Dentsu’s Kevin Weigand: ‘Premium Is In The Eye Of The Viewer’

Why It Matters

Ad spend efficiency hinges on flexible, premium‑focused partnerships, giving brands a competitive edge as streaming fragments.

Key Takeaways

• Partnerships must be modular across direct, programmatic, and biddable channels
• Measure long‑term value via incrementality, ROAS, and lift metrics
• Ideal partners span content, technology, and advertiser relationships
• Premium perception is viewer‑dependent; context drives performance significantly
• Deep investments target publishers with premium, contextual inventory amid fragmentation

Summary

Dentsu’s Kevin Weigand outlined the agency’s evolving partnership model, emphasizing that deals must be modular enough to operate across direct‑IO, programmatic guarantees and biddable formats. The goal is to serve both brand and performance objectives as the media landscape shifts.

He said value is measured not just by campaign clicks but by incrementality, ROAS and lift – sustainable KPIs that demonstrate long‑term impact. The most valuable partners, according to Weigand, are those that can simultaneously provide content, technology and advertiser‑relationship capabilities, allowing Dentsu to serve its entire client base from an enterprise perspective while still meeting individual client needs.

Weigand stressed that “premium is in the eye of the viewer,” linking transparency, trust and contextual alignment to performance. He noted that direct publisher relationships enhance brand safety and enable precise, timely audience capture, especially as streaming inventory becomes increasingly fragmented.

For advertisers, this means prioritizing publishers with genuinely premium, contextual inventory and building flexible, one‑to‑one partnerships rather than broad, commodity‑driven programmatic buys. The approach promises higher ROI and stronger brand‑consumer connections in a crowded streaming ecosystem.

Original Description

NEW YORK – Publisher partnerships must span content, technology, and advertiser relationships rather than focusing on single capabilities, as premium content varies based on individual viewer perception and contextual relevance.

“Between content, technology, and advertising relationships, I think a partner that really drives the most value is the one that can span all three,” Kevin Weigand, VP, Partnerships, Video & Audio Lead, Investment Solutions at dentsu media US, told Beet.TV Editorial Director Lisa Granatstein at the IAB Newfronts. “We look at things from an enterprise level, how can this partner basically work across our entire client set?”

Dentsu builds modular partnerships that work across direct insertion orders, programmatic guarantees, and biddable approaches rather than separating programmatic from non-programmatic solutions.

Modular approach addresses shifting needs

Partnership development focuses on solving client needs across brand and performance objectives through flexible implementation rather than rigid programmatic versus traditional distinctions.

“We really build our partnerships to ensure they’re modular, to work across all of our client bases,” Weigand said. “As things are shifting between brand and performance, we really need to make sure that we solve the needs for all of our clients. So we don’t really build partnerships programmatic versus non-programmatic. We build them to solve the needs of our clients.”

Long-term value beyond campaign metrics

Partnership evaluation extends beyond campaign results to incrementality measures and sustainable KPIs including return on ad spend and lift metrics that demonstrate actual business impact for clients.

“There’s incrementality measures, other sustainable KPIs that we look at of how is this actually driving, whether it’s ROAS or lift or any other performance metric that solves the need for our clients,” Weigand said.

Direct partnerships enable contextual alignment

Publisher direct relationships improve transparency and trust while enabling contextual alignment with premium content, recognizing that premium quality depends on viewer perspective rather than universal standards.

“I’ve always said that premiumness is in the eye of the viewer. Whatever they’re watching is premium to them,” Weigand said. “When we’re building these direct relationships, if we can really catch the consumer at the right place at the right time, we view that that builds performance.”

One-to-one partnerships counter commoditization

Streaming fragmentation drives selectivity toward publishers offering premium content and specific value through sponsorships and contextual alignment, contrasting with commoditized inventory abundance that characterizes the broader market.

“We’re aware that there’s so much commoditized inventory in this space that when we build up one-to-one partnerships instead of one-to-many or multi-pub partnerships, we’re looking to ensure that this drives specific value,” Weigand said.

Partnerships must provide enterprise-level agency value plus client benefits including contextual IP alignment and sponsorship opportunities that address specific client requirements.

“Can align contextually with the IP, can provide value both at an enterprise level to our agency and to a client standpoint, can provide things like sponsorships or contextual alignment that solves our clients’ needs,” Weigand said.