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As more people shift to streaming TV shows online, our team at Compulse decided to provide a breakdown of how to leverage the power of connected TV (CTV) advertising to scale and grow your business.
What Is Connected TV (CTV) Advertising?
Connected TV has fueled the cord-cutting movement, with more than half of US households setting up a smart TV in their home. Unlike traditional TV ads, CTV advertising is budget-friendly and gives you more exposure whether you are spending millions or a couple of thousand dollars per month on advertising. More importantly, your ads will show up while consumers stream their favorite TV shows online. Some of the popular platforms include:
- Roku
- Apple TV
- YouTube TV
- Hulu
- Amazon Fire Stick
- Sling
- And more
Despite the growing opportunities in the CTV advertising space, it remains an untapped market.
Why Choose CTV Advertising Over Traditional TV Ads?
Traditional TV ads are limited when it comes to providing real-time data and the format only provides broad advertising capabilities. Instead of a broad focus, CTV advertising provides custom audience targeting, which helps you reach more individuals likely to purchase your product or services.
These new targeting features have modernized television advertising for small and large brands the same way social media and search platforms have revolutionized online marketing.
We all know that real-time data enables advertisers to adjust their campaigns. So, imagine having the ability to spend more money on top-performing ads while having the ability to quickly pause nonperforming ads. That is the power of CTV advertising.
Advertising Inventory
As the space evolves, CTV ad platforms will continuously look for new ways to expand their inventory.
Ultimately, the goal is to provide additional ad placement opportunities to help businesses increase their sales. Below is a list of some of the distinct types of ad placements.
In-Video Ads
Most of these ads last 15-30 seconds. These ads play during an episode or live stream. Unlike YouTube ads, you cannot skip CTV ads, which encourages viewers to watch the entire ad and become familiar with your company’s product.
Home Screen Ads
Home screen ads are images or quick videos. They do not command the same attention as a non-skippable 15-30 second ad campaigns. However, these ad placements help build brand awareness.
For instance, as viewers browse through their home screens before selecting a show to watch, your ad will appear.
You can also use a retargeting campaign to make this ad placement more effective. For example, some advertisers use home screen ads to retarget people who engaged with their in-video ads.
Interactive Pre-Roll Ads
These ads show up before the episode or live stream starts and let viewers click off the episode and visit your landing page.
Another great idea is to add a QR code to help your pre-roll ads gain more traction. For example, some people will sit on their couches while watching their favorite show, and a QR code could make it easier for people to engage with your brand, where viewers can take a picture with their phone and get directed to your page to buy your product or service.
Important Ad Metrics
CTV advertising comes with various ad metrics. Some of the most common industry metrics include cost per click (CPC), cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM), cost per completed view (CPCV), and video completion rate (VCR), to name a few.
- CPC is one of the most common methods to track ad performance. Ideally, you want to optimize your ads for the lowest cost per click to maximize ad profits.
- CPM measures the cost per 1,000 people that viewed your ad. Impressions are often confused with reach, when in fact, reach is the number of different people that viewed your ad, while that same person can have seen the ad more than once, which would count as an impression.
- CPCV measures the cost of a completed view. These viewers watch your ad from start to finish instead of clicking away from the video.
- VCR measures the overall engagement of your ad. Changing the video can increase your VCR and lead to more clicks which can lead to more conversions.
Depending on the goal of your campaign you can use some of the metrics above while also running A/B split tests to help you better understand how to scale and optimize your ad campaigns.
Get Started with CTV Advertising
Looking for help to set up your CTV ad campaign? Schedule a free demo call with our team of experts.