Why Investing in Connected TV Advertising is Your Best Bet Yet

4 Min Read

If you weren’t able to tune into our webinar hosted by our friends at eMarketer, click here for the full webinar recording. We’ll be running a monthly series of webinars throughout the whole year, so sign up to our mailing list so you don’t miss the next one. Otherwise, if you’re a little short for time, continue reading for a summary of yesterday’s most talked about topics.

A Mass Migration to Connected TV Advertising

If you’ve kept up-to-date with the latest Connected TV news about Roku, Magnite and Spot X merger, and Disney+, it’s pretty evident that the shift to streaming has accelerated over the past year. Similarly, we’ve seen these patterns reflected in our own network, with a 67% increase in the number of advertisers and double the conversions. News bites like this and impressive stats are just some of the many reasons that are catching the eye of many advertisers and giving them a reason to shift their budgets and priorities to Connected TV advertising. CTV advertising’s ability to tie goals to performance, and drive tangible performance (the most common being site visits and conversions) takes a major step beyond the traditional Linear TV buy, and so television has really evolved into a digital marketing channel in its own right.

Why is Connected TV Advertising so Valuable, Then?

Let’s take a step back and look at what performance marketers want. A study by Hubspot found that 68% of marketers use automation in some way. They also want to lean into a channel where they can reach users at any time of the day – and target them with precision. Lastly, being able to measure results and view performance along their other digital marketing channels to establish how well their digital strategy is performing overall. Now, compare that with the viewing climate – the average U.S. household subscribes to four streaming subscriptions and spends on average $47 per month on subscription services – up by 24% since the start of the pandemic. Oh, and 80% of US households own at least one Connected TV device. Since streaming TV is a 24/7 hour on-demand activity unlike broadcast TV times, this means there is no particular time slot in which you can reach your audience like on primetime TV. Advertisers can make the most of this opportunity by reaching their desired audience across the different Connected TV networks.

Additionally, Connected TV can be optimized like any other digital advertising channel – but in a more efficient way. Since CTV ad platforms like MNTN targets users that are relevant to your brand instead of network-based targeting,  it eliminates any wastage and takes out the guesswork along the way. It provides a platform to reach more qualified users, who are more likely to make a purchase decision, since you are able to target in-market audiences. Our targeting features enable advertisers to reach their audience on multiple networks, instead of only one – thanks to our automated media buying process, which matches your audience segments with the networks they are most likely to be watching. We’ve seen this methodology pay off in dividends, where our clients are concerned – driving down average Cost Per Visit by 23% and increasing ROAS by 21%. 

How Else Can Brands Tap into Connected TV’s Performance Marketing Potential?

That’s easy – through Performance TV. We’ve seen many advertisers apply a branding-only mindset to their CTV campaigns, which is a big no-no, as you lose most of the benefits of Connected TV (not to mention, it’s the quickest way to waste your ad budget!). Who says you can’t have both? Performance TV advertising has the potential to drive both brand-awareness and conversions for your brand. It’s simply a matter of getting acquainted with our attribution and measurement features. Our Google Analytics integration, for example, is one way to ‘check your homework’ and give advertisers additional data to work with, as it provides a full-journey path of a user who was served a CTV ad and what actions they took afterward. 

For those newer to the game, and even seasoned veterans, we also suggest running A/B tests throughout the year, as Connected TV is not a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ channel. The most successful advertisers create a testing roadmap, where they test different variables to help inform their long-term decisions. You can start by looking at audiences, such as running campaigns targeting in-market shoppers versus interest based criteria.  Or perhaps, look at your creative and change a single variable to see the potential impact, such as live action versus animated, or funny versus inspiring messaging. A rule of thumb is to run tests for at least two to four weeks, which should give you enough data to make smarter decisions for your ad strategy.

For more learnings, we encourage you to fast forward to our Q&A session (around the 27 minute mark), where our Director of Customer Success, Alexa Tierney, answers some questions from the audience. If you’re still rushed for time, no stress – read up on some of our teaser content here. If you’re still left with more questions than answers, send us a note and we’ll be in touch.