As part of the initiative, a lucky draw competition was run among the agencies, where two prizes were up for grabs. These included a free Spectrum pop-up channel and a 50% discount of a Spectrum channel; both of these prizes are valid for three months.

To date, the roadshow has been a resounding success. The agency reports that agencies are eager to hear of the successful integration of Spectrum across 73 Caxton-owned local news websites.

The agencies visited included:
  • Mediacom
  • Mediaology
  • Dentus Aegis
  • Phd, and
  • Publicis Group.
Spectrum aims to create a fair value ecosystem for local content producers. To this end, the platform aims to provide relevant content to connected individuals on a hyper local level. This will ensure that South African advertising spend stays within its borders and funds locally produced programming and journalism.

I would probably trust somebody more from a local blog just because they have similar experiences to me," says Amber Valentine, biddable specialist at MediaCom. 
 
Spectrum's statistics have reported that the demand for local video is abundant. Between its launch in December 2018 and January 2020, the platform has seen over 9.7 million plays, almost 2.5 million unique browsers and enjoys an average dwell time of three minutes and 48 seconds.

Another differential noted by the agencies is that South African consumers can now discover local content in a brand-safe, contextualised and non-intrusive video environment.

Brand and data safety are central to clients' concerns and all content on Spectrum has been curated. Advertisers have power over the context in which their communications will appear.

"The most beneficial thing about the product is that the client will be able to tell what content is around the adverts," says Bryce Betha, digital campaign manager at Publicis Media.

The data compression technology used by the platform was designed and built by local tech company Tysflo, Spectrum's software development partner. The technology ensures a maximum data consumption rate of 1.2mb/s, which is 40% less than competitors.

This ensures that a diverse range of viewers can access its HD channels and video-on-demand content in a data-friendly way. Hive Digital's CRO Parmeshan Moodliar says, "Spectrum represents a defining moment in video-on-demand platforms. We want agencies to be part of Spectrum's revolution and experience the value of the brand safety and the sustainable reach that the platform can offer."

Hive Digital Media says that it wanted agencies to experience the platform first-hand, which was itsmotivation for running the lucky draw competition among the agencies that they visited. Phd and Mediaology were the winners of the Spectrum channel prizes.

Moodliar concludes, "It is going to be mutually inspiring working with the winning agencies as we discover the potential of developing local content for a local market." 

For more information, visit www.hivedigital.media. You can also contact Hive Digital Media's team on info@hivedigital.media.