Case study
Precision at scale
Leveraging content intelligence to connect with college football viewers
Introduction
To build awareness, Mexican beer brand Dos Equis recently expanded its advertising strategy to include CTV, but wanted assurance that its ads would only appear in high-profile college football programming.
Objective
Ensure CTV ad placements within College Football Playoff games and associated shoulder programming.
Dos Equis, a beer brand well-known for its long-running “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign, launched an omnichannel campaign centered on College Football called “Go for Dos.” Consisting of sweepstakes, on-campus events, merch and specific college football video creative, the brand wanted to extend the campaign into its programmatic CTV buys, but with very specific content targeting goals.
Identify specific sporting events in the programmatic bidstream
While direct publisher buys offer guaranteed placements, identifying specific sporting events in the programmatic bidstream has historically been a challenge. To meet strict CPM benchmarks and geographic requirements, Dos Equis sought a programmatic solution that could mirror the precision of a direct buy at a scale and price point that complemented its broader media mix.
Three other factors complicated the execution:
- Live playoff games are high-profile, time-bound events where programmatic availability is often scarce.
- The brand’s specific geographic overlays narrowed the inventory pool even further.
- Strict category regulations for alcohol brands made precise content identification critical to ensure delivery with no wasted impressions.
Content-level data and a curated segment of desired programming
Dentsu X, working with Index Exchange as a preferred sell-side provider (SSP), used Gracenote’s content-level data to activate a segment of CFP games and shoulder programming across premium streaming inventory—including DirecTV—creating a closed-loop solution, from activation through post-campaign reporting.
We needed programmatic execution that matched the precision of a direct buy, especially for live sports. Using Gracenote metadata through Index Exchange allowed us to confidently show up in the exact college football moments we wanted, while maintaining efficiency and scale.
Key findings
of impressions aired in live CFP games
(vs. college football shoulder content)
Under CPM benchmark
of impressions aired within college football content
Live sports require a level of content precision that has traditionally been difficult to support at scale in the past. But enabling more granular, content-level targeting through Index Exchange, we’re able to support brand needs around live events while reducing manual operational work internally, creating a more efficient experience for both buyers and our teams. This allowed Dos Equis to show up in the exact games that matter — delivering the power of live sports with the flexibility and efficiency of programmatic.
Results
Successful scale within niche, sports programming
Gracenote’s data, applied against Index Exchange’s supply, was able to successfully and efficiently scale with niche, sports parameters. The reporting presented to Dentsu and Dos Equis gave them full transparency into their impressions, confirming they reached the high-impact environments intended. Notably, no other types of sports, including NFL, spilled into the campaign, indicating that the data was able to successfully distinguish between different types of football content.
Surgical content precision and CPM efficiency
By integrating Gracenote’s metadata with Index Exchange’s supply, Dos Equis successfully scaled a niche live sports strategy with zero waste. This partnership proved that brands can achieve surgical content precision while maintaining strict CPM efficiency—offering a high-performance programmatic solution that effectively complements traditional direct-to-publisher placements.
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