Natalie Gabathuler-Scully is Vevo's Executive Vice President of Revenue, Distribution & Data Operations. Overseeing several teams, she is responsible for global ad yield, pricing and planning, ad-tech and business operations; data aggregation and reporting; and launching and managing Vevo's distribution expansion across 35+ CTV platforms. Natalie has been in the media industry for nearly 25 years focusing her career in multimedia sales. Prior to Vevo, Natalie worked for USA TODAY, ESPN, and JP Morgan.
Natalie Gabathuler-Scully will be speaking at Future of Video 2023, sharing her insights on Navigating Market Saturation and Next Stage of Growth panel at 8:45 AM PT, November 16 in Marina del Rey.
Here are some of Scully’s highlighted insights:
How important is consumer data or how do measurement approaches play into content creation decisions?
Vevo has a human programming team that curates all our channels and music video blocks and leverages various consumer data sets, such as consumer surveys, viewership trends, and social media data, so that Vevo programming is timely, relevant, and thematic. Vevo’s data science team has also developed various machine learning models that help us predict virality; group music videos by common objects, elements, and themes; and identify fan affinities or moods. Additionally, Vevo utilizes data and analytics to strategically inform the launching of our FAST channels on each partner platform. Because each platform has a different audience and different program offering, we need to know which FAST channels best serve and fit that respective platform. Ultimately, we use consumer data to drive music video consumption and engagement.
What does the growth of ad-supported services (AVOD and FAST) imply for the future of distribution? How can the industry best leverage these services’ obvious traction with and appeal to consumers, while preserving existing distribution channels and related monetization models?
The current consumer wants optionality. Consumers will reach a point where they stop paying for so many subscriptions, as it is better for their pockets. They are not deterred by advertising and will sit through advertising to watch their favorite content. Ad-supported services offer them more content for free, while creating another complementary avenue for content owners and platforms to generate and grow revenue. To make sure both monetization models can coexist successfully, investing in the user experience is the foundation for success, so that it offers value to both the end consumer and the brands. Enforcing frequency capping is an example of such a win-win.
How do services and content owners determine the right mix of device types and software platforms to support?
Content owners and services need to be in all of the environments where their audiences frequent. 93% indicate they watch some level of ad-supported TV, according to a recent study by Vevo and Publicis Media. Consumers today want optionality and are used to app-flipping, using more than 6 services on a monthly basis, per the study. Further, ad-supported services are not competing with subscription-based services but are complementary to each other because consumers watch content in different ways. In fact, our study with Publicis Media also revealed that 75% of people assert they enjoy a mix of content with and without ads.
