We Learned the Secret to the Perfect CTV Ad

4 Min Read

With its ability to tell stories, inspire, educate, and entertain, the modern TV ad is one of the most effective and powerful forms of advertising. Next year, brands are expected to spend over $85.32 billion in TV ads across linear and CTV platforms – but only the truly special ones go down in history as memorable ad campaigns.

But what makes the perfect TV ad? That’s what we set out to solve. Using QuickFrame’s Video Vitals AI technology, we compiled over 1,800 TV commercials and analyzed them through our Performance TV platform to figure out the key ingredients in creating a high-performing commercial. Join MNTN VP of Marketing Ali Haeri, and QuickFrame CMO Lucas Piazza, as they share their findings in a Tech-Talk Webinar presentation with eMarketer. RSVP here to secure your spot.

If you’re in advertising, you’re not going to want to miss this. In the meantime, here’s a little of what you can expect.

Taking Performance Marketing Further with AI

CTV has changed the marketing landscape by taking the powerful storytelling capabilities of linear TV ads and dragging the format into the light of today’s digital age. As a result, TV is now a performance marketing channel – which is why it’s critical to measure it like one. Thanks to the abilities of CTV you can measure site visits and conversions, or use a premium CTV solution like Performance TV to A/B test creative.  

While A/B testing is an excellent solution that gives you insights you could have never imagined, advertisers can dig even further with the power of AI. Far from the science fiction nightmares of movies and, yes, television, AI programs can often act as digital detectives – taking in unfathomable amounts of data, comparing and contrasting what works and what doesn’t, and producing informative reports that give you the ability to tweak your creative and make the perfect ad without having to shoot a single scene. For example, our analysis reviewed common elements of CTV ads and was able to intelligently tie them back to performance – giving us a clear view of what works and what doesn’t. 

Here Comes the Sun

The last year and a half have resulted in a lot of ads that were designed to be timely for the pandemic. People social-distancing, wearing masks, and chatting over Zoom calls have been the “new normal” both in our day-to-day lives and advertisements. But as we start to move past COVID-19, people are wanting to get a glimpse of a reopened world. Our data showed visits rates and conversation rates (CVR) rose alongside both the number of actors featured in an ad and the percent that were seen speaking.

In fact, the need for positivity doesn’t stop there. While fear as an opening emotion generates the strongest initial hook (34% visit rate), it resulted in the lowest CVR (-55%). Anger resulted in an -88% visit rate and -14% CVR, while sadness produced -86% visits and -12% CVR. The real winner? Joy. Of all the opening emotions, it was the only one with both a positive visit rate (2%) and CVR (7%). After nearly two years of uncertainty and fear, it’s clear that today’s winning ads are a formula of positive thinking and optimism.

The Perfect Ad for Your Brand

But while the key findings give great insight into the DNA of today’s hit TV ads, they’re still dependent on other external factors like your industry. After all, fear is probably a greater conversion motivator if you sell home security systems (and showing a lot of people probably won’t help either).

Similarly, our QuickFrame experiment showed that when it comes to the choice between 15 or 30-second ads, what matters is the vertical you’re promoting. For instance, 15-second ads performed better for beauty products and food/beverage brands. The 30-second ads were more successful with the finance and travel industries.

This is Just the Start

Our test using QuickFrame’s Video Vitals AI technology and MNTN’s Performance TV produced far more findings than we can cover here. That’s why we’re sharing our results in an in-depth webinar. Join us and eMarketer to learn more about the ingredients behind the perfect TV ad – and how you can get a leg up on the competition with the technology today. Don’t miss out – RSVP now to secure your spot.