Cannes Special: Reaching for Outcomes: Tatari’s Philip Inghelbrecht on the Future of TV Advertising - Marketecture: Get Smart. Fast.

Summary

Marketecture Podcast Summary: Cannes Special – "Reaching for Outcomes: Tatari’s Philip Inghelbrecht on the Future of TV Advertising"

Release Date: June 16, 2025

Hosts: Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi
Guest: Philip Engelbrecht, CEO and Co-founder of Tatari
Location: Cannes

Introduction and Tatari’s Growth

Ari Paparo kicks off the episode from Cannes, introducing Philip Engelbrecht, CEO and co-founder of Tatari.

Philip Engelbrecht shares an overview of Tatari’s impressive growth since his last appearance on the podcast, stating, “We’re probably 5, 10x bigger in every respect. Customers, revenue, market” (00:41).

Tatari’s Elevator Pitch and Services

When asked to succinctly describe Tatari, Philip elaborates:

“Tatari is technology for TV advertising. Hundreds of brands and agencies use our product to plan, buy, and measure their TV campaigns—from start to finish.”
(01:22)

He emphasizes that Tatari's services encompass not just Connected TV (CTV) but also traditional linear TV, satellite TV, online video, and true conversion TV. Notable clients include Chime, with Tatari securing spots in high-profile events like the Super Bowl.

Client Engagement: Agencies vs. Direct Brands

Ari inquires about Tatari’s client acquisition strategy. Philip explains that both agencies and direct brands engage with Tatari, often depending on their familiarity with TV advertising. He notes:

“Brands first come to us when they’re new to TV advertising. They’ve done a lot of digital advertising but can’t scale anymore.”
(02:21)

For agencies, Tatari provides measurement technology and data integration, drawing parallels to platforms like The Trade Desk but focusing exclusively on TV.

Democratization of TV Advertising

Discussing the shift towards performance-driven TV advertising, Philip reflects on the evolution over the past eight years:

“The buy-in has come down a lot. I’m not so sure if it’s [truly accessible] to hundreds of thousands of small brands like on AdWords or Facebook.”
(04:43)

He categorizes Tatari’s clients as “growth clients” typically spending between half a million to a million dollars annually on advertising, distinguishing them from truly small businesses like local pizza shops.

Measurement: Audience vs. Outcome-Based

Ari steers the conversation towards measurement methodologies, referencing a recent discussion with VideoAmp’s CMO. Philip contrasts traditional audience measurement with Tatari’s outcome-based approach:

“Nielsen and VideoAmp are more audience measurement companies. We focus on outcome measurement—the extent to which a response was generated.”
(06:12)

He highlights Tatari's use of set-top box data and Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) data to enhance measurement accuracy, catering to brands that prioritize down-funnel metrics such as sales or Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

Critique of Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) in CTV

Ari references an article where Philip expressed skepticism about the future of DSPs in the Connected TV landscape. Philip elaborates:

“The whole programmatic value chain makes sense when the supply is highly distributed, as in digital. In CTV, there are about 10 large publishers controlling 90-95% of impressions.”
(08:00)

He argues that direct integrations with major publishers are more effective than leveraging DSP technology, which often introduces issues like fraud and brand safety risks.

The Role of AI in Tatari’s Operations

As AI dominates discussions at Cannes, Ari asks Philip about Tatari’s AI initiatives. Philip outlines three primary applications:

Process and Workflow Automation: Automating creative approvals and ensuring correct formats (11:05).
Media Planning Engine: Utilizing eight years of TV data to generate optimized media plans more efficiently than humans.
Media Execution: Leveraging AI to allocate impressions to the most relevant brands through direct publisher integrations.

He shares an exciting example of a client, Kashi, deploying a fully AI-generated creative that will air during the NBA Finals:

“They used AI from top to bottom. It was done in a matter of hours. That’s the creative we’re going to see in the NBA final.”
(13:47)

Tatari’s Cannes Strategy and Future Plans

Wrapping up, Philip discusses Tatari’s increasing presence at Cannes:

“We’re bringing more CMOs to Cannes. We have six people on the ground and more than 100 meetings lined up.”
(14:04)

He highlights the strategic importance of engaging with large brands and agencies, marking this as a significant milestone for Tatari’s growth trajectory.

