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Connected TV Advertisers Made the Grade.
The back-to-school season is here already, and with last year’s BTS season topping over $108B in consumer spending, you need to be sure your Connected TV strategy is ready to earn high marks on its report card. We analyzed a collection of CTV campaigns to learn what advertisers need to know.
We Analyzed Back-to-School Connected TV Campaigns
Pencils up, heads down and open up those notebooks—this BTS season is a major opportunity. Even in the face of economic uncertainty, consumers are willing to spend on the must-haves and back-to-school shopping falls into that category.
We analyzed campaigns launched from MNTN Performance TV, our Connected TV ad solution, to discover how marketers best approached this vital season. We focused our attention on verticals closely tied to school shopping (think retailers, home goods, apparel, etc.), and evaluated the performance data generated.
Here’s what we found.
School-Friendly Brands Drove Strong ROAS & Conversions
Back-to-school is the 2nd largest shopping event outside of the Q4 holiday season, so naturally brands with offerings that aligned well saw solid returns. Their return on ad spend was strong, proving Connected TV as an important piece of their media mix.
Both Function and Style Saw Strong Returns
Retailers and ecommerce portals fared well as shoppers loaded up on the basics of school supplies. And as the schooling experience becomes increasingly digital, those basics now include consumer electronics. An honorable mention goes to brands tailored for aesthetics.
Top 5 Return on Ad Spend by Vertical
01 Retail & Ecommerce
02 Consumer Electronics
03 Beauty
04 Apparel
05 Accessories
Conversions were (Homecoming) King in August
Volume of conversions for BTS-related advertisers—while relatively consistent throughout the entire season—saw their peak in August. This was due mainly to increases in the retail and ecommerce verticals, and aligns with the time when school supplies tend to be a big focus as millions of the nation’s students are just days or weeks away from the first day of school.
Highest Converting Months in the BTS Season
01
August
02
September
03
July
Lessons for 2022 Connected TV Strategies
You don’t need us to tell you that if you’re a BTS-aligned vertical, you should be advertising your offerings around this time of year. That said, if Connected TV isn’t in your media plan, you’re missing out on an opportunity to reach viewers with campaigns that drive strong conversions.
Traditionally BTS-friendly verticals saw solid return on investment using CTV advertising, so if your brand is similarly aligned, be sure you’re leveraging it as a foundation of your media strategy.
Conversions were mostly consistent throughout the season; however they did exceed the summer month’s (June through August) conversion performance by as much as 13% for these advertisers.
If you have promotions for lower-priced items, August could be the right time to feature those as consumers were purchasing those types of items more often.
Campaign Insights For the Back-to-School Season, Straight to Your Inbox.
Stop searching the internet for seasonal campaign guides—let them come to you. Sign up to receive in-depth seasonal tips and future best practices for every major event.
- Audience targeting best practices
- Data-driven creative insights
- Need to know consumer trends
The Formula for Revenue is 1+1
Advertisers who approached BTS shopping season with a full-funnel approach generated the best returns on their campaigns. They did that by launching two types of campaigns: one dedicated to reaching new audiences, and another designed to keep them engaged until conversion.
A Full-Funnel Approach Earned Brands Straight A’s
Connected TV advertising moves television out of the realm of brand awareness and into a role usually reserved for digital campaigns. Advertisers who launched campaigns to cover the top of the funnel (prospecting) and the bottom (retargeting) outperformed those who stuck with just upper funnel efforts.
| Using Retargeting + Prospecting Effect on Average Daily Revenue |
|
297% higher vs. prospecting-only |
Retargeting Rules the School
Connected TV retargeting campaigns earned their reputation as strong lower-funnel workhorses. They drove 174% higher revenue than prospecting campaigns in the months of August and September. That said, prospecting campaigns were no slouch either—they delivered strong revenue even though they focused on shoppers early in their buying journey.
Lessons for 2022 Connected TV Strategies
If you deliver more touch points to your audience, you increase the likelihood that when they’re ready to purchase—it’s with you. The data suggests that brands who launched campaigns specially designed to focus on specific areas of the buying journey—and covered that full journey—were the big winners.
Advertisers who prioritized reaching new audiences, and retargeting them after they visited their site reaped major rewards. Consider doing the same.
Brands who launched prospecting campaigns saw massive increases in revenue for their lower-funnel campaigns—ensuring those extra touch points resulted in driving conversions.
Don’t limit your upper funnel campaigns to purely awareness plays—our data shows they were no slouch in driving revenue.
Conclusion
Brands who usually thrive during the back-to-school season found Connected TV to be a very profitable channel. And those who made the most of it with both upper and lower funnel efforts were by far the most successful.
So what’s the lesson? Make sure you lean into CTV’s full potential and use it to engage your audience across the entire buying journey. You’ll see higher revenue, higher conversions, and won’t have missed out on a major opportunity.
Methodology: Analysis was conducted on MNTN Performance TV advertisers using recorded performance/spend data from May 31st 2021 to October 3rd, 2021. To be included, advertisers needed to fall into a specific industry vertical (retail, ecommerce, apparel, consumer electronics, etc), and have recorded revenue and performance/spend data for 80%+ of the days that fell within the timeframe.
Let’s Get Started
It’s time to put these learnings to work. Speak to an expert and discover how Performance TV can deliver performance that will earn you a place onthe honor roll.