a recommendation engine or hand them a
05:37247 live channel that gives them that
05:39content right back to them so for us
05:41whether it's AI or otherwise there's a
05:43lot of little technical use cases in
05:45there for how do we make this experience
05:47feel personable and feel really specific
05:49to that customer do you think there is
05:52do you think there are kind of pockets
05:54of really extraordinary value that are
05:57still yet to be found so we''ve we
05:59talking about a for years we talk about
06:00data for years right obviously it's
06:01coming into its own now in ways that
06:03people are really excited about but I
06:05mean it sounds like your answer is yes
06:07but I'll just finish the question which
06:08is are you know are there things you
06:10know we talk about optimizing we talking
06:12about a couple percentage points or are
06:13we talking about oh my gosh this has
06:15discovered some insight that's totally
06:17counterintuitive I as a human never
06:18would have uncovered this thanks to this
06:20data now I can I can optimize in ways
06:21that I'm really are unprecedented you're
06:23you're you're hitting the nail in the
06:24head and yes the answer is
06:25enthusiastically yes I I would put it in
06:27two separate categories right one
06:29uh streaming video 15s 30s 60s right
06:33akin to television what advertisers are
06:35finding with Partners like us and
06:37especially those like us with a really
06:38unique data set is the amount of
06:40incremental exposure they can deliver to
06:42a customer base we have some fascinating
06:44tools that even the largest brands in
06:46the world are leveraging to understand
06:49wow I am really underexposing this
06:52massive footprint of smart televisions
06:54uh and so one they're using our tools to
06:56better optimize their video spend as an
06:58Advertiser and to be more specific right
07:00so they can now maintain a reach
07:02frequency story across broadcast into
07:04streaming and into digital devices in
07:06the home on the other side you talked a
07:09little bit about what is 2024 about for
07:11us the home screen experience last year
07:13we delivered a a new UI and new home
07:15screen experience to our customers and
07:17we also completely rebuilt our operating
07:19system from the ground up to deliver
07:21faster more responsive streaming within
07:23that the customer is now spending a lot
07:25more time in our experience searching
07:27for great content so what that means is
07:29we now have an opportunity with Brands
07:31to present even more content in a free
07:34environment to our customers so we're
07:36talking a lot with Brands about
07:38sponsorships and Integrations not new to
07:41the advertising Community but perhaps
07:43new to the OEM and smart television
07:45space and you know if we step back one
07:47kind of macro story of this space is
07:49companies you might not have thought of
07:50being uh content companies becoming
07:52content companies are you creating
07:54original content are you thinking about
07:55that is that on the radar yeah it's a
07:57great question so last year we launched
07:59the Vio branded content studio uh where
08:01we are specifically working with Brands
08:03to underwrite content this past holiday
08:05season we worked with uh one of the
08:07Market's largest retailers in the Home
08:09Depot and produced a show in conjunction
08:11with Jordan Sparks as the talent uh
08:13where we produced four to five episodes
08:15of really engaging holiday content how
08:18to decorate your home surprise
08:19decorations DIY tips and it was an
08:22unbelievably engaging experience for us
08:25that is what content generation is about
08:26today uh how do we think about how
08:28Brands can be part of the experience and
08:31parkening back to our data what do we
08:33know our customers are like going to
08:34like to watch in that instance we know
08:36they love DIY they know we know that
08:38they love home renovation it was a
08:40perfect fit for a brand where it made
08:42sense and customer content that they
08:44love to watch yeah um in a show in a CES
08:46that's all about all different kinds of
08:48screens and all different sizes and all
08:50different kinds of ways that people can
08:51be watching content from small to huge
08:53how do you make a case what's your best
08:55case for the TV why is the TV uh so
08:57important I mean look I think over the
08:59years consumers will constantly defer to
09:01the best possible viewing experience
09:03right um of course when you're on the go
09:06and you're in transit sure uh I'd love
09:08for you to carry your 65 in viso OLED
09:10with you probably not the case I think
09:12when you're at home and you're sitting
09:13on the couch you're going to defer to
09:14the best screen possible and time and
09:16time again that continues to be the
09:18smart television up on your wall for us
09:20we have been working for more than two
09:22decades to deliver outsize performance
09:24in both the video and audio quality of
09:26our devices at a price that our
09:28consumers can work with right for us we
09:30have always been about how do we
09:31overachieve in the relationship of
09:33quality and price what that means now
09:35also is how do we make the smart
09:37television as smart as the smartphone
09:40right we think a lot about utility we
09:42think a lot about the interoperability
09:43of that device at the end of the day
09:45until my television is still catching up
09:48to the smartphone we know we have work
09:50to do that's okay that's a challenge for
09:51us and that may be the biggest
09:52competition with you know you're going
09:53to defer to the best possible viewing
09:55experience but if part of that viewing
09:56experience is a suboptimal operating
09:58system or just you know feels more
09:59challenging to get it then that makes a
10:00lot of sense why you're putting so much
10:01effort into that part of the TV
10:03absolutely look and I think look there
10:04there's plenty of data in the market now
10:06that says yes of course someone is
10:07stream is watching content on their
10:09smartphone and on their tablet but by
10:11and large the massive amount of content
10:13that is being watched in this country is
10:14being viewed over the top on a smart
10:16television on the screen and I think
10:18second to that you know you're also
10:19seeing uh the death of the dongle right
10:21the average consumer is not buying a new
10:23smart television and then plugging a$ 30
10:25$40 sticker box into it that's not the
10:27behavior why because we have challenged
10:29oursel and are delivering our customers
10:31all of those premium apps that they want
10:33blended with great free content the
10:35second they unpack that television from
10:36the box I want to make a show called
10:38death of the dungle that's just a that's
10:40a cool title for something so let's make
10:41let's make a v branded content let's
10:44make a video originally about love that
10:45great Adam Bergman Vio really appreciate
10:48you joining us today in c space Studio
10:49thanks so much James I appreciate it and
10:51thank you so much for joining us here in
10:53the c-space studio we are at CES 2024 my
10:57name is James koteki and we're a great
10:59conversations are just ahead don't go
