The Refresh News: May 12 Interview with Christian Muche from Beyond Ordinary (Possible) + New Fronts and the future of TV

Summary

AdTechGod Pod Summary: Episode "The Refresh News: May 12 Interview with Christian Muche from Beyond Ordinary (Possible) + New Fronts and the Future of TV"

Host: AdTech God
Guest: Christian Mucha, CEO and Co-Founder of Beyond Ordinary
Release Date: May 12, 2025
Episode Focus: Insights into the successful Possible event in Miami and discussions on NewFronts and the future of TV advertising.

---

1. Introduction to the Possible Event

AdTech God welcomed Christian Mucha, CEO and Co-Founder of Beyond Ordinary, to discuss the recent Possible event held in Miami. Possible is portrayed as a convergence point for creative minds, tech innovators, brand leaders, and marketing professionals within the advertising technology landscape.

2. Motivation and Market Gap

Christian Mucha detailed the inspiration behind launching Possible, highlighting the absence of a comprehensive event in the US that effectively marries marketing and technology. He emphasized:

"We wanted to go beyond being another conference by adding activation spaces and expositions, bringing in 175 companies this year alone." ([03:45])

Key Points:

• Market Need: Existing conferences either focus too narrowly on tech or marketing but lack an integrated approach.
• Unique Approach: Possible differentiates itself by incorporating interactive activations and fostering a multidisciplinary environment.
• Location Choice: Miami was selected for its conducive indoor and outdoor environments, offering a refreshing alternative to traditional venues like Vegas.

3. Event Highlights and Success Factors

Possible attracted 5,400 attendees, surpassing initial estimates and reflecting high industry interest. Christian Mucha attributed the event’s success to several factors:

• Diverse Attendee Mix: Included brands, marketers, ad tech companies, agencies, consultancies, and creators.
• High-Level Engagement: Approximately 66% of attendees were at the VP level or above, with 33% representing brand marketers.

"66% of our audience were VP level and above, and a third were brand marketeers. This mix ensures high-quality interactions and meaningful connections." ([06:04])

• Quality Over Quantity: Emphasis on maintaining a balanced and high-quality attendee mix rather than merely increasing numbers.
• Networking Opportunities: Facilitated through structured programs like hosted meetings and academies, enabling personalized and curated interactions.

4. Energy and Positivity Amid Economic Uncertainty

Despite broader economic uncertainties, Possible maintained a positive and energetic atmosphere. Christian Mucha observed:

"I was very positively surprised about the energy and excitement we created during these three days, even under current economic circumstances." ([09:40])

Insights:

• Resilience: The event fostered a sense of optimism and momentum among attendees.
• Community Building: Successfully connected the right people at the right time, enhancing collaborative opportunities.

5. Content and Programming Strategies

Christian Mucha emphasized the importance of diverse and engaging content to cater to varied attendee interests:

• Variety of Topics: Covered both essential marketing and tech subjects like AI, as well as inspirational content such as personal development sessions.
• Unexpected Content: Featured speakers like Gary Vee in interactive Q&A sessions, adding unexpected value and engagement.

"We included unexpected content and speakers, such as Gary Vee running a Q&A session, which significantly increased audience engagement." ([12:00])

• Emotional Connections: Sessions like that of the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters with the NFL CMO moved audiences emotionally, demonstrating the event's ability to inspire beyond typical marketing discourse.

6. Future Plans and Enhancements for Next Year

Looking ahead, Possible aims to build on this year’s success with several strategic plans:

• Location Consistency: Committed to hosting future events in Miami, citing favorable weather and conducive environments for growth.
• Content Expansion: Plans to include "hidden stars" of the industry—underrated yet influential figures shaping the future of adtech.
• Venue and Logistics: Maintaining a single, expansive venue to facilitate seamless networking and minimize logistical challenges for attendees.

"Our plan is to stay in one venue, possibly expanding within the same location, to ensure attendees can easily connect throughout the event without the need for extensive travel." ([14:00])

• Enhanced Networking Tools: Introduction of more personalized and curated networking opportunities to further enhance attendee connections.

7. Conclusion and Final Remarks

AdTech God expressed excitement for the future of Possible, noting the seamless networking experiences and the high caliber of attendees. Christian Mucha reciprocated the enthusiasm, expressing eagerness to welcome attendees back next year in Miami.

