CTV Advertising challenges
In the early noughties, cable and satellite TV were the main ways viewers watched television. Today, we have so many more options. With CTV and OTT that allow viewers to stream television shows and movies via the internet, we can now watch on our televisions, smartphones, tablets, computers, laptops, and more. And as the viewing landscape has shifted significantly over the past two decades, so has the advertising landscape.
Here we’ll discuss the advertising challenges facing the CTV/OTT landscape, and the solutions we can provide to marketers.
What Are CTV and OTT?
Though the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a slight difference between CTV and OTT. CTV, short for Connected TV, refers to any device that’s connected to the internet and can be used for streaming. Over-the-Top, or OTT, refers to the method that delivers the streaming content to the device. (Check out our Glossary below to learn more about the types of CTV and OTT.)
Who’s Using CTV and OTT?
According to eMarketer, in 2020 a total of 183.5 million people used CTV to watch television shows and movies, with millennials and Gen X showing the most usage. According to Limelight’s The State of Online Video, the percentage of people watching online videos more than four hours per week increased from 53% in 2019 to 61% in 2020. According to Nielson, a whopping 88% of Americans "use a second digital device while watching TV."
All of these numbers are only expected to rise as time goes on and internet usage becomes more prevalent.
As the number of people using CTV/OTT rises, so will advertising expenditures. eMarketer noted that in 2011, CTV spending totaled about $8 billion. By the end of 2021, that number is expected to increase to over $11 billion. The projections for 2024 put CTV advertising spending at just over $18 billion, some $10 billion more than 2020.
What are the Challenges Facing CTV/OTT Advertising?
CTV and OTT advertising is different from linear TV. The latter offers ads that you can’t fast-forward through or skip (unless you go to the bathroom). While these ads are fairly effective, the growing popularity of CTV/OTT is leading many advertisers to consider creating ads for this audience. Sometimes, though, the challenges hold them back and they miss out on a valuable audience.
Here we’ll discuss the main challenges of CTV/OTT advertising, and our solution that addresses all of them.
Audiences are broad - One of the main benefits of digital advertising is the ability to target ads based on user activity, but with CTV, it’s not always known which family member is watching, which makes targeting difficult.
Direct impact on sales is hard to measure - Marketing campaign ROI is important, but with CTV, the direct impact of video ads on sales is unclear.
Cost - The cost of CTV advertising seems higher than other advertising channels, especially considering the other challenges.
Here we’ll discuss the advertising challenges facing the CTV/OTT landscape, and the solutions we can provide to marketers.
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Audiences are broad - One of the main benefits of digital advertising is the ability to target ads based on user activity, but with CTV, it’s not always known which family member is watching, which makes targeting difficult.
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Direct impact on sales is hard to measure - Marketing campaign ROI is important, but with CTV, the direct impact of video ads on sales is unclear.
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Cost - The cost of CTV advertising seems higher than other advertising channels, especially considering the other challenges.
The IIQ Solution to CTV and OTT Advertising Challenges
How can marketers meet the many and diverse challenges of CTV/OTT advertising? Intent IQ has developed a solution that meets ALL the challenges with one simple tool.
Our CTV/OTT next-gen Identity Graph matches the IP address of the CTV/OTT with a household’s online devices. The matching occurs with or without cookies or mobile advertising IDs (MAIDS), making it “future-proof” for when advertising IDs and third-party cookies become obsolete. Intent IQ further provides offline attribution using hashed email identities associated with the devices.
This allows marketers and media buyers to accurately measure view through attribution on a large scale, by associating online events such as website and app visits, purchase actions, app installs, downloads, and in-app purchases, to the delivered CTV/OTT ads.
How does the Identity Graph work?
IIQ tracks and logs billions of online events daily to generate a highly accurate and scalable real-time device graph based on a stack of complex algorithms and AI combined with the largest deterministic data set in North America. The graph can match CTV/OTT ads viewed in a household with any given online event performed on the household’s devices.
How the IIQ Identity Graph Addresses the Challenges of CTV/OTT Advertising
Now we’ll look specifically at how the IIQ solution meets the challenges of CTV/OTT advertising discussed above.
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Solution: Audiences are broad
IIQ offers 360° attribution, which attributes multiple consumer devices such as laptops, tablets, mobile phones, connected TVs, and game consoles, etc. to a single consumer. Our Graph offers support for all levels of attribution — brick and mortar, household, person, device, browser level — without being restricted to a single house IP address. This allows marketers to target their ads much more effectively. Accuracy of 92%-97% measured deterministically with 4M different samples every 24 hours.
2. Solution: Direct impact on sales is hard to measure
IIQ’s catch-all attribution enables marketers to focus on the effectiveness of multichannel campaigns on different devices, from the beginning of the customer’s journey through to the action. This deals with the challenge of measuring exactly the ROI of each campaign.
3. Solution: Cost
While CTV/OTT advertising might seem costly, skimping means you will lose out on potential customers — especially as the market continues to grow. While IIQ’s solution can’t reduce the cost of ads, it can make the money you spend much more effective. Instead of throwing money at CTV/OTT ads and not being sure where it’s going and what it’s doing, IIQ’s solution enables you to know exactly what you’re getting for your money.
Learn More
If you want to learn more about our solution to the challenges of CTV/OTT advertising, contact us. We can schedule a free demo or answer any questions you have.
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