LONDON – “What is connected TV?” The answer to that question may seem straightforward — but could a lack of consensus be holding the industry back?
It’s critical for the industry to define what constitutes Connected TV (CTV) advertising, according to Dave Morgan, Founder & CEO of Simulmedia, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
Morgan emphasized the importance of distinguishing between CTV advertising, which is more like traditional TV, and web video advertising.
Defining CTV advertising
Speaking at The Future of TV Advertising Global, Morgan said CTV is an attention business that dominates the screen with sound on, while web video often involves multiple ads running simultaneously, sometimes with sound off.
“CTV, which is much more like the TV of the world of before, is an attention business. It’s about time. It’s about how much time you have in front of a person where you basically have their dominant attention,” Morgan said. “Web video is not that. That’s more of an impression basis.”
He warned against conflating the two, as web video ads are worth only about one-fifth as much as CTV ads. Morgan believes the industry is getting closer to understanding the definition, especially after observing abuse in the recent elections.
Simulmedia’s self-serve platform Skybeam
Simulmedia recently soft-launched Skybeam, a self-serve direct ad buying platform that allows small agencies and advertisers to purchase highly targeted, efficient, and low-cost CTV inventory campaigns in any U.S. market and soon in Europe.
“It means small agencies and it means small brands,” Morgan said.
“We had this explosion in the US and around the world of what I’ll call the JAG agency, the just-a-gal, just-a-guy agency. They’ve been buying search and social… and they’ve been locked out of TV.”
AI-powered creative for small advertisers
Morgan thinks such tools can bring smaller advertisers in to TV.
He also highlighted the potential for AI tools to create affordable, unique, and powerful ad creative for small advertisers, reducing the cost from $20,000 for a “pretty crappy ad” on local cable to just $50 for a robust AI-generated ad.
“You can basically buy in a highly targeted way, not just locally, but targeted to specific audiences, and you can get your creative made now almost for free,” he said.
You’re watching Beet.TV’s coverage of The Future of TV Advertising Global. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