"Looking forward to welcoming everyone to Possible next year in Miami, aiming for a bigger, better, and bolder event focused on quality." ([15:19])

---

Summary:
This episode of the AdTechGod Pod provided an in-depth look into the successful execution of the Possible event in Miami, hosted by Christian Mucha of Beyond Ordinary. The discussion highlighted the event's unique positioning in the market, its diverse and high-level attendee mix, and the strategic content that fostered both professional growth and emotional engagement. Looking forward, Christian shared plans to enhance future editions of Possible, maintaining a commitment to quality and impactful networking within the adtech community.

Transcript

[AdTech God]

A word from our sponsors. Media verification and measurement are undergoing major disruption. Legacy players are pivoting to performance. Advertising AI is reshaping brand safety and attention is replacing viewability. Adelaide is leading this shift with au, a new way to assess media quality that scores placements based on their potential to drive attention and outcomes. Before your ads run, think of it like a credit score for media. Finally, a clear view of quality. Before you buy, take the guesswork out of your investment strategy and try Adelaide AU on your next campaign.

[Christian Mucha]

This podcast is brought to you by audiohook, the leading independent audio dsp. Audio Hook has direct publisher integrations into all major podcast and streaming radio platforms, providing 40% more inventory than what could be accessed in omnichannel DSPs. What's more, audiobook has full transcripts on more than 90% of all podcast inventory, enabling advanced contextual targeting and brand suitability. Audio Hook is so confident that in addition to CPM buys, they offer the industry's only pay for performance option where brands can scale audio and podcasting with peace of mind knowing they are only paying for outcomes. Visit audiohook.com to learn more. That's audiohook.com.

[AdTech God]

Welcome back to the Refresh, your weekly download on what's shaping the world of advertising, media and tech. I'm your host and co founder of Market AdTech. God. In this episode, we're joined by Christian Mucha, the CEO and co founder of Beyond Ordinary, the company that hosts Possible, the industry event that just lit up Miami. Possible was a convergence of creative minds, tech innovators, brand leaders and marketing pros all under one roof. We'll dive into how it all came together, what made it different and why Possible might just be the new must attend event on everyone's calendar. Before we get started with the interview, Market is heading to Cannes. We'll be all over the Croisette with a full slate of programming. We have live interviews with industry leaders, Hot Yachts, which is our brand new video series from the Advertising Forum. And of course we've partnered with Adweek for a party at the Majestic Hotel. That's it for News. Christian, I am excited to have you here. Thank you so much for accepting my invite.

[Christian Mucha]

Absolutely. And thank you so much for having me, especially post event which gave me a little breeze. You know, compared to last week, it was pretty incredible.

[AdTech God]

The feedback from everyone, everyone I've spoken to was that was great. I'm going next year, so good job to you and the team. I mean that's, that's impressive.

[Christian Mucha]

Thank you so much and of course it deserves to the whole team because you know, that was the one of the key motivations from the beginning on. As I said also on stage last week, not just creating another event, we have plenty of those, you know, in our industry. But to make it very special and very personal and to do this with a couple of thousand people, you need a fantastic team next to you. You know that everybody has the kind of same understanding how to treat our customers and our attendees in a very personal and customized way. And this motivates us. You know, whatever we believe should be next and where we're heading to, that is something we want to keep. And yeah, that's a key motivation for us. And obviously it paid off.

[AdTech God]

It definitely paid off. Question for you is there are a ton of events in the market. You started this company. I think this is the third event you've had total. What gap were you trying to fill? I could tell you my personal feedback after you explained. But what gap were you trying to fill in the market that motivated you to create or launch such a big event?

[Christian Mucha]

Right, and this was exactly the question which came up at the very beginning. I was approached by a lot of industry leaders and also marketeers who told me, you know, that we know all the events we are going to. Yes, it makes sense, but there's something missing, especially in the US market. Let's start with that. And I looked around a bit and it was quickly obvious for me that we have great conferences in our industry, not just in the US but especially there which provides great content and networking opportunities. And then we have the big mass events, I call it, you know, like cs, which is to be honest more a tech event than, than a marketing event or South Spy, which is a fantastic event, but it's more culture driven. It's not really a marketing event. So that piece was missing. And then I said it has to be more, it has to go beyond being a conference, another conference. And this is why I talk about possible as more than being a show because we added these activation space. Some call it exposition. You know, we bring in a lot of activations from various companies. I mean we had 175 companies with activations this year, which was a massive increase. And this happens indoor and outdoor. That was one of the key reasons to choose Miami. Right, because you have to be in a, in a nice environment to be able to do it indoor, outdoor. And everybody was obviously a bit tired to go to Vegas again for another event. So that were there were a couple of quite obvious reasons. Makes sense for me to start working on that massive project. And then of course, other ideas quickly came up. How to execute things in a different way, how to present content in terms of the mix of the audience. Because we said also very quickly, we want to bring everybody from the industry, from the wider marketing world together, not just focusing on one dedicated part like edtech, for example. We want to have brands and marketeers, ad tech, tech companies, agencies, consultancies, creator economy. Everybody who belongs to the industry should come together. And I hear a lot of people saying, I've met people really for the first time, not just those I already know, but for the first time. And this is, to summarize it, this, you know, for, for now, this is, I think, one of the biggest benefits we could provide you.

