smartclip 2022 Year in Review

2022 turned out to be a transformative year for smartclip. As we reflect on our achievements during what proved to be another challenging year worldwide, we could not be prouder of what our colleagues, partners, and clients have accomplished over the past twelve months. 

Here are some highlights… 

TL;DR? Watch the highlights

We turned the spotlight on technology

In 2022, smartclip moved into a new phase of growth exclusively focused on technology development. With our media sales division becoming part of RTL AdAlliance, the smartclip team will now concentrate on building on our position as the go-to destination for adtech solutions that empower European broadcasters and premium publishers.

To establish a firm footing for this exciting new future, we restructured our product management department, created new support services for our development teams, and carried out an extensive update of all processes.

We acquired Realytics, a Paris-based adtech company

In April, we announced the acquisition of our first subsidiary, Realytics. Realytics’ attribution capabilities — which allow buyers to directly measure the impact of TV advertising — as well as its proprietary demand-side platform, Adkymia, and its newest development BEE (Box Exposition Engagement), truly complement the smartclip adtech stack.

The acquisition of Realytics will allow us to strengthen and optimise the smartclip offerings both now and in the future by providing our clients and partners with the best holistic view and buying experience of their advertising campaigns. 

We grew our ad technology stack 

We continued to develop and innovate our technology, debuting a host of new products and feature enhancements. Some of our favourites included:

New Addressable TV innovations to optimise linear TV advertising 

• The fully Addressable TV Ad Break – The real-time, targeted substitution of any or all ads within the linear TV ad break, tailored to a single device. 
• Programmatic Addressable TV Ad Break replacement – The digital substitution of spots within a linear TV ad break via programmatic, automated buying processes.
• Support for HbbTV-TA – An extension to the HbbTV standard that optimises dynamic ad replacements with frame-accurate substitution of linear ad spots.
• TV Add-Ons – A range of ad formats that allow advertisers to individualise pre-existing TV campaigns for defined target groups.
• SME portal – A collection of tools — such as a self-booking tool, a marketing tool for retailers/dealers, and more — that enable small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to advertise their products on national linear television.

New privacy-friendly solutions and other product enhancements to future-proof systems

• smart audiences – A combination of new products that advertisers and publishers can leverage for privacy-safe and ID-free targeting.
• ID method reporting – In anticipation of new identification methods in the future, we now offer reporting that includes information on which identification method was used.
• TAM (Target Audience Mapper) – A three-click solution that allows broadcasters to connect their panel data with their segmented audience data.
• New forecasting solution – This provides enhanced processing of data for the most accurate projections possible.

We grew our partnerships across Europe

We took significant steps to broaden our external network across Europe. This included establishing new partnerships with premium German publishers, including SportTotal and Promipool, as well as new international partnerships with Xiaomi TV+ in Germany and Spain, RTL Luxembourg, MTV Finland, and many others. We also extended several existing partnerships, such as Axel Springer Regionalvermarktung and other top SME business partners in Germany. 

We launched a multi-territory partnership with Dailymotion covering Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, and France in 2022, and plan to extend this partnership to the Nordics in 2023. In Sweden, Premium Video Alliance — a joint broadcaster marketplace that launched on the smartx platform in 2021 — composed of TV4, Nent Group, and Discovery Networks — has become a great success, achieving triple-digit growth in 2022. We were also busy in Italy, building out our partnership with RAI, signing a new partnership with LG Ads, implementing our Addressable TV product at broadcasters Telecolor, VideoGruppo, éTV, and VB33, and launching our new audio advertising product with Spreaker. Finally, we expanded our Connected TV offerings with our partner PlutoTV and extended the partnership beyond Germany and Spain into the Italian market.

We shared our hard-won knowledge in 140 articles, 23 product documentations, and at more than 28 industry events 

We hosted several of our own events this year, including our biannual Product Advisory Board meetings, which were held in Berlin and Madrid, and our first SME Summit, which took place in Cologne. 

