Marketecture Podcast: "Programmatic Innovation in Live Sports"

Host: Ari Paparo
Guests: Andrew Casale (President & CEO, Index Exchange), Megan Pagliuca (Chief Activation Officer, Omnicom Media Group)
Episode Date: December 15, 2025

Episode Overview

In this energetic live episode from Marketecture Live, Ari Paparo steers a dynamic discussion between Andrew Casale and Megan Pagliuca on the breakthroughs and challenges of programmatic advertising in live sports and streaming. The focus is on how major agencies and technology partners are leveraging new tools, standards, and AI to capture the unique value of live events, bring more transparency and efficiency to media buying, and push the boundaries of what’s possible with programmatic in sports and beyond.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The New Frontier: Programmatic Meets Live Sports

• Personalization and Addressability: Megan highlights how agencies like OMG are blending live sports with programmatic tools for unprecedented addressability.
  • “Think about bringing the power of kind of live sports, live entertainment, with the power of programmatic, so addressability and accountability.” (03:13, Megan)
• Disney ‘Magic Moments’ Case Study: OMG and Disney have pioneered the use of programmatic to target high-attention moments in sports (e.g., a free throw or a goal) and personalize ads based on user actions and significant events.
  • “The first phase was just as simple as understanding when a user first turned on and tuned into the programming...now we can change that experience based on events.” (03:39, Megan)
• Scaling Across Platforms: These innovations are expanding from Disney to NBCU, Paramount, and beyond. (04:12, Megan)

2. Tech Standards and Real-Time Delivery Challenges

• The ‘Kettle Spike’ Problem: Andrew explains that in live sports, all smart TVs request ads simultaneously at breaks—creating “punishing” traffic spikes.
  • “Every single device asks for an ad at the same time...it creates these unbelievable surges or spikes. And these spikes are punishing.” (06:32, Andrew)
• Standards & Collaboration: New IAB Technology Lab standards (like podding, 2.6 spec) help address latency and scalability, moving from event-driven to time-driven approaches. The next innovation: pre-fetching ad requests to flatten spikes and ensure every impression is monetized.
• Memorable Analogy: Andrew shares the UK “kettle spike” story—the electrical grid was overloaded when millions made tea during TV ad breaks.
  • “We're kind of dealing with a modern version of that right now. Kind of boring, geeky stuff, but...demonstrates the real critical importance of standards.” (07:57, Andrew)

3. Sell-Side Decisioning and the “Unbundling” of Value

• Why Sell-Side Decisioning, Why Now: Advances in compute speed allow the sell side (SSPs) to add more data and logic before the DSP even sees a bid, creating room for new value and innovation.
  • “You add almost the same amount of functional capacity to associate an impression with data, to apply a decision, to call a model...in the 10 milliseconds before the bid request.” (10:15, Andrew)
• Ecosystem Evolution: Commoditization vs. Full-Stack: The debate: Will platforms collapse into “do everything” models—blending buyer and seller tech, or will innovation flourish through modular, “unbundled” best-of-breed solutions?
  • “We are at a fork in the road. It's either one platform does everything and solves every problem, or we massively unbundle all value...” (13:17, Andrew)
• Impact on Working Media: Both guests agree future innovation should drive more advertiser spend into effective media, not ad-tech middlemen.
  • “The ultimate loser...is ad tech and margins for ad tech platforms. And the winner is the marketer and their working media.” (15:25, Andrew)
  • OMG’s efficiency playbook: best-in-class DSP/SSP deals, path optimization, and aggressive use of supply path data and AI curation for cost reduction (17:00, Megan)