[AdTech God]

Yeah, I mean, Christian, I agree on that. I joined, I mentioned this before the recording. I went to dinner, maybe 40 people sat down, looked around. I recognized maybe two or three had no idea who the other, you know, 38 were. Mostly because they came from a world that I was not in touch with. It was, it was purely brand marketers, purely from the brands themselves, some high level agency executives that I had not interacted with yet. And it was great, it was a great way for me to network, exchange, you know, numbers and contact information. And I found it very, very valuable to myself as a, as a creator and as a business owner. So I thought that you've done a fantastic job in bringing the right people to the right place.

[Christian Mucha]

And it's also about seniority level, right? I mean, we want to have a good mix, but we all know that we need a dedicated number of brands and marketeers on site. We need a dedicated percentage of senior people, you know, as decision makers and with the power of making decisions. And the statistics are, we already know them, you know, they're, they're so promising and exciting for us because we could increase the level of seniority up to 66%, which means 66% of our audience were VP level and above. And most importantly, we could increase the percentage of brand marketeers on site up to 33%. So a third of the total audience of 5,400 people on site were brand marketeers. I think this is, we are exactly now in the spot where it makes sense, or you can say, where nobody can avoid this event anymore. If you want to connect with brand marketers, always tech companies, always agencies.

[AdTech God]

I totally agree with you. I didn't realize it was 5,400. I guessed 4,000. But 5,400 is a massive event to Manage.

[Christian Mucha]

It is a massive event. It's. Well, we are running a business. It's about growth in some way. But I always say also for the future, it has to be still the right mix. And that means it's all about quality. It's all about quality. And then I don't care about the final number, right. If we have another thousand next year or maybe another couple of hundred or maybe two thousand. I don't know it yet. I don't know yet. But as long as we stick in this kind of mix and make sure that we have the right formats so that people can mingle, can connect, create new relationships and find those who can help in their daily business. Therefore, we introduced the hosted meeting program. We have, you know, different academies running with small groups bringing together. This is exactly what I mean with curation and personalization as well. It's not greeting everybody personally with a handshake. That's not what I mean. The expectation, the range of expectations is far more diverse than ever before. I think we both agree that like 10 years or 20 years ago. So you have to, if you come up with something new, you have to meet all kind of expectations here. And some wants to make, you know, just new relationships. Others wants to look for, for creating deals on site or initiating deals on site. Others are. Want to still hear great content or have a personal development session, whatever it is. I believe that we offer this and of course, execute it in, in a relatively good way so that it's not too confusing.

[AdTech God]

What was your biggest takeaway from. From the event? You know, for me, it was. It was primarily networking. We obviously, we hitched onto the events back and created some content and had a bunch of meetings back to back the entire time we were there. But what was the most unexpected reaction from your guests or yourself and the team coming out of the event?

[Christian Mucha]

So I've already mentioned quickly, you know, that we, I think, as you said, also we connected the right people at the right time and brought them into the room. I was very positively surprised about the energy, the level of excitement we could create during these three days, and especially under these circumstances. Right. I mean, if you look into our economy, there's of course, you know, rising uncertainty. You know, at least we started talking about this more in the couple of last weeks in our economy as well, in our industry as well. I was very surprised that I didn't hear anything like this. I only heard people taking the positivity out of that event and the energy and the buzz back home for their own business and I think that's an achievement. I'm really proud, to be completely honest, not exactly knowing how we made this, but, but I, I take it, I take it, you know, I take it for sure. Maybe it's just that we bring in the right people and the right weeks together.

[AdTech God]

Maybe that's, I mean we, when we had Market live, I could tell you we all slept for two days straight and that was a one day event with, you know, 350, 360 people. I couldn't imagine the amount of time, work, stress, pressure, organization that you went through just setting up. Possible it's 5,400 people, it's no joke. From where you stood, you were obviously very busy. You were running around making sure everything was, was operating correctly. What was the biggest takeaway from the event or what was a common theme you were hearing in market from, from this mix of audience, from these marketers and these agencies and brands and tech companies. What was your biggest takeaway from an overall theme for the year?

