Millions of people are hooking up their TVs directly to the internet, giving advertisers a way to reach target audiences that’s similar to digital pinpointing. This delivery mechanism is significant in making the video ad marketplace more transparent to marketers and agencies.
“Knowing what programs our audiences are really tuning into to allow us to make better, smarter buying decisions for future campaigns, whether that’s also in national linear or continuing into the connected TV space,” Brad Stockton, senior vice president of U.S. national video innovation at Dentsu International, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “Transparency is core and it’s really important for our advertisers just to know where we had the opportunity to run and where we did run.”
Opportunities for CTV Targeting
Connected devices like smart TVs can be assigned an identifier to help with ad measurement, through there are limitations. Because multiple people in a household may watch the same TV screen or use the same streaming account, it’s not always clear who’s ultimately seeing video ads.
“We’re able to use data to find our audiences, but it is at the household level versus at the individual device,” Stockton said to Rob Williams, senior editor for Beet.TV. “As long as we can really make sure we’re really clear and upfront with that, we can ensure that we’re reaching our audiences in a great premium big-screen environment in that living room.”
Differences Between CTV and Addressable TV
The term “addressable TV” typically describes showing different commercials to different households during the same shows on legacy linear TV. The meaning is changing as linear TV converges with connected (CTV) to make all advertising addressable.
“Addressable television can mean so many different things,” Stockton said. “Connected TV by its nature is on the television glass and is addressable because it’s one-to-one and you can really use your audiences and your data at the core.”
Addressable linear television is undergoing an expansion from local cable providers, which typically were allotted two minutes of ads for every hour, to national networks that have an inventory of about 14 minutes each hour to fill with ads. A variety of companies have developed the technology to provide one-to-one targeting at a national level.
“What’s really exciting and now at the forefront is this new national addressable TV,” Stockton said. “As we look at the future of advertising and addressable, it’s really about pairing your audiences and finding the right combination of connected TV to really reach your audiences as well as national linear television.”
You are watching Transforming CTV: Delivering a Better Ad Experience for Viewers,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series presented by Beachfront. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