4. AI: From Hype to Real Results

• Real AI Use Cases: Megan outlines two practical ways OMG uses AI today:
  • Inclusion Lists: AI replaces manual human vetting for supply inclusion—scanning domains and apps at scale for fraud and consumer experience, enabling dynamic, objective, and faster lists.
    • “Now we've created thresholds and we have kind of gen AI scanning the Internet...whether it's domains, apps or CTV to ensure those can be part of our inclusion list.” (20:02, Megan)
  • Catastrophic Event Targeting: AI enables brands to block only specific negative news (e.g., a real hurricane vs. Miami Hurricanes), solving the old problem of blocking too much.
• AI Power on the Sell Side: Andrew emphasizes neural nets on the SSP, supercharged by full data access, outperforming models trained on restricted DSP data.
  • “The way to make a neural network better is...give it more data, give it all the data. And so it almost supercharges the ability for those models...” (18:16, Andrew)
• Creative & Workflow Automation: GenAI is democratizing creative production for smaller advertisers and bringing real-time creative to connected TV and streaming.
  • “Programmatic has done an incredible thing at democratizing access to tv...GenAI is doing phenomenal things where you can give a URL…and out spits a pretty impressive creative relatively quickly.” (22:41, Andrew)
• Workflow Efficiency: AI is starting to cut down on mundane tasks and troubleshooting, augmenting (not yet replacing) human roles.

5. Future Gazing: 2026 and Beyond

• Influencer Goes Programmatic: Megan sees influencer marketing shifting from follower-based to audience match and programmatic principles.
  • “We're having more programmatic decisioning around it. We're essentially looking at our audience and then deciding influencers based on the followers match to that audience.” (25:25, Megan)
• Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): The next big battleground is feeding brand content into AI-driven search/assistants, not just classic SEO.
  • “No more SEO. GEO is, is the new language...consumers aren’t going to the web, their websites as much. They're going to chat GPT.” (25:40, Megan)
• Relentless Efficiency: Andrew predicts a continued shift toward efficiency, modularity, and experimentation in ad-tech strategies, with more direct benefits for marketers and publishers.
  • “The biggest thing that I'd say is happening right now is I've never seen so much change in the air...it’s in service of a more efficient future.” (26:38, Andrew)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 03:13 | Megan | “Think about bringing the power of kind of live sports, live entertainment, with the power of programmatic, so addressability and accountability.” | | 06:32 | Andrew | “Every single device asks for an ad at the same time...it creates these unbelievable surges or spikes. And these spikes are punishing.” | | 07:57 | Andrew | “We're kind of dealing with a modern version of that right now. Kind of boring, geeky stuff, but...demonstrates the real critical importance of standards.” | | 10:15 | Andrew | “You add almost the same amount of functional capacity ...in the 10 milliseconds before the bid request.” | | 13:17 | Andrew | “We are at a fork in the road. It's either one platform does everything...or we massively unbundle all value...” | | 15:25 | Andrew | “The ultimate loser...is ad tech and margins...And the winner is the marketer and their working media.” | | 20:02 | Megan | “Now we've created thresholds and we have kind of gen AI scanning the Internet...to ensure those can be part of our inclusion list.” | | 22:41 | Andrew | “GenAI is doing phenomenal things where you can give a URL…and out spits a pretty impressive creative…” | | 25:25 | Megan | “We're having more programmatic decisioning around [influencers]. We're essentially looking at our audience and then deciding influencers based on the followers match to that audience.” | | 25:40 | Megan | “No more SEO. GEO is the new language...consumers aren’t going to the web, their websites as much. They're going to chat GPT.” |

Important Segment Timestamps

• 02:51 – 04:23: Deep dive into live sports programmatic & Disney “magic moments”
• 06:32 – 08:25: Plumbing problems & IAB standards; “Kettle spike” analogy
• 08:25 – 11:13: Sell-side decisioning evolution—technical and industry context
• 13:17 – 15:24: Pathways for industry architecture—full-stack vs. modular
• 17:00 – 17:59: OMG’s approach to working media, supply path, and AI curation
• 19:38 – 21:36: Real AI use cases in advertising workflows
• 21:57 – 24:59: AI on creative, workflow, and future transformative potential
• 25:18 – 26:29: Predictions for the major innovation areas heading into 2026

Conclusion

Casale and Pagliuca present a compelling — sometimes technical, sometimes philosophical — roadmap for the next chapter of programmatic and live sports advertising. From addressing the quirks of real-time delivery and new industry standards to the exploding real-world applications of AI and generative tech (GEO replaces SEO!), the conversation makes clear: everything is up for reinvention, and efficiency gains are finally poised to benefit marketers and media companies, not tech middlemen. The future is modular, measurable, powered by signals and AI—and happening fast.