Connected TV: The Key to the Cross-Device World

Connected TV is shaking up the advertising world. In the last five years, there’s been an increase of 100 million CTV sets every year, globally. And in the UK, it’s growing at a rate of knots, with ad revenue on CTV expected to reach £220 million by 2020 – far exceeding the growth seen by our European neighbours. Ahead of joining a panel discussion on the rise of connected TV at ATS London on Monday 10 September, Anna Forbes (pictured below), UK general manager at The Trade Desk, explains why connected TV is becoming a force to be reckoned with.

This dynamic new channel creates a huge opportunity for advertisers wanting to target the younger, more connected generations – the 'cord-cutters' and 'cord-nevers' – who have opted for internet over traditional TV cables.

Apart from the odd Bake Off session, it’s – sadly – very unusual for full households to sit down together in the living room to watch the communal set. TV has evolved into something we have with us at all time, whether we’re in bed, on the train, or at the beach – because, today, it’s accessible on practically any platform.

Gone are the days of 'spray and pray' linear ad breaks. TV advertising is evolving into smart, user-specific content that is truly relevant and targeted to the right audiences at the right time. And the proof is in the numbers – at The Trade Desk, we found that baking CTV into a digital advertising strategy boosts audience reach by a staggering 41%.

We’ve noticed that advertisers are catching on to the huge potential CTV offers, but there’s still more that can be done to cement its place in brands’ media strategies. Here are some tips to make sure CTV ads are a soaring success.

1. A holistic digital strategy

Advertisers could be forgiven for thinking CTV belongs in their TV strategy. It makes sense, doesn’t it? But isolating the channel from other digital channels can actually be hugely detrimental to ad campaigns.

By approaching CTV independently, advertisers risk sabotaging a carefully executed digital strategy by sharing the wrong message at the wrong time – or going over and above frequency caps. What could be more frustrating than spending precious time and budget creating a fantastic cross-channel digital strategy, only to annoy an audience with a completely different TV ad campaign – not to mention miss out on valuable data?

Brands should incorporate CTV into their digital strategy right from the start – after all, it’s a close cousin to display, video, and online mobile – to maximise the return on investment on this channel.

2. Firing up the insight engine

More than just a channel to advertise on, CTV can teach advertisers a huge amount about their target audiences’ viewing habits – from where and how they tune in, to their favourite series genre. And the value of these insights extends beyond CTV itself, informing how advertisers should be targeting their audiences across all digital channels.

We know that one-off interactions are rarely fruitful. So, advertisers should collect these crucial insights and build a relationship with audiences by serving them appropriate content, at a time and place they’ll find helpful and relevant.

3. Tracking your triumphs

 The fragmentation of CTV inventory, which is available on so many different devices and channels, is great for advertisers, because it offers multiple ways to target audiences. But it makes measurement harder. Ultimately, the industry would benefit from a universal measurement tool for CTV – something BARB is hoping to address with Project Dovetail, a joint-industry measure of total reach across all devices.

But there’s no reason why we can’t track the success of CTV campaigns while we wait for this to happen. Advertisers should work directly with broadcasters to get as many insights as possible to ensure that their targeting is successful. Think IP addresses, device IDs, device graphs, logins, and location data – the more that’s added into the mix, the more successful campaign measurement will be.

The UK’s time for CTV

The UK has become the largest and most advanced market in Europe when it comes to CTV, largely down to Brits’ growing concentration of Smart TVs and indulgence in boxset binging.

It’s taking the UK by storm, and for good reason. If advertisers invest in CTV now, it won’t be long until they start reaping the rewards.