Key Takeaways

Tatari’s Expansion: Significant growth in clients, revenue, and market presence since inception.
Comprehensive TV Advertising Solutions: Covering traditional and connected TV, with a focus on outcome-based measurement.
Performance-Driven Approach: Emphasizing down-funnel metrics over traditional audience reach.
Skepticism of DSPs in CTV: Advocating for direct publisher integrations to mitigate risks associated with programmatic buying.
Innovative Use of AI: Automating workflows, enhancing media planning, and optimizing media execution with AI technologies.
Strategic Cannes Presence: Actively engaging with large brands and agencies to further establish Tatari’s market position.

Notable Quotes:

Philip Engelbrecht:
“Tatari is technology for TV advertising…from start to finish.” (01:22)
“We focus on outcome measurement—the extent to which a response was generated.” (06:12)
“The whole programmatic value chain makes sense when the supply is highly distributed, as in digital. In CTV, there are about 10 large publishers controlling 90-95% of impressions.” (08:00)
“They used AI from top to bottom. It was done in a matter of hours. That’s the creative we’re going to see in the NBA final.” (13:47)

Conclusion

This episode of Marketecture provides an in-depth look into Tatari’s innovative approach to TV advertising, emphasizing outcome measurement, strategic AI integration, and a critical stance on traditional DSPs in the CTV space. Philip Engelbrecht’s insights shed light on the evolving landscape of TV advertising and Tatari’s pivotal role in shaping its future.

For more detailed discussions and future episodes, subscribe to Marketecture on Markitecture.tv or your favorite podcasting app.

Transcript

Ari Poparo (0:00)

Foreign. Welcome to the Market podcast. This is Ari Poparo. We're broadcasting from Cannes. All week we're going to be publishing short interviews with interesting people here at Cannes. We hope you enjoy it and we'll be back next week with a can wrap up in our normal format. All right, welcome to the Market podcast. I'm here with Philip Engelbrecht, who's the CEO and co founder of Tatari. Philip, thank you so much for being with me.

Philip Engelbrecht (0:34)

My pleasure, Ari.

Ari Poparo (0:35)

So Tatari is an interesting company. We haven't heard from you in a while. What's the latest? What is Tatari up to?

Philip Engelbrecht (0:41)

We have kept very busy and of course it pains me to hear that you haven't heard from us for a while. Our clients surely have. So, I mean, look, I think it was fortunate enough to be one of the early people on the podcast years ago. I didn't check what I said back then, but, you know, without knowing the exact baseline, we probably 5, 10x bigger in every respect. Customers, revenue, market. And so it's been, it's been a.

Ari Poparo (1:08)

Fantastic ride and so is the podcast. So we're all, we're all growing like crazy. But for those who may not be that familiar, what's, what's the elevator pitch on what Tatari is? It's tv. CTV buying more than ctv.

Philip Engelbrecht (1:22)

So we say Tatari is technology for TV advertising. Hundreds of brands and agencies, they will use our product to plan, buy and measure their TV campaigns. Soup to nuts. And when we say TV campaigns, it's more than ctv. It's also kind of the good old fashioned linear tv, satellite tv, online video, true conversion tv. The brands that use Atari, they could be very small, could be a very large company. Chime who's going public is one of the tyres clients. We place companies straight in the Super Bowl. I think we place already 3, 4 spots for next year. And then around the technology, we kind of build also what we refer to as infrastructure, a privacy and identity solution. Under the brand vault. We also have a sizable supply site technology component to the company under the brand viewpoint. So it's truly TV advertising vertically integrated.

Ari Poparo (2:21)

So with the big clients, you're working through agencies and with the small clients you're direct. Is that a good assumption?

Philip Engelbrecht (2:27)

It can go both ways and we're truly agnostic to that. I think maybe there's no kind of like rule to that. But what we do see is often brands first come to us when they're new to TV advertising. They've done a lot of digital advertising. If anything, they're really good at it. They can't scale anymore. They want a product that looks and feels like digital design tv. And we give that to them. Right. And so agencies, they come to us because they hear about Atari or their clients ask about it and they may say like, what can we license your measurement technology? How can we tap into your data for media execution? And so it's more in that capacity that we then start to work with those. It's very similar to the trade desk for all intents and purposes.