It is important that businesses remain ahead of their time if they want to reach their audience in the most effective manner possible. When the viewing habits of customers shift as per their increased use of different media, so do the approaches adopted by marketers. One such approach that has picked up massive momentum over the last few years is Connected TV (CTV) advertising.
In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at what CTV advertising is, and more importantly, why you’d want to include it in your marketing toolbox. Finally, we’ll speak briefly on how Trackier’s performance marketing software can be used to ensure those CTV ad campaigns are successful.
The Rise of CTV Advertising
Connected TV (CTV), which is used interchangeably with *Over-the-Top (OTT)*, is the delivery of video programming through internet-connected devices like smart TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming devices. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and YouTube are all examples of CTV. With CTV advertising, brands are able to connect with viewers who have “cut the cord” from traditional cable or satellite TV and are consuming programming on these digital platforms.
The popularity of CTV is on the rise due to several convincing reasons:
- The Decline of Traditional TV
Traditional TV watching has been declining over the years. Younger viewers, especially, are turning to CTV since it offers more convenience and a more personalized watching experience. If your target audience is the young generation, then CTV is an ideal platform for targeting them.
- Accurate Targeting
CTV advertising lets you run very focused campaigns. With analysis of data and information about the user, you can target your commercials to a specific audience, or region, or even customize your message to individual viewers. That kind of specificity just isn’t possible with conventional television advertising.
- Measurable Results
CTV advertising also offers in-depth analytics that can help you measure the performance of your campaigns. You can monitor impressions, click-through rates, view completion rates, and much more. Depending on this information, you can make adjustments to your ads so that they perform well.
- Less Ad Wastage
With CTV advertising, you are able to eliminate the issue of ad wastage that typically afflicts conventional TV advertising. Your advertisements get to find the viewers who are most likely to be interested in your business or commodities, thereby more return on investment (ROI).
- Ad Skipping is Restricted
As opposed to television in the old way, it is very easy to skip over commercials. CTV advertising generally gives you fewer options to bypass your message. That equates to a greater likelihood of attention and recall.
Having laid the groundwork for why CTV advertising is important, let’s go through the actual reasons that you should add it to your marketing mix.
- Increase Your Reach
The first and perhaps most obvious benefit of including CTV advertising in your mix is the potential for expanded reach. As has been noted, the decline of viewership of traditional TV, especially among young adults, has left CTV as an essential vehicle for delivering to your target market.
When you advertise on CTV devices, you reach a massive and diverse audience. You are no longer limited by TV programming or cable subscription, so your message can go to potential customers whenever and wherever they happen to be, on whatever devices they possess.
- Enhanced Targeting Capability
Amongst the strongest strengths of CTV advertising is its ability to reach your audience head-on. With the use of user data, behavior, and interest, highly targeted campaigns may be created. This means the message is received by those individuals most likely to convert, making your ROI more extensive.
For example, if you are advertising new exercise products, you can target users who recently watched exercise or healthy lifestyle videos. Knowing your audience’s interests, you are able to make more targeted and engaging ads.
- Measurable ROI
Those blind-shooting TV ad days of hoping for the best are behind us. With CTV advertising, you can measure and track your ROI with precision previously not possible with traditional TV advertising.
The information you receive through CTV ads enables you to gauge the performance of your ads. You can track various things like ad impressions, view completion percentages, click-throughs, and conversion rates. All this information proves to be extremely helpful in making your campaigns run even better.
- Cost-Effective Advertising
Unlike what you would expect, CTV advertising is actually cheaper than TV advertising. Since you are able to target specific groups of people and see the success of your campaign, you can adapt your ad spending based on the performance of campaigns, getting your money further because you maximize the effect of the budget.
Besides, the minimized ad wastage described above ensures that your marketing dollars are not being wasted on consumers who will not be purchasing from you. This reduction in cost is especially important to small and medium-sized companies that want to receive the maximum return on their marketing expenditure.
- Higher Engagement
CTV viewers are more attentive to the program they are watching compared to regular viewers. Because the majority of CTV platforms don’t have good ad-skipping features, your message stands a strong likelihood of being viewed.
Additionally, the interactive potential of the overwhelming majority of CTV platforms makes for interaction beyond the ad. Interactive components can be added to your ads, such as clickable URLs, polls, and social connection to social media, enhancing viewer experience and conversions.
- Creative Flexibility
CTV advertising provides the creative liberty that standard TV is unable to provide. You are not limited to the typical 30-second advert space. Rather, you are allowed to get creative with more extensive forms of content, interactivity, and storytelling that connect with your target audience.
This flexibility enables you to present a stronger brand narrative and connect with audiences on a greater level. No matter if you’re presenting a product demo, customer testimonials, or a brand narrative, CTV platforms offer you the platform to be creative.
- Real-time Feedback
CTV advertising enables you to get feedback on your campaigns in real time. That’s to say, if an advert is not delivering or you perceive a chance for improvement, you can adjust immediately. This type of responsiveness is important in today’s fast-paced digital world.
Instant feedback also enables you to take advantage of emerging trends and react to changing viewer behavior, keeping your campaigns current and effective.
- Competitive Advantage
While CTV is getting more momentum, it still remains fairly untapped by most companies. By incorporating CTV into your strategy, you’re one up on others who haven’t been able to dip their toes into this channel yet.
Being a first mover, you can get your brand name on CTV platforms, possibly claiming territory and moving in early as the marketing game changes.
- Cross-Device Consistency
CTV advertising can flow seamlessly between devices. Smart TVs enable viewing and then pick-up on mobile devices. Cross-device continuity ensures your brand message follows the viewer throughout their viewing journey.
Adding CTV to your marketing mix means that your brand presence is assured at all touchpoints, reinforcing the message and brand.
- Data-Driven Decision Making
Having CTV ad spend as part of your marketing mix enables you to make data-driven decisions. By learning from the vast amount of data that is delivered through your campaigns, you’re able to learn about viewer behavior, viewer taste, and demographics.
This information is not only worth its weight in gold when it comes to optimizing your CTV campaigns but also when establishing your overall marketing strategy. It can be used to optimize your messaging, product lines, and audience segmentation for more efficient marketing across all channels.
CTV and Performance Marketing Software
Performance marketing software is instrumental in extracting the most from Connected TV (CTV) advertising. These technologies allow you to perform real-time analytics, data-driven insights, and powerful optimization features, all of which you need to optimize your CTV campaigns to their maximum level. Performance marketing software allows you to track effectively the most important metrics of your CTV commercials, including impressions, click-through rates, and view completion rates.
This information not only allows you to track your ROI but also allows you to adjust your campaigns in real time so that you’re reaching the right audience with the right message. Performance marketing software also allows for targeted specificity and audience segmentation so you can take full advantage of the personalization factor of CTV advertising. Such technologies give you actionable information to enable you to make better decisions, optimize advertising expenditure, and remain competitive, all of which are paramount in the fast-changing digital marketing landscape.
Conclusion
Briefly, the introduction of Connected TV advertising is revolutionizing the way companies engage with their audience. It delivers accurate targeting, quantifiable outcomes, affordability, and an amount of interaction and creativity that cannot be offered by conventional TV advertising.
By adopting CTV advertising, you can expand your reach, surpass the competition, and get one step ahead of the curve with digital marketing. As consumer behavior changes, your marketing approach must change, and CTV advertising is a valuable tool to assist you in this regard. Don’t let this pass to leverage the potential of CTV and make it work for the success of your brand.
