Small and medium-sized businesses face a host of challenges that their larger counterparts typically don’t. One of the biggest is how to access advertising spots on the newest TV platforms that include connected TV. It’s often considered just too expensive or unwieldy.
No longer. Paramount recently announced the launch of a new self-serve ad platform, which opens up the media company’s streaming channels for SMBs that have historically been priced out of TV. Called Paramount Ads Manager, the new service provides access to Paramount’s CTV portfolio, including both Paramount+—the fastest-growing streaming platform—and Pluto TV, the world’s most widely distributed FAST service, with a minimum commitment of just $500. Of particular interest to SMBs that are new to TV advertising, the platform enables advertisers to create, track and manage their ads, and allows targeting by location, demographic and content placements, adding a brand’s own data to match against Paramount’s streaming audience.
To dig deeper into the details of Paramount Ads Manager, Ad Age Studio 30 discussed the platform with two Paramount executives: Steve Ellis, chief operating officer of Paramount Advertising, and Emily Huo, senior VP of SMB Advertising.
Ad Age: Why would an SMB that has had some success on social media consider adding TV as part of their approach to advertising?
Steve Ellis: There’s the misperception that TV ads are not accessible to SMBs because it’s too hard or expensive. With Ads Manager, the process is extremely easy—we even added AI partners to help with TV creative—and you can buy ads for as little as $500. All this is possible now thanks to the power of our growing streaming inventory.
Once SMBs are aware of the pricing and ease of access to TV, it’s important we remind them that the format, a 15- or 30-second, nonskippable video ad on a 60-inch screen, should be compared with their social video ad format where the ad is really watched for less than 5 seconds on a 6-inch screen, and is easily skippable.
And we will make it easy for them to compare pricing. The CPM social platforms that are now charging for that 5-second video, compared with our CPMs for a 30-second video, means you’re paying way less on a cost-per-second basis for a CTV ad.
Ad Age: How does the Paramount platform determine ideal locations and demographics for an SMB advertiser?
Emily Huo: We currently offer three ways to target. First, by geography, where we can go as granular as the user’s ZIP code; second, by content placements across Paramount+ and Pluto TV, such as sports, news, comedies, thrillers and so forth; and third, by demographics, specifically age, household income and/or gender. We’ll continue to evolve our targeting options to fit the needs of both complex businesses that have their own data as well as other businesses who want turnkey solutions.
Ad Age: On the topic of geography, how can an SMB maximize scale if it only has a local footprint? How large can they go optimally?
Huo: Instead of selecting a specific content placement, an SMB can choose to run across the complete Paramount network. Not only is this the most affordable option, it’s also what we recommend for a first Paramount campaign to get a sense of what’s working.
Also, we believe an SMB should think bigger than their core market. It’s not the days of the Yellow Pages anymore! Even though targeting by ZIP code and designated market area will always be important to an SMB, customers don’t necessarily make their decisions simply based on location anymore. For example, word of mouth consistently ranks among the top three factors across all stages of a consumer decision journey, in both mature and developing markets. With Paramount Ads Manager, we have seen success with even local businesses targeting on the state level, as long as the message in the creative is clear on where they’re located.
Ad Age: Steve, tell us a little more about the distinct nature of TV. We’re hearing a lot lately about the advantages of long-form messaging as being more engaging and immersive. How do you see that?
Ellis: TV is an efficient and effective way to build brand awareness and has been for 70 years. Thirty-second ads, framed by long-form content viewed on the TV glass, does a better job of improving brand recall, perception and purchase intent than any other format. And according to Moat Analytics, social ads have low viewability rates in the mid 20%, but 30-second, non-skippable CTV ads have very high viewability at 96%. We also believe CTV “performs” just as well as social, and we will be adding attribution tools to prove this to our new SMB clients, too.
Ad Age: While the Paramount platform is self-serve, do you offer consulting for inexperienced advertisers? If so, how does that work and what might the costs be?
Huo: We have customer success managers who help consult with brands and agencies before and after they launch, and there are no additional costs for these services. We want our SMB partners who are experiencing TV advertising perhaps for the first time to be successful in their campaigns. Their success is most important to us.
Ad Age: Paramount has been working on new ad tech layers in its programmatic platforms for a while, including EyeQ, which for a few years has provided a pretty seamless activation point to a huge video inventory. Is Ads Manager the next logical step?
Ellis: EyeQ overall contains a wide range of options and inventory across all our distribution endpoints, and it operates under a different set of rules. We’ve created a specific set of inventory packages for our SMB customers to make access more affordable, and to allow big reach that’s also flexible based on the likely geotargeting or genre targeting needs of SMB-type businesses. We are aiming to add new advertisers to Paramount using Ads Manager—those who have not bought TV ads before—so we have created a special product specifically for them.
Ad Age: We’re going to assume that when SMBs dip their toes into CTV advertising for the first time, they’ll also continue with their social outreach and their other traditional channels. How might the Paramount platform work in combination with social and mobile, or other channels, to be mutually reinforcing?
Huo: Putting Paramount ads aside for a minute, I encourage all marketers to think about their own customers and put themselves in their buyers’ shoes. Specifically, how do these customers hear about their brand for the first time? What makes them consider their brand? Why would a buyer choose one brand over a competitor’s brand? How long does this buyer’s journey take, from awareness to consideration to purchase to advocacy?
It’s been said that a person needs to see a message seven or more times to recall it. One thing to consider is how they are seeing that message. If an advertiser can diversify their formats—small screen and large screen—and reach customers in different mindsets, such as solo scrolling and watching their favorite show with friends, that can meaningfully change how impactful a message is.