We also sponsored several industry events, including the HbbTV Symposium and Awards, the International Broadcasting Convention, and the RTL AdAlliance Beach at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. 

Our executives also shared their expertise as guest speakers at a variety of industry events, including IAB Interact, OMR, Engage Conference, VideoWeek New Video Frontiers, Future TV Advertising Forum Global, d3con, and many others.

We published an international research report exploring TV consumption behaviours 

As the viewing experience continues to evolve across Europe, we teamed up with RTL AdConnect to commission a wide-ranging study of media consumption habits across 10 European markets. From how Europeans consume content and their perception of advertising to what devices they own and watch, The New Life of the Living Room white paper presented the results — offering essential reading for anyone looking to reach today’s viewers.

You can download a copy here or request a print edition by contacting marketing@smartclip.tv.  

We grew our team, our minds, and our muscles

We welcomed 42 new smartclippers! To ensure all our newcomers enjoy a smooth transition into the smartclip world, we crafted a new onboarding programme tailored to all new hires, irrespective of their industry knowledge and experience. The programme features over 30 introductory sessions covering department-specific and product-specific topics, providing new hires with comprehensive insights into our company and industry as a whole. 

Building on the momentum of 2021, we continued to invest in learning, development, and culture building. Cultivating and expanding our knowledge, whether through online, in-person, or hybrid initiatives, remained a top priority in 2022. Here are some highlights: 

• Strategy Days – Two days centred around giving smartclippers insight into company strategy and exciting developments. 
• Würzburg executive offsite – smartclip department heads came together for four days of team building and company strategy alignment. 
• Boltenhagen ‘workcation’ – This three-day offsite retreat was the perfect opportunity to shape the new era of smartclip and its company culture.
• smartweek – Our annual internal knowledge-sharing event focused on turning our peers into instructors. 
• Your Campus – A peer-to-peer learning platform where colleagues from the Bertelsmann conglomerate were encouraged to share their knowledge and expertise with other colleagues in short virtual meetings. 
• Expert sessions – Monthly sessions where specialists hosted one-hour deep dives on an array of topics ranging from industry specifics to presentation skills or learning cultures.
• Open Engineering Rounds – A tech learning and innovation format where our engineers came together to exchange expertise and explore ideas for improving or creating new directions in areas such as test automation, monitoring, and development best practices.

Of course, 2022 wasn’t all work, work, work; we also organised a host of social events, sporting challenges, and new initiatives that champion our values, communities, hobbies — and pets!

• Pride Month – We introduced various initiatives to show our support for the LGBTQIA+ community.
• MOPO Staffellauf – We partnered in the annual relay race alongside our friends at G+J and RTL AdConnect.
• Milan Marathon – Our colleagues in Milan ran the marathon in support of their favourite local business — a small gourmet shop that employs individuals with disabilities in order to help them acquire the skills for an autonomous and independent life.
• Nordics offsite – A three-day offsite in Gysinge with sales-themed team-building activities, including canoeing and tipi dinners.
• World Animal Day – A fun ‘guess that owner’ quiz to test our smartclippers knowledge of their colleagues’ pets.
• Social Day – We encouraged our smartclippers to give back to their local communities by swapping a day at work for a day volunteering at their chosen charity.
• International Women’s Day – We asked our smartclip women to share their top career advice for other women.
• New children’s playroom – We now offer more flexibility to our working parents in our Stockholm office by opening a new children’s playroom, which even featured on TV4!
• Our Instagram debut – We took to Instagram to share our news and offer a behind-the-scenes peek into life at smartclip.

Onwards!

A big thank you to our smartclippers, partners, and clients for continuing this (sometimes) crazy journey with us. Your loyalty and support have made this past year truly one for the books, and we hope you’re just as excited as we are to see what 2023 has in store. 

Want to partner with us in 2023? Reach out to partnerships@smartclip.tv 

Want to become a smartclipper in 2023? Reach out to peopleandculture@smartclip.tv