[Christian Mucha]

I think it's not one dedicated theme and this is by the way, also a reason why we do not come up with a theme before every each year. I'm not a big fan of that, of course. Our content team is well aware that, and they do a lot of research, 12 months all around the year to become aware of, you know, what's relevant for marketeers and for the industry, what needs to be covered in our meetings, on stages, etc. In our programming. These are obviously the common things. AI was definitely on the next level, you know that now everybody realizes how important this is, no doubt. And there was a need to come up with a lot of show case studies and to prove, you know, what's really possible based on case studies and what it could mean for tomorrow's business, that kind of things. On the other hand, we had this more inspirational programming on the first day on Monday, which was very exciting to see that it doesn't need to be necessarily a dedicated marketing topic which excites people as well. It was, you know, we had the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters on stage with Tim Ellis, CMO from NFL and their partnerships. I've seen people crying in the audience right at the end of the session. So that gives me a great understanding that it has to be a variety of topics, but also cover this from different angles and not necessarily talking about the common really important topics, tech topics or data security or anything like this, which has to be there as well. But we added this with surprising unexpected content and speakers as well. Seeing Gary Vee on that Monday in the afternoon, not with a typical keynote or one to one conversation, just running a Q and A session and people running, you know, and fighting for it to get the mic, you know, and be able to ask that kind of things. That's, I think that's, that's one of the key learnings for us to be continued next year.

[AdTech God]

Yeah, I feel like the promotions you did, the content you brought, the caliber of guest speakers that you brought was pretty incredible. What should we expect for next year? Is it always going to be in Miami? I guess is my first question.

[Christian Mucha]

Yes, that's definitely the plan. I mean we have contracts for the next two years, that's for sure. And as long as the weather is as it was for the last three years, there's no reason to change.

[AdTech God]

And then any big plans for next year that you've thought about or continue, similar tone, similar vibe, similar content.

[Christian Mucha]

I mean obviously we set the stage in terms of how to bring people together. The mix, as I said before, the type of content have a great mixed audience of industry leaders with a deep, deep knowledge experts, but also talents as well to provide some unexpected provide. I would like to see more hidden stars in our industry nobody heard about yet but who are shaping the industry already. But this is of course all content, otherwise we will expand. So that's definitely a big step for us next year. So the idea is still to stay in one venue also if it's, if this venue will, will become bigger, we take over the in walk next door. We do some, some kind of stuff with the meeting program on the beach as well. But it's still one big venue. And this is one of the, I think big benefits for everybody. We don't need to jump in a car or in a taxi and you know, have to drive 20 minutes or half an hour from, to go from one meeting to another. Like in other, at other events, you are walking into people all day long over three days or three and a half days. There's no reason, except maybe in the evening, you know, to go to a dinner or something like this to leave the venue. And that's one of the biggest benefits. You know, people know where they are, they know they're going to meet others all day long because everybody stick to the same venue. And this is, this is, I think that's the plan for next year as well. Bigger, better, bolder, but most importantly better. That's the focus.

[AdTech God]

I love it. I could tell you that I met with three of three people that I had planned to meet with. I ran into them at the coffee shop so it was nice to just cross paths constantly throughout the day, wave at people. High five people even just have quick five minute chats on my way to meetings. I thought it was a fantastic venue, fantastic location. Thank you Christian for being here. Thank you for your time. Thank you for the trust. I'm really looking forward to possible next year.

[Christian Mucha]

No, thank you so much for being able to share my experiences with you and looking forward to welcome you and hopefully everybody else. The podcast back next year in Miami.

[AdTech God]

Thank you. Stay with us. Stay tuned as we go into our weekly news with Kate. She'll be summarizing what's happened in advertising the last week. A word from our sponsors Take back your Mondays with Bert Intelligence, the publisher bi platform that turns chaos into clarity. And now, with their new product, Bert leads publisher sales teams can uncover hidden gems, recapture lost opportunities, and upsell deals with Intelligence. Stop guessing and start closing. Sign up during May for an extended trial at bert AI/adtech God, that's b u r t dot a I slash adtech God.

