How Xumo Differentiates Itself From Competitors Like Pluto TV

Xumo is on a mission to become a family household name. In less than one year, the free ad-supported streaming TV service, which counts more than 5.5 million monthly active users, has tripled its reach, says the company’s SVP of advertising partnerships Bill Condon. While the company remains far behind Pluto TV’s 18 million monthly users, Condon says there are several ways the company hopes to stick out from the competition with native integrations with Smart TV and mobile companies. He detailed the strategy and discussed Xumo’s ad sales strategy with TheWrap. How does Xumo stand out in today’s increasingly crowded market?   We’re differentiating in several ways. First, we’re very focused on native integrations with our Smart TV and mobile partners. Second, we’re leading with top-quality content and partnering with premium brands to create stand-alone channels and then providing our clients the ability to creatively, and transparently, align their brands via high impact ad units and integrated, targeted sponsorships. Lastly, we’re fueling hyper-growth on our service, having launched on five new platforms this year alone, including Amazon Fire, Comcast xfinity set top boxes, and Android TV, and enterprise services for T-Mobile and LG International. Since January of this year, our unique reach has increased over 3X. What are some of the trends you see emerging with advertisers?   One of the biggest shifts has come in the way that advertisers are buying digital media. It’s evolving quickly, and we’re starting to see more programmatic buying and ad audience/data driven decisions being made in the connected TV space.  As folks look to verified third-party segments to help reach their desired audiences, they’re also leveraging advanced reporting and segmented targeting using data that we provide through our integrated Data Management Platform. How would you characterize Xumo’s ad sales strategy, and what sets it apart?   At Xumo, our selling strategy is focused on flexibility, performance and transparency.  We allow our clients to transact in a way that best suits their goals, whether it be through an IO/direct buy, programmatically via a PMP, or high impact channel sponsorship. Performance is key so we partner with our advertisers to understand their success metrics and create a plan to help best deliver against their key performance indicators. Our transparent approach helps differentiate us in the marketplace, our clients are demanding more visibility into where their campaigns are running, and we are providing granular reporting down to channel level, delivery reporting for each impression. How does Xumo stay competitive when it comes to opportunities with ad partners and sponsors?   Advertisers are increasingly looking to Xumo for ad solutions that broadcast and cable TV can’t offer. We’re staying competitive by offering flexible ad solutions beyond the traditional :15 and :30 ads. Since Xumo doesn’t have the constraints of traditional TV ad breaks, we are able to offer multiple creative lengths and types as well as the ability to deliver custom overlays, advertorial, or sponsored content via our channel partners. What are some of the best examples of opportunities available with Xumo?    I’d say our best-in-class examples for branding would be our channel sponsorships. This allows our advertisers to align with relevant, premium live or on-demand programming through various branded placements that run during content time and are granted 100 percent share of voice when on-screen. The ability to align a brand with relevant premium content is really powerful. Our first impression video ad is one of my other favorites. It allows our advertisers to guarantee that first video ad unit our audience views across Xumo’s channels will be theirs. It’s great for a big product launch, sale, or a TV or movie premiere. We are able to confirm tune-in rates using our ACR data, as well.