Traditionally, if you wanted to reach people in their homes, you would have put your advertising budget behind TV ads. But increasingly advertisers are switching to connected TV (CTV) ads instead.
In this article we explore why CTV is taking over from linear TV ads, and how to run a successful CTV ad campaign.
What is CTV?
A connected TV, or CTV, is a device that either connects to or is embedded in a television that supports video content streaming. This can include Xbox, PlayStation, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, YouTube, Netflix and more.
And CTV isn’t going away. CTV surpassed linear TV in 2018 and has been steadily growing since then. According to forecasts, CTV households will reach 115.1 million by 2024, more than doubling traditional linear TV households, which will shrink to 56.6 million.
In the US, linear TV ad spend is shrinking (8% year-on-year), while CTV ad spend is growing (21.2% year-on-year). CTV is also a powerful advertising medium; 23% of people are more likely to purchase after seeing a CTV ad compared to a linear TV ad.
What are the benefits of CTV ads?
Compared to linear TV, CTV ad campaigns give advertisers more control and better value for money, giving you the ability to tailor a message to reach the right viewer at the right time. You can also target content by category, genre, content length and even content rating.
It’s also more efficient. CTV enables you to reach your target audiences with a simple programmatic transaction, as opposed to finding them network by network, market by market. In comparison, data on linear TV markets takes time to compile and only offers estimated results.
You have greater ability to measure the success of your ads with advanced statistical analysis too. You can also be flexible in real-time, and spend your budgets where it works for you.
So, what are the next steps? How can we help you run a CTV ad campaign?
Step one: Plan a CTV ad campaign
When planning a CTV ad campaign we start by analysing geo-demand. We then research the target audience and channel mix.
Connected TV geo demand analysis aims to recommend where to focus your spend within a given country. We need to understand:
- Is there demand for your product category?
- Is there demand for competitors?
- Is there current demand for your product?
When researching your audience, we look at contextual data. We plan and target based on content type or genre, rather than direct 1:1 user data: We use this data to select the right inventory for your audience.
Some inventory suppliers and content owners enable access to additional audience data for targeting, based on both content, genre and login data.
Step two: Activate a CTV ad campaign
When activating a CTV ad campaign we need to choose the right partners and content, identify targeting signals, decide and implement frequency control and consider retargeting.
We serve ads on premium content and channels, selecting the right supply depending on your audience. We set the frequency capping and measure this impact, maintaining a positive brand message with frequency control per lifetime.
We also incorporate a retargeting display strategy, retargeting people who have seen your connected TV ad on display, video and native.
We avoid consumer fatigue by switching up your variations of video creative. And we use video QR codes to encourage engagement with your CTV advertisements.
Step three: Measure a CTV ad campaign
And finally, when measuring a CTV ad campaign we need to look at the impact on your brand uplift and the measure outcomes.
For brand measurement we look at indicators like brand uplift, completed video view and search uplift modelling.
For outcome measurement we look at things like incremental site visits (minimum spend and cost), response rates, footfall visits and offline sales till data.
We also understand your max frequency, to maintain a good brand relationship with your consumers.
How can CTV ads help build your brand?
We then use objective search demand modelling to understand the brand impact of your connected TV ads. Here are some of the benefits we observe CTV having on brands:
- Increased brand awareness
- Greater advertising recall
- Improved brand favourability
- A rise in purchase intentions
The creative can also build emotional engagement, convey your message more powerfully and simulate consumer interaction.
As global programmatic experts with proprietary technology, we are perfectly placed to help you plan and run a successful CTV campaign.
Want to find out more about CTV and how it can help you? Get in touch with one of our experts.