[Kate]

We're taking a break. Whoa, whoa. Don't panic. We're just taking a little hiatus from antitrust news and really anything related to big tech. I'm Kate with marketexture and this is the Refresh, your weekly download on what went down in advertising. Today's Monday, May 12th. This week we're covering new Friends news by looking at what overarching trends are popping and what they can tell us about where the TV and video landscape is headed. So let's get into it now. Not every Advertiser participates in NewFronts, but every advertiser will feel the trickle down effects of what's announced in any given newfront season. And sure, the primary goal of this season is to secure revenue in advance, but it's also about survival. How will each vendor choose to transform its offerings to align with consumer and channel trends and shape where they ultimately want to see the landscape go in order to maximize their own profitability? And that's where we start to see themes emerge. I've read at least a dozen NewFronts announcements so far, and here are some overarching themes I've identified. Generally speaking, we'll continue to see a push for shoppable video, interactive creative formats, live streaming, and gamification of content. There have also been several mentions of using generative AI to improve the user experience, particularly when it comes to content recommendations. Genai is also being positioned as a way to better identify audiences, particularly those advertisers may not have thought of to reach the next theme. Video is going to have a big year. And before you say, well, duh, hear me out more Publishers and platforms like the New York Times are making a serious push toward video content, particularly vertical video. They're rolling out miniseries video, podcasts, more on that in a second, and social content to keep pace with the likes of TikTok and Instagram. In parallel to this, when it comes to B2B, LinkedIn is making a serious play for ad budgets by expanding on and prioritizing their creator programs and and extending ads to CTV environments via partnerships with Roku and paramount. Watching the B2B strategy shift has been fascinating, but also makes total sense. Many primary decision makers in the industry are now of Millennial and Gen Z age. Reaching them in their favorite media formats and styles just makes sense. Another trend driving video consumption Podcasting is evolving into a video first viewing experience. YouTube reported that viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts per month on YouTube's TV app. The final element behind videos rise vertical social video that has historically been kept out of streaming environments due to the disconnect between the different formats and their environments are now being integrated into streaming platforms. Mobile apps. Netflix just announced they'd be supporting vertical video content within their mobile app, and Tubi announced something similar last year. Next up, sports will continue to be a dominant force, but it's women's sports that are opening up growth opportunities. Vox Media, Ion, Yahoo, and more have all created exclusive brand opportunities within women's sports, while last year's new front saw the launch of a dedicated women's sports marketplace called Trailblazing Marketplace, a combined effort from Sports Innovation Labs and Trailblazing Sports Group. So why women's sports and why now? I've been following the rise of women's sports as a prime media opportunity for the past couple of years, and I think there are a few key variables. Sports are increasingly becoming the lifeblood of streaming revenues. One way to grow revenue is to diversify, and women's sports provides that. The other variable is simply that the media has chosen to give women's sports more airtime. Again, it's a move that's good for business, but they could also possibly be feeling the pressure from those advocating for the elevation of female athletes, especially as they often take on a dual role as role models. Finally, I think nil deals have created massive opportunities for athletes, and as a former college athlete, I have mixed feelings about nil deals, but I think they've had hugely positive outcomes for female athletes in particular. These women have been able to capitalize on the platform that they've built. Platforms that are founded on personal fan bases that are deeply passionate and fiercely loyal, one of the most ideal audiences for relevant brands. To tap into another trend, adtech continues to stage a full on takeover of streaming platform infrastructure. There were a ton of announcements related to product offering improvements that were supported or enabled by ad tech, and these announcements spanned the full scope of media execution from data and measurement solutions to data clean room integrations, creative formats and partnerships or integrations between various streaming platforms. Seriously, if I rattled every announcement off this news brief would have turned into a full on college lecture. But here are a few examples just to give you a sense of what I'm talking about. Tubi announced partnerships with Universal Ads, coachava, Amazon, Innovid, Polk and ncs. Meanwhile, LG announced they're partnering with creative solutions providers like Brightline, who supports interactive video formats, and Spaceback, which ports brand social content from Instagram and TikTok into other digital environments. As streaming TV continues to be viewed as the antidote to walled gardens like Meta and Google, advertisers will demand more performance oriented opportunities. Streaming platforms are following the money and it leads straight back to ad tech. Finally, flexibility is the name of the game. As tariffs loom and the economy remains in a state of fluctuating uncertainty, media buyers want the freedom to make changes whenever and however they need. Flexibility in buying agreements or commitments is something that wasn't commonly available during the pandemic but has since become table stakes, especially as we navigate economic turmoil round two or three or four or five Publishers and Streaming Platforms New media buyers would be price sensitive and cost conscious heading into this upfronts and newfront season because of all that uncertainty. As a result of this, they're not only prioritizing flexibility in buying contracts, but within media activation itself, including opening up more programmatic activation opportunities like Programmatic Guaranteed, while leaning on existing and emerging solutions like Generative AI that allow advertisers to activate and manage their campaigns in more agile and sophisticated ways. As we take a break from big tech drama, treat yourself to a break from whatever is causing drama in your own lives. That's all we have time for today. Thanks for joining us for the refresh and we'll catch you next week.