In the world of internet streaming, traditional advertising has had to change to keep up with the new television trends. One new medium to come out of internet-based streaming is connected TV (CTV) advertising.
CTV advertising is rising in popularity because it’s made for internet streaming services. If you’re looking to get move ad exposure or looking to move away from advertising on cable, connected TV is the right choice for you. To learn more about connected TV advertising keep reading below.
What Is Connected TV Advertising?
Connected TV advertising is also written as CTV. It refers to any television that can be connected to the internet and can access content other than traditional cable TV. This content can include internet apps, streaming services, and browsing the internet itself.
The adds on CTV are bought programmatically. After this buying and selling happens, the ads will be actively displaying on mobile, computer, and over the top devices.
It’s good to note that CTV can include any device that can access television content over the internet. This includes your smartphone and tablet.
How Does CTV Advertising Work?
Now that you have a better understanding of what CTV actually is, let’s talk about how CTV advertising works. CTV advertising is a type of a private marketplace deal.
All ads are bought and sold by robots and algorithms through a virtual auction that can take less than a few seconds to complete. Each level of the auction has its own parameters such as how big the ad space is and where it will be shown (such as streaming service or website).
Since the marketplace runs on private inventory sales is one level above the open auction exchange, it makes winning rates higher. This means there’s more chance for an ad to be shown than using the open auction exchange. Overall the private inventory sales allows marketers to access specific locations and placements over fewer bidders.
To get use the private marketplace you must be invited personally. This means the private marketplace is for VIPs only due to how great the chances of winning are.
If you’re a high caliber publisher then you should be receiving your invite soon. Since this is a VIP option it’s good to point out that you will be selling your ads for higher prices than the public market.
So all in all, you create an ad and set the demographics of who your ad should target. From there you place it on the marketplace (public or private) for robots and algorithms to buy and sell your ads. After this, your ad will be placed in one of the parameters you set and reach the consumer base.
How Big Is CTV?
With traditional television viewing of cable and satellite becoming less popular and the viewing of internet-based streaming services rising, connected TV’s popularity is also going up. Most internet users have access to internet devices that can stream television and this number is projected to grow in the upcoming years.
With the rise in streaming services connected TV is also going up in popularity because it caters directly to internet streaming services. As more people watch internet television streaming, more people will see connected TV ads.
CTV can be marketed to younger, middle-aged, and older generations. This means that CTV is very versatile and can reach and be effective to more than one viewer in more than one age group.
CTV can target users on more than one screen and more than one streaming service to raise brand awareness. This can also heighten brand engagement and bring more customers to your business.
Overall, CTV is big. When you look at how many people stream television you can get a good idea of how many viewers CTV is reaching.
Before Going Further, Know How CTV Is Different From the Rest
When it comes to the world of programmatic advertising there are many different options you can choose from. So, how is CTV different than the other options on the market?
CTV is a technology that supports smart TV advertising. These can be anything from gaming counsels that stream videos, streaming services themselves, apps that stream video, and so on. With this said, CTV supports the core of programmatic TV support.
When cruising for more information about programmatic advertising you’re bound to stumble across over the top advertising. Over the top advertising has the same internet-tv connection that CTV has. Where this differs from CTV is that it doesn’t require an active subscription for users to see the ads.
To have access to over the top advertising users must have a broadband connection. This type of advertising will reach their clients through applications such as social media and websites. The main difference that can be seen between these two is that CTV is less competitive and will only be on television streaming where over the top advertising can be placed anywhere the internet can connect.
Another variation you will see is programmatic TV buying. This is a method used to connect TV ads to their targeted audience. This type of ad space buying and selling relies heavily on bots and algorithms to do so.
Now you may be thinking programmatic TV buying sounds similar to CTV and you’re not wrong. CTV can give marketers the option of having bots and algorithms sell their ads to a smaller, more high-end market. The main difference is that programmatic TV buying is opened to a lot of markets where CTV is open to smaller, more exclusive markets.
Key Performance Indicators
The metrics used in CTV advertising are different than the metrics of traditional advertising where people bid, bought, and sold ad space. For example, the number of clicks will only be counted if someone is streaming on a laptop.
