Experts from the biggest names in streaming gathered in downtown LA to discuss the future of CTV advertising.
Streaming giants like Google, Pluto TV, Paramount, and Disney sent their top advertising executives to Downtown Los Angeles this week to discuss the future of Connected TV (CTV) Advertising at CTV Ad Days LA 2024, presented by Dataxis.
Panel discussions at the lovely Conrad Hotel covered AI, frequency, fragmentation, measurement, and so much more. We've broken down some of the key takeaways for you