Connected TV Advertising: Why You Should Choose MNTN Performance TV vs. Other Data-Driven CTV Competitors

6 Min Read

You’ve been on the hunt for a Connected TV (CTV) advertising partner for awhile, or perhaps you’ve been testing the waters to see what’s out there. Perhaps you’re new to the world of Connected TV and learned more about its boom this year. Whatever the case may be, there are a lot of CTV ad solutions out there claiming to champion data-driven advertising – but those should only be considered at face value. We’ve set the record straight to help you make an informed decision as to why MNTN Performance TV is the only option you need. 

The phrase ‘data-driven’ is music to every performance marketer’s ears – who wouldn’t want an advertising platform that skips the fluff and hits the high notes of incrementality, attribution and measurable ROI? Most CTV ad platforms claim to offer all of these packaged in their solutions, but many miss the mark. Here’s why:

They don’t accurately assign credit where credit is due 

Attribution is often the missing piece of the puzzle for marketers, each model with their own set of methodologies to measure ROI. Similarly, attribution philosophies differ across Connected TV advertising platforms. Competitors within this space often use visit and conversion tracking based on lift attribution, not household attribution. What does this mean exactly? If a viewer is served a CTV ad at 2pm, any conversion that occurs right in the five minutes after, or five, 10 or 20 day period thereafter would take credit for it. This is loose attribution at best, and fails to recognize the full buyers’ journey prior to making their final purchase decision. 

MNTN Performance TV solution was built to serve Connected TV ads, as we recognized the growth potential of this industry from its beginnings. Our proprietary Cross-Device Verified Visits attribution technology tracks when a user within a targeted audience views a CTV ad to completion, as well as the device they used to convert and only takes credit if your CTV ad initially prompted the purchase decision. It offers another dimension of transparency of advertisers that helps eliminate wasted ad budget and guarantees that site visits leading to a conversion are first certified as in-view. 

Linear TV co-mingles with Connected TV inventory for a subpar brand experience

It’s not a true Connected TV advertising experience if you don’t have the inventory to match. While MNTN only serves ads on premium, top-tier CTV networks that are both brand safe and vetted for their ability to drive performance, many players in the space market themselves as CTV but often include other types of sub-par, skippable web video inventory to drive down CPMs. One such competitor sneaks in low CPM inventory by stirring in Linear TV buys into the CTV pot in the hope to increase impressions but more often than not, hinders campaign performance. If you see CPMs lower than $20 to $25 on CTV, be wary as this might be indicative of Linear TV buys included in your campaign. Consequently, bounce rates are higher and time spent on site isn’t up to scratch with other performance channels. 

MNTN Performance TV merges art with science through our Living Room Quality and Multi-Touch features. It starts with our non-skippable ads, which are served on episodic programs exclusive to Smart TVs, or any Connected TV devices (like Amazon Firesticks or Roku), across a selection of 125+ blue-chip TV networks. After the ad is served on the big screen, our MNTN Multi-Touch capability serves related ads across web and mobile to make sure they’re brought through the customer funnel and immersed with the brand on other channels and devices. Not to mention, this entire journey can be mapped out and measured as like any other digital channel.  This ensures your ads are actually being served on CTV, and your campaign performance delivers results.

Audience targeting isn’t always…well, on target

A campaign is only as good as its targeting, and this is where many Connected TV advertising platforms fall short. Some platforms tack this on as an added cost, while others leverage third party vendors which aren’t known for being leaders in their industry. One major competitor has the tools to help clients reach audience segments by working with 3rd party vendors and leveraging 1st party data. However, they’re only approaching targeting on a broad channel/demographic level, which means advertisers may be getting in front of users that would  not be interested in your brand – which can be a waste of both impressions and ad budget. 

MNTN Performance TV prioritizes audience (and performance) with its targeting efforts, so you can have the utmost confidence that the ads will be served to users who are in-market for your products or services. We’ve partnered with prestige data provider, Oracle Data Cloud, for this very reason, which provides 70,000+ audience segments lauded for their reliability and accuracy.

Reporting and analytics aren’t up to speed with MNTN’s suite  

Mixing low-CPM and Linear TV inventory combined with imprecise targeting has a domino effect on the reporting. Performance marketers also want to make sure that any analytics come from the most reliable source possible. This is why we have Google Analytics – otherwise known as the gold-standard for performance marketers – integrated into the platform. 

One player in the CTV space positions themselves as a one-stop shop for strategy, targeting, media buying, optimization and reporting. They market themselves on their ability to deliver the performance metrics that matter most to its clients. They tout a measurement system that encompasses demographic studies, brand response measurement and media-mix testing.  However, because they include Linear TV into the inventory mix, it degrades the validity of their reporting. We built MNTN Performance TV with performance marketers in mind, and our reporting capabilities are the proof in the pudding. Performance metrics are housed in one user-interface, and provides 900+ metrics which can be configured any which way to fit to any reporting format that an advertiser finds most valuable. Thanks to Cross-Device Verified Visits, we accurately map the entire customer journey so those performance metrics take each touchpoint into account. 

Our Google Analytics integration gives advertisers a birds-eye view into how their CTV campaigns are faring alongside their other digital advertising channels on a cross-device basis, and offers a new level of transparency into the full scope of the user journey. Advertisers can then pick up this valuable data and optimize their overall strategy. 

We hope this gives you the insight you need to make an informed decision when shopping around for the right CTV advertising platform for you. MNTN Performance TV is an optimal choice that blends the best brand building capabilities with performance marketing precision. Watch this space as we take a step back to assess the industry and see how we stack up against the bigger players.