With this said, costs per thousands and post-click rates should not be your primary metrics when looking at the data of your ad. Ideally you should be looking at the metrics of video completion rate and cost per view rates. Additional data you can actually track on your CTV advertising campaign is awareness to see the demographics of where the ad space is reaching.
What Is the Price Tag Of CTV?
When looking at CTV as your primary advertising medium, it’s good to keep in mind that premium ad space requires marketers to pay a certain price threshold for consideration of the spot. It can also be required that you pay a minimum price for views per million or thousand depending on what is required of the provider.
CTV is usually 3 to 5 times more expensive than standard video ad placement. But it can be cheaper than other programmatic options on the market. Usually, we like to say CTV has a middle-range price when it comes to advertising in the programmatic world.
How To Optimize CTV Ads
We have given you a pretty good rundown on CTV so far, but how will you optimize your ads for this platform? The good news is that CTV allows for optimization towards best selling PMP deals within an ad group.
As an example, if a deal is seeing a higher cost per completed view or a low video completion rate, it would be a good idea to remove that deal. Usually, your CTV provider will go ahead and do this for you to better optimize your ad on CTV.
Other than this there isn’t a need for other optimization. This is because cost per completed view and low video completion rate tend to not vary significantly depending on the time of day or week. Overall, the deal is the only thing you need to optimize towards.
What Are the Benefits Of CTV?
Just like any advertising options, there are benefits that come with it. Since CTV provides you with the option to reach audiences that don’t watch traditional television anymore, you will be marketing to a new medium and consumer base that other advertisers may find hard to reach. This is just one of the many benefits you can see from connected TV, the others are listed below.
Better Targeting
Targeting may be one of the best benefits CTV has to offer. Since users are required to log-in with universal accounts that identify them such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook, they are also making their demographics aware to the marketing world.
When a user signs in to one of their accounts third-party services make their data such as location, age, language, and others available. This helps CTV to target viewers accurately and place the best ad in front of them.
A Lower Budget
CTV can help you save on impression costs. Since people are watching streaming television with their friends and family, more than one person will be seeing an advertisement. This gives you the chance to save on impression costs.
Ad Quality Is Higher Than Traditional Cable
One great benefit of CTV is that it supports the transmission of targeted, HD quality ads, that are personalized. It also allows ads to be delivered with stereo sound and in full screen.
Real-Time Data Is Easy To Pull At Anytime
With the use of CTV marketers can pull their campaign data and effectiveness at any time. They can track the number of views, clicks, and responses easily and all in one place.
Premium Audiences Can Easily Expose Themselves To Your Ad
A good chunk of CTV ads are scheduled within primetime hours. This includes things such as live streams and sporting events. This means you can easily target your ideal customer at an ideal time.
Higher Completion Rates Than Traditional Cable
It’s no secret that CTV provides high ad visibility for viewers. With this said, streaming services tend to show fewer ads for less amount of time than traditional cable. Since viewers believe this to be a benefit of streaming, they will watch your ad fully which means higher completion rates for you.
More Responsive Audiences Who Feel That They Are In Control
Since those who watch CTV are choosing the content they want to watch, the way they watch it, and how they want to interact with it, this means they will have a better attitude towards ads. Since the viewers feel as if they are in control, any CTV ads that are displayed have a higher chance of customers clicking on them, watched all the way through, or even provoking a sale.
Ad Formats Can Be Expermentive
One of the nice things about CTV is that it allows marketers to play and test new ad formats they may have never used before. Since CTV is highly entertaining, having ads that are also entertaining is ideal. Some of the most popular ads seen on CTV are a call to action, animated, and interactive ads.
CTV Advertising Is the Advertising Of the Future
With the way consumers have been dropping traditional cable and satellite televisions and hopping on the internet streaming bandwagon, it’s no surprise that connected TV is rising in popularity. Since connected TV is advertising mainly done on internet streaming services and devices, it’s no question that it is the advertising medium of the future.
You now know what connects TV is and how it differs from other internet-based advertising mediums. You also know how connected TV works and the main benefits that come with Connected TV.
For more information and tips on connected TV advertising be sure to check out the rest of our website here.
