Looking back on the past year in TV, the common thread is proof of performance. Advertisers persistently ask, How do I show the measurable impact of my media investment?
The converging TV landscape seeks to bridge the gaps among linear and digital media, insertion orders (IOs) and programmatic buying, as well as gross rating points (GRPs), currency and business outcome-based measurement. Adding to the complexity is connected TV (CTV), and the proliferation of streaming and on-demand video that has brought advanced audience targeting to this once-analog medium.
Yet, as CTV continues to grow, advertisers remain hesitant to allocate more of their precious ad dollars to the format. Why is this? The TV industry has discussed at length the issue of fragmented supply, and while it is a pain point, it misses some of the more nuanced challenges advertisers face.
Working through the pain points
Streaming video market size is projected to grow from a $50.29 billion market in 2023 to $90.87 billion by 2028, according to recent data from Mordor Intelligence. CTV consumption has increased 20% in the past year, and more consumers are opting for ad-supported tiers.
As the TV ecosystem has grown, so has the number of vendors that agencies and brands must partner with to find their audience. From disparate systems with different logins to different teams responsible for different aspects of the same campaign, cross-screen campaigns have become a headache to manage.
It is this fragmentation of workflows that leads to a lack of transparency and control over how ad spend is allocated. More hops—moving from platform to platform—create a significant decrease in data fidelity, according to Tony Yi, executive VP of business development at Cadent. By using different vendors for building audiences, activation and measurement, “you are reducing the accuracy that the data could and should provide,” Yi said.
Automated planning and buying workflows are only as good as the strength of their data, and poor data means less audience reach.
Ultimately, it all comes back to measurement. The disparate tech stacks across traditional linear TV, addressable, OTT and CTV measurement prevent advertisers from understanding the impact of their cross-screen campaigns, let alone optimizing based on these insights.
Shining light on success stories
Most advertisers are barely scraping the surface of CTV’s full potential. However, Cadent has uncovered a few key learnings through our CTV campaigns and product development. Here are a few examples that demonstrate the power of CTV:
• Clever audience curation. A popular big box retailer of home decor and craft supplies needed to drive awareness around its holiday promotions and sales of its seasonal products. Cadent enabled the brand to engage a custom-curated audience of new and competitive shoppers while defending loyal customers.
At the end of the campaign, through Cadent’s integration with measurement and attribution company 605, the brand was provided insights into how the cross-screen strategy reached a more complete audience.
The payoff: The CTV, cable and broadcast campaign produced a return on ad spend (ROAS) of $5, a 37% in store visit rate and an 18% lift in unique visit rate.
• Award-winning approach. Applegate, the natural and organic meat company, was looking for a way to efficiently continue to acquire new buyers, bring back lapsed buyers and defend loyal customers, all while driving cross-category purchases across their diverse portfolio of products. Cadent, partnering with shopper-intelligence company Catalina, delivered for the campaign household-level targeted CTV ads to 4.2 million existing and new buyers, while monitoring their consumption and purchase behavior in real-time.
Through CTV ad impressions and in-store sequential offers, the campaign generated $2.13 incremental ROAS, a 24.9% sales lift and significant savings for the brand.
Building your stream dream team
How do you solve fragmented supply? You need a platform that curates audiences across all inventory types, including linear TV, CTV and online video (OLV). Media buying shouldn’t be a mystery, so greater transparency means greater control over where your ad dollars go.
What about complicated workflows? You need an end-to-end solution that minimizes complexity and maximizes audience reach. By streamlining and simplifying the process of buying, planning, audience building, activation and reporting, you can focus on the strategic aspects of your campaign.
And finally, how do you reconcile siloed measurement? You need unified attribution to be able to effectively measure campaign performance. True holistic measurement allows you to compare results from your campaign when running media on different ad formats and from different publishers.
The promise of CTV is within reach, but you need a partner that understands your goals, one with programmatic automation, seamless audience building and enablement, unified supply and holistic measurement. See for yourself how cross-screen CTV can support your brand.
