The Real TV Buffs: Making Marketing Gains with CTV

4 Min Read

Linear television left advertisers wanting more. While these ads could reach a large audience, there was no way to know who you were reaching—only where they were located. This forced advertisers to create broad, generic ad content that would only be relevant to an introductory-level audience. 

Thankfully, Connected TV (CTV) creates an opportunity for brands to reach the right people at the right time. As marketers and advertisers navigate a digital-first world, they’re focused on reaching interested customers with specific and relevant ad creative while saying goodbye to the limitations of traditional TV advertising. 

Tim Edmundson joined eMarketer to discuss how you can fine-tune your television advertising strategies and get the most value out of your TV and video ad budgets. Let’s take a look at some highlights from the webinar: 

The Move to Connected TV

As Connected TV’s growth has continued, viewers have been eager to make their way to streaming services. According to Statista, 88% of US households own at least one internet-connected TV device in 2023. 

But advertisers weren’t as quick to make the jump. While CTV viewership saw a significant lift during the pandemic, advertisers weren’t following them right away. Now, however, they’ve made shifts to get the attention of their audience. We’re finally seeing ad spending trends align with the number of viewers and time spent on streaming platforms. 

This move to CTV has happened in a couple of ways. First, as you might expect, some brands shifted part of their budgets from linear TV to CTV. 

And thanks to the cost-effective nature of CTV when compared to traditional linear TV, there has also been a significant emergence of new brands that have never advertised on television before. Here at MNTN, 66% of our customers are actually first-time TV advertisers. With more targeting and measurement features, CTV is changing the TV advertising landscape—and opening the door to more advertisers than ever before.

The Benefits of Adding CTV to Your Marketing Mix 

In several ways, CTV picks up where linear TV left viewers. Here are a few of the (many) benefits CTV advertisers can expect: 

Precise Audience Targeting

With hyper-specific targeting that works similarly to paid search and social media ads, brands can reach their target audiences with pinpoint precision on CTV. This is practically impossible with traditional linear TV advertising. 

The Halo Effect 

While this won’t be listed on any CTV platform’s features page, it’s still a great benefit you need to know about. CTV has the ability to improve performance across other channels, including paid search and paid social. Since TV ads are the focus of the living room (you know, besides the show), viewers are more focused and engaged than on other platforms. 

With performance-focused campaigns, CTV can go beyond the living room and drive improved results across more of your marketing channels. Our research found that after 90 days, MNTN’s halo effect produced 9% stronger conversion rates for paid social and 22% stronger conversion rates for paid search. 

Effective Attribution 

We’ve heard that you’re worried about attribution—and we understand. Linear TV’s attribution made you feel like you were left at the gym without a spotter. But, like many of the other features, CTV has you covered. 

While not every CTV attribution model is created the same, we’ve made one we’re proud of here at MNTN called Verified Visits. We know you need accurate attribution for effective performance marketing. That’s why cross-device Verified Visits, which tracks viewer behavior and determines if a user engages with a brand — regardless of what device they use. 

With accurate attribution, brands can focus more of their efforts on the channels pushing the needle, while optimizing the ones that need a bit of a boost. 

Bulk Up Your Marketing Strategy With CTV  

When it comes to adding CTV to your marketing mix, you might have some questions—especially if it’s your first time advertising on TV. Thankfully, this recap just scratched the surface of the full conversation. To learn more about growing your marketing reach with CTV, watch the full webinar here.