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As Connected TV (CTV) gains momentum with audiences, TV marketers and advertisers alike continue to be curious about the potential for the medium. On June 2, MarketCast Chief Data Scientist Tom Weiss will host an intimate roundtable session with select Promax members to attempt to demystify the topic of Connected TV marketing.
Promax recently caught up with Weiss to get a preview of the session.
Promax: Why is there so much confusion about CTV?
Weiss: There are a few factors contributing to the confusion around CTV.
First, there is a growing number of platforms and providers offering CTV content. In addition to this, there are multiple ways CTV inventory is bought, sold and measured. Now, combine this with an alphabet soup of advertising technology acronyms and you have a perfect storm for chaos and confusion. Once marketers are able to filter out the noise, they discover CTV is a powerful medium with huge potential to reach the audiences that matter most to them.
Promax: What exactly is a CTV platform and is it the same as a smart TV?
Weiss: CTV delivers ad-supported TV (via an internet connection) that is consumed by audiences on a smart TV set rather than a mobile device. It’s that simple. Top players include a mix of smart TV manufacturers, device makers and streaming platforms, such as Samsung, Vizio, LG, Roku, Amazon, Hulu, FuboTV and YouTubeTV.
Promax: What makes the CTV audience unique?
Weiss: The CTV audience in general tends to be younger, more likely to be cord-cutters and more likely to represent racially along U.S. Census lines. In 2020, 56 million American households regularly watched ad-supported CTV, while globally, CTV represented 49% of the total streaming of video content. As audiences continue to grow along with the popularity of CTV streaming services, advertisers and broadcast professionals alike have opportunities to tap into this medium to not only drive tune-in for programming, but also acquire new subscribers for streaming services, as well as sell a wide range of consumer products.
Promax: How does CTV advertising compare to traditional linear TV advertising?
Weiss: In many ways, CTV offers the best of both worlds for TV marketers. It attracts an audience that enjoys watching ad-based programming while also providing an advertising medium that offers the same great ad targeting and measurement capabilities found with digital marketing mediums. However, there is a unique twist to the CTV ad formats. In addition to offering 30-second spots found on linear TV, CTV also offers interactive ads for driving click-throughs, promotional banners on programming guides, and homepage take-overs to drive audiences to subscribe to a specific service or tune-in to specific content.
Promax: Why should Promax members care about CTV?
Weiss: The audience for CTV is younger and growing rapidly. The combination of being able to target specific audiences with your content while also measuring tune-in drivers is game-changing for broadcast promotions and streaming marketing teams. If you aren’t already using CTV in your media mix, you will be shortly.
Promax: What do you expect Promax members attending your roundtable session will experience?
Weiss: We are looking forward to a candid discussion about CTV in a private setting where we can share success stories and ask tough questions. We will come equipped to share some great client case studies with real data illuminating which CTV platforms have been most effective at driving tune-in for broadcast content as well as promoting sales of recent premium video-on-demand movie titles from major studios. We’ll also talk targeting, measurement, attribution and other topics. It promises to be a fun, interactive session where we all hopefully walk away a little wiser.
Promax members can request to join this private session, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Connected TVs But Were Afraid to Ask,” by signing up here.