The Next Evolution in Advertising: From Social to CTV

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When you think of digital advertising, nobody could fault you for immediately thinking of social media. For years, the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have ruled the proverbial advertising roost—and while advertisers certainly had their gripes, they were seen as necessary for most brands.

While these social media platforms are still very popular and remain a critical part of marketing strategies, the march of progress continues for advertising—and it’s arrived at Connected TV. Not only has 2021 seen CTV rise to dominance and deliver on the ambitions it always promised, but the year has also seen distrust in social media rise thanks to inflammatory content, whistleblower accusations, widespread outages, and transparency issues.

Now, consumers are spending more time and attention on CTV ads instead of social ones—and brands are shifting their ad dollars to accommodate.

Consumers Trust CTV More Than Social

Over the last year, social media has been met with increasing skepticism from users, and that has led to some very real ramifications for brands. A new study found that 37% of CTV viewers say they distrust social media more now than they did a year ago. Further, 60% of consumers that use both social media and CTV say they don’t watch professionally produced content on social, preferring to use CTV instead.

Perhaps most important of all for advertisers, only 21% of users are likely to pay attention to video ads on social media. Compare that to another recent study that found that nine out of ten viewers watch ad-supported content (FAST channels) and 80% of CTV viewers are more likely to pay attention to CTV ads. While this shift may not be exactly surprising to advertisers, the severity of it may be deeper than expected—and it’s fueling changing attitudes and actions on the advertiser side as well.

Brands Are Following Consumers to CTV

It’s not just consumers rethinking their relationship with social media platforms—brands are re-evaluating their budgets, too. From widespread outages to recent issues regarding measurement and effectiveness tracking, high-profile brands like Casper, Uncommon Goods, and Drizly have been cutting ties with platforms like Facebook and placing more emphasis on their CTV ad spend. A recent MNTN and Digiday survey found that 41% of participating brands are powering their CTV ads by reallocating ad dollars from their social budgets (the only category that saw lost more ad dollars to CTV? Linear TV).

For these brands, the last two years has seen not just the rise of Connected TV—but the platform fulfilling the capabilities that it always promised. The result is a seismic shift in the ad industry, with many seeing CTV as impactful and revolutionary to advertising as social media was years ago.  

The Next Evolution in Advertising

The reason so many brands are flocking to CTV is simple—it offers everything social media platforms does—and more. And while platforms like Facebook aren’t likely to go anywhere soon, it’s CTV’s ability to combine the best of both TV and social that has brands taking notice.

By blending the targeting capabilities and performance metrics of digital marketing with the powerful storytelling abilities of linear TV, CTV gives advertisers a “best of both worlds” approach—and with more transparency and real-time feedback than social media platforms’ walled gardens. Premium CTV platforms like MNTN Performance TV give advertisers even more power by providing insights down to a network level, being fully integrated with Google Analytics, and tracking conversions regardless of what device was used.