Why Financial Service Firms Are Cashing in On CTV

4 Min Read

Financial service marketers are accustomed to promoting services and products that cut costs, drive high returns, and maximize every dollar spent. Unfortunately, not all of them practice what they preach. For years, the industry has relied on traditional marketing tactics like direct mail, community events, and linear TV—but these methods are costly, untrackable, and untargetable. Thankfully, Connected TV provides a better way for financial service firms to spend their ad dollars wisely and more efficiently. To get a better understanding of why financial service firms are flocking to CTV—and learn how they’re finding success—MNTN and Worldwide Business Research recently teamed up to survey 100 top industry marketers. 

Stephen Graveman, Content Marketing Manager at MNTN, recently joined WBR to discuss the findings, reveal opportunities for financial service firms, and help marketers overcome hurdles with actionable insights. If you missed it, a full webinar recording can be found here—or you can keep reading for a high-level recap below.

Why CTV is the Right Fit for Financial Brands

“CTV is the most financially-friendly, cost-effective ad platform available—I truly believe that,” said Graveman. “Every ad dollar is targetable. You can make sure that you are not wasting a single cent on an audience that’s unlikely to convert.” By finding the audiences that matter most and delivering high-impact messaging while they relax with their favorite shows, financial service firms can stand out from the crowd and make a strong impression with every ad buy. “Then you can fully measure what that return on ad spend is; how well the campaign ran—in real-time, any time.” Graveman contrasted this to traditional marketing methods like direct mailers, community events, and linear TV ads, which often cost more, produce lower returns on ad spend, and don’t offer as robust of measurement. 

“This is how CTV stands out; you’re not casting a large net in the hopes of catching one or two fish and luring them into the lobby,” said Graveman. “With Connected TV, you’re actively converting.” Graveman again pointed to CTV’s targeting and measurement capabilities. “It’s fully measurable and it gives you the accountability to prove your investment paid off.” Graveman pointed out that this transparency and accountability is especially important at the moment, as economic anxiety is driving marketing teams to shore up budgets and justify ad spending. 

How Financial Brands Are Using TV Ads

In MNTN and WBR’s polling, respondents were loud and clear—despite CTV being a newer ad channel, it’s catching up to linear TV in usage. 58% of respondents said they run linear TV ads, while 54% are running CTV campaigns. “The gap between these two platforms is closing fast,” said Graveman. “I think that’s pretty remarkable for the short period of time that CTV has existed.” And while linear TV has been the TV ad platform of choice for the last eight decades, streaming’s booming popularity means its momentum isn’t slowing down—58% of respondents said CTV ads are a priority in 2023.

To figure out why CTV is closing the gap so quickly on broadcast and cable TV, we asked financial service marketers which channel is “very effective at measuring performance.” The reply? 50% said CTV was very effective, but only 40% said the same for linear TV. “Obviously that’s a great stat for CTV, but we wanted to know more—so we asked why,” said Graveman.

The reasons respondents said linear TV is less effective in measuring performance: 

• 75%: A lack of visibility in reporting metrics
• 50%: Unable to set performance KPIs 
• 25%: Linear is too focused on awareness
• 25%: A lack of time or resources for analysis 
• 25%: Unsure how to measure linear TV performance 

CTV’s Bright 2023

CTV ads aren’t just becoming more of a focus in 2023—financial service marketers plan to spend more on the channel, too. 68% of respondents said that they expect to increase digital budgets next year, with only 5% saying they’d decrease. “As digital budgets continue to grow, CTV gains more popularity, people stream more, and brands serve more ads, the channel is only going to rise higher in priority for financial service firms,” said Graveman.

He pointed to all of these elements as creating a big opportunity for financial service marketers. CTV represents a fast-growing platform that complements other ad channels, maximizes every ad dollar spent, and has low competition for financial brands – for now. “With everything I just covered—that the gap between linear and CTV is closing, that digital spending is on the rise, that brands are investing more on CTV—that low competition is going to shrink fast in 2023,” cautioned Graveman.

Watch the Full Recording For More 

Graveman had a lot more to cover, including the biggest challenges financial service brands have in deploying CTV ads – and how they can be easily overcome. Click here to watch the full recording of “High Yield Advertising: What’s Driving Financial Service Firms to Connected TV.”