In this interview with TV veteran and AtmosphereTV CEO Blake Sabatinelli, he explains how FAST market principles can unlock an opportunity to reach out-of-home TV viewers with targeted ads.
Like me, you probably haven’t given much thought to the videos playing on the TVs in your local pizza parlor, doctor’s office, or oil change facility. AtmosphereTV’s Blake Sabatinelli has, and he sees an opportunity to create an entirely new way for advertisers to reach viewers. In this interview, he lays out how AtmosphereTV realizes the opportunity by leveraging the principles driving the expansion of the FAST market.
[Jump to the podcast]
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Now, back to the podcast.
Introduction to Blake Sabatinelli, CEO of AtmosphereTV (1:50)
Blake Sabatinelli
has been in the digital TV business for 15+ years, starting in local television in Florida and Virginia and ending up running digital strategy for E.W. Scripps. After Scripps bought streaming news pioneer Newsy in 2014, Black stepped in to run the business. He grew it from a $3 million to a $50 million business.
He left Scripps in 2021 to run AtmosphereTV, a provider of TV services to businesses. As you’ll hear in this interview from StreamTV on June 14, 2023, the premise of AtmosphereTV just wouldn’t have worked five years ago. The company leverages technology and approaches that are also powering the explosive growth of the FAST industry. In the interview, we discuss how the AtmosphereTV business works, builds an entirely new, distinctive ad inventory for brands, and how Blake sees his business and the FAST industry evolving over the next five years.
Now, let’s get to the interview with Blake Sabatinelli, Chief Executive Officer at AtmosphereTV. My thanks to Questex and the StreamTV Show for allowing me to bring you this interview in its entirety.
AtmosphereTV StreamTV Show interview June 14, 2023 (3:30)
Introduction to AtmosphereTV (3:45)
AtmosphereTV is a solution bringing TV to customer-facing businesses. It is already available in 60,000 locations and powers 75,000+ TV.The money flow and targetability (6:30)
AtmosphereTV revenue comes 100% from advertising. Blake explains what targetability means in the small business environment.
Impression capping (10:40)
Blake explains that frequency capping is very different in the out-of-home environment than in the classic direct-to-consumer market.
How the ads are sold (11:50)
AtmosphereTV uses a mix of programmatic and direct selling.
How do you sell the solution to advertisers? (12:40)
Reaching audiences at scale with top-of-funnel TV ads is the main pitch to advertisers. However, it is a battle to explain that the ads are contextually targeted – to where the viewer is – and addressable. Part of the challenge is that it has not been possible to reach a viewer through a TV in this way before.
Dealing with the sound being off (14:30)
Delivering in a sound-off environment is not necessarily a problem for advertisers.
Programming the channels and content partnerships (15:30)
“We believe in showing people doing amazing things.” The channels aggregate mostly user-generated content from 3-5000 providers a month, and programmers are responsible for ensuring the content is brand safe.
What makes AtmostphereTV possible (17:40)
Blake explains the three things that
- The enormous creator economy
- Cheap TVs
- Expansion of Wi-Fi
Installation and marketing of AtmostphereTV (18:40)
The business owner installs AtmosphereTV, which is no more difficult than a smart TV. The company markets to 2.4 million possible locations, and sales agents focus on getting them to understand why having it at their location matters.
The solution opens up the opportunity to have in-business videos in companies that previously couldn’t.
Are FASTs cable TV 2.0? (22:10)
Blake has a great deal of experience in the FAST market, and I asked him what he thought of people comparing it to cable TV.
Have we made CTV too hard for people? (24:50)
According to Blake, CTV has too many acronyms, technologies, and complexities.
Where will we be in five years? (25:50)
Blake sees some consolidation of the FAST market. He is excited to create a new advertising category in the third space. AtmostphereTV will be making the shift from being primarily an upper-funnel advertising medium to becoming a full-funnel solution.
