In a world of chaos, precision targeting is often a miss. While television provided advertisers with reach, print has been all about building trust and loyalty, while digital over the years has largely been driving conversions. In all this, Connected TV has found its ground due to its ability to target viewers precisely, besides elevating engagement.
“The integration of programmatic technology on CTV has made the world of traditional advertising more dynamic and highly effective. This offers many benefits to target with precision. Advertisers can target their demographic based on location, interests, behaviour, income group. For example, location insights can help with the understanding of who the CTV user is to help brands understand the overall affluence levels of the household and target them accordingly,” Nikhil Kumar, VP – India and SEA, mediasmart, an omnichannel programmatic advertising platform, told BrandWagon Online.
The total number connected TVs could cross 40 million by 2025 and free television
which could cross 50 million, as per the latest FICCI-EY report. This is expected to end the monopoly of broadcasters on the large screen and lead to around 30% of content consumed on large screens to be social, gaming, digital, among others.OTT aggregation will be a key driver of growth on CTV.
Screens and CTV – a symbiotic relationship
From the youth, the urban male and female, today a good portion of India’s population watches content on over-the-streaming platforms. According to industry experts, CTV users encompass a diverse demographic from 18-65 year olds, accessed by audiences across income groups. Interestingly, industry experts claim that today, CTV is an integral part of any media planning exercise. Interactive and shoppable ads on CTV based on user inputs are further likely to make the format more engaging as well as improve down-the-funnel conversions. On the OTT front, the growth of ad-supported streaming services (AVOD) will also open up new revenue streams for advertisers on CTV, thereby expanding the ecosystem further. “ From on-demand viewing which will allow advertisers to reach viewers who are watching their favourite shows and movies at a time that is convenient for them to personalised advertising – data such as demographics, viewing history, and search history will allow advertisers to deliver more relevant and engaging ads,” Saurabh Khattar, country manager – India, Integral Ad Science, explain, adding that other formats such as interactive advertising where in viewers can click on ads to learn more about a product or service, or to play a game besides, addressable advertising which will allow specific households or individuals, based on their demographics, interests, and viewing habits. This allows advertisers to reach their target audiences more effectively and efficiently.
Over the next five-10 years, CTV is expected to be integrated across multiple screens, channels and formats. “As this is completely based on a digitised eco-system, CTV platforms can collect and analyse viewer data, which allows for precise and targeted ads to be delivered to the audience. Also it allows for cross-device campaigns ensuring consistent messaging across platforms like smartphones, laptops, tablets, CTV,” Smita Khanna Kithania, chief operating officer, Newton Consulting India, said.
The Flipside – fraud and measurement
One of the biggest impediments in digital advertising is ad-fraud. Sample this: It is estimated that the costs related to digital advertising fraud worldwide would grow exponentially within the four years between 2018 and 2023, from $35-100 billion, as per a recent study by market research firm, Statista. The digital ad fraud costs in the US were believed to reach $81 billion in 2022. More and more ads are traded programmatically, fraud detection processes are not yet fully developed, and so the bulk of advertising ends up being served to bots instead of potential customers. Interestingly, for those who believe that being a new technology CTV may be devoid of any fraudulent activity, they are in for a surprise. As per an Integral Ad Science report, as CTV is fairly new, higher levels of malicious, fraudulent activity across less transparent and long-tail inventory, is expected. Examples of CTV fraud schemes include using server-side ad insertion to generate fake CTV inventory and using screensavers to hijack devices. For Khattar, there is a myth in the industry that CTV ads are always viewable. IAS reporting shows that nearly 20% of impressions drop before reaching the second quartile. “While the market generally agrees that CTV is naturally a full-screen, 100% in-view experience, the incorporation of digital delivery streams introduces the risk of the content never rendering on the device,” he explained.
Typically metrics such as Video Completion Rate (VCR) and Cost Per Completed View (CPCV) are the preferred formats in which ads are measured. Moreover, video ads are built to largely measure viewability and overall view rate with attention span thereby the metrics of engagement is itself completion rates. “With CTV advertisers can do so much more than just measuring traditional metrics and go deeper at a consumer level to measure favorability towards the ad, ad fatigue, and lift. In addition to the awareness metrics, brands can also measure the incremental lift in sales achieved during and post the campaign,” Kumar added. It is believed that with cross-device attribution, brands can track the user journey across multiple devices and channels, including CTV. Even as CTV is gaining traction, in the long run, it will be all about creating a brand safe environment.
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