Alok Pandey
IPL is nothing less than a festival for cricket fans. Being one of the biggest eyeball-catching tournaments, it also creates great excitement among advertisers and offers the perfect occasion for adtech firms to try and capitalise on the telecast of matches on CTV. It offers an excellent opportunity for marketers to leverage CTV’s vast audience reach and engagement opportunities. Here’s how.
Take precise targeting. This is more or less like the boundary line, that is, the rope around the edge of the ground during a match. For precise targeting, marketers need to analyse user demographics, their emotions, behaviour, and expectation from brands. Targeting consumers who are looking to spend quality time watching IPL can drive more engagement and therefore better results. That is because when you target an audience with precision, considering their engagement with the device — or the CTV in this case — and their interest in the game, you can build a deep affinity between the brand and the audience.
Next take interactive ads. Interactive ads or rich media ads have created a big buzz in the digital landscape with their proven superiority over other forms of advertising. They immediately draw user attention and urge them to interact with the campaign. Interactive rich media adverts on CTV engage viewers in real-time and offer an opportunity to adtech companies to offer great experiences to users. When consumers get a great experience on the TV screen, they connect better with brands, leading to better recall.
Now consider contextual advertising. This demands an understanding of the consumer behaviour before the brand is showcased — much like analysing the pitch before coming out to bat. When marketers showcase content keeping in mind their relevance, it can do wonders for the brand. For instance, showcasing real money gaming ads during the IPL, or even adverts of other sports or sports-related products like kneecaps, balls, etc. This can encourage users to make up their minds about a brand or a product or even make a purchase.
Another effective tool is programmatic advertising. One of the best ways to drive quality leads during IPL is programmatic advertising because CTV uses automated systems to provide adtech vendors, marketers and advertisers with optimised ad placement opportunities and pricing. In CTV, programmatic advertising depends on a few metrics like VCR (video completion rate) and CPCV (cost per completed view) where the price of each completed ad is easily measured. This enables marketers to make data-driven decisions and optimise the campaign for maximum ROI.
With the IPL season in full swing, I think this is as good a time as any for adtech companies and marketers to exploit CTV’s data-driven capabilities to the hilt.
The author is VP, sales & marketing, Xapads Media