Tech MVP 2022: TotallyAwesome

Programmatic Playground

By Totally Awesome

Children’s digital media company TotallyAwesome returns as a Tech MVP this year, thanks to a new product filling a clear industry need. The development of ‘Programmatic Playground’ (PP) started in their Singapore headquarters after posing the challenge of how to scale interactions with audiences under 18 years old while keeping clients brand safe and equally respecting children’s privacy. The challenge has been a metaphorical Holy Grail for many brands, which plenty of media agencies and big tech platforms haven’t yet been able to solve for.

Last year, TotallyAwesome unveiled PP as a first-of-its-kind platform to address the above. Data privacy (both GDPR and COPPA) compliant, it engages audiences contextually, without cookies, blending select partners and media suppliers to aggregate the largest supply of quality media inventory that will guarantee relevance and meet media ROI. This year's judges scored PP highest among all Tech MVProducts given the clear need it addresses for so many in the industry.

Unlike most programmatic solutions, PP does not collect data or any personal identifying but instead leverages and optimises over 200 passion-points and content categories of interest for those hard-to-reach audiences under age 18. By packaging these audiences in a deal ID that can be targeted in DSPs and by sourcing inventory from SSPs on the open exchange, it brings safety and compliance to a programmatic solution for kids that has been granted a kidSafe seal of approval.

So how how far along is TotallyAwesome in implementing PP? In November 2021 the first campaigns were booked in Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia, followed by Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines in Q1 2022. Now, TotallyAwesome is in the process of rolling out the Programmatic Playground in North Asia (Japan and Korea) as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam too. It has also recently added new in-game formats, where clients can now buy IAB-compliant advertising for U18 audiences using in-game billboards and videos programmatically.

Results from campaigns so far have been strong. Engagement has been high with video completion rates between 70-80% and viewability rates above 80%. TotallyAwesome says only around 0.25% of the total impressions are flagged as invalid traffic, which is a good result in terms of fraud and brand safety. Meanwhile, in the second half of 2022, the company will add new video ad formats to help another key metric, brand uplift, measuring brand recognition among teens and families.

Looking ahead, TotallyAwesome plans to continually innovate and improve PP with the help of audience insights and its in-house paediatric psychologist. In the second half of 2022, the company plans to launch rich media formats like interstitial and mini-games ads.