How Your CTV Strategy Influences Purchase Decisions

Connected TV (CTV) is more than a flashy new brand awareness tool. Streaming services and their accompanying libraries of viewing options are continuing to expand, making TV more easily accessible via personal devices and the biggest screen in the room throughout the homes of more than 208 million users in 2021. Despite a growing, attentive audience and targeting tools that can put your business front and center, most brands have hardly scratched the surface of CTV’s potential.

With a host of new streaming options and larger audiences acclimating to the convenience of smart devices, ad dollars are following close behind. An estimated 60% of US advertisers plan to shift ad dollars from linear TV to CTV this year, with the majority of brands citing increased targeting capabilities, ad spend efficiency, and incremental reach as the main reasons.

Here’s how successful CTV campaigns can promote more conversions and become a permanent piece of your marketing puzzle.

Why CTV Lifts All Channels

Connected TV’s capabilities extend well beyond upper-funnel brand awareness goals. CTV is a fast-growing, heavily-viewed, highly-targetable ad format that can be used to promote real action — so long as other ad channels are working in concert with your CTV efforts.

Streaming services almost universally require a completed login or signup process which includes an email or a phone number. CTV ads can recognize device IDs and understand household connections with IP addresses, which means your ads — already delivered to specifically target audiences with CTV’s robust segmentation options — are eligible for retargeting efforts and every other actionable marketing dollar spent on other ad channels.

With accompanying retargeting campaigns to influence qualified users post-view, CTV can drive a measurable ROI and contribute to your most meaningful KPIs across channels. Strategies structured to complement one another in this way harness CTV’s full power, delivering actionable ads to a rapidly-increasing number of streaming households.

CTV and First-Party Data

It’s hard to overstate the value of reliable first-party data to each of your brand’s marketing channels. Quality data improves your ads’ ability to reach the right audience with the right content. When a user sits down to enjoy a streaming service, advertisers reap the benefits of showing a relevant ad to a specific viewer in its entirety, while correctly-targeted audiences receive more creative and beneficial ads relevant to their interests.

An estimated 80% of U.S. households now stream video to a connected device — meaning the audience you’re looking for is out there somewhere. The ability to apply first-party data to track performance in detail as users shop and view media on their unique devices after viewing your ad quickly informs you which messages and audiences drive the most efficient performance.

It might interest advertisers new to CTV to note that the majority of TV viewers use devices to explore topics relevant to their viewing habits, and over 70% say they use a mobile device to look up a product they see related to the ads or content they are currently watching. With a well-timed CTV ad, your brand can deliver a hand-picked message directly to a predetermined audience actively searching for products they see on their TV screen.

Using CTV Messaging to Drive Actions

CTV presents a prime opportunity for brand storytelling. Sequential messaging through CTV ads gives advertisers power to qualify users who view a short series of videos to their completion, moving closer to conversion — or to a retargeted ad on another channel or device — with each progressive ad served. This process allows marketers to construct a complete image of their brand and the value it offers through four simple steps:

• Educate. All prospects in an audience are served a message aimed to inform.

• Build Value. Viewers who watch 100% of the initial ad but have yet to convert will see a second message further establishing your brand’s offering.

• Reinforce and Ask. Users who qualify themselves by viewing the first two ads in their entirety are delivered a third, more direct message with a specific call to action.

• Change it up. Viewers who still haven’t converted are retargeted with cost-effective
  campaigns across other channels, including pre-roll, audio, display, and native ads to encourage meaningful engagement.

Opportunities for brand messaging to resonate with prospective customers are further enhanced by properly developing and targeting audiences. First-party ads use data already at your fingertips to reach high-potential users who previously visited your homepage or made a purchase — but there are more levers marketers can pull to expand the potential pool of new users.

Look-alike targeting methods use characteristics drawn from your high-performing audiences to target similar households, while third-party targeting includes ad delivery based on demographic data and behavioral traits like age, gender, income, children, or purchase intent. Retargeting campaigns can serve as a low-funnel conversion driver across multiple devices and platforms, including native, audio, and display.

Ad frequency capping is also entirely under your control, which makes hitting the frequency sweet spot an easy way to optimize campaigns. Aiming to serve ads 2-5x in a 28-day span will keep your brand top-of-mind for the majority of new users without overreaching.

The true power of CTV still remains largely untapped for many advertisers, and unlocking its full capabilities can establish the CTV format as a marketing mix mainstay for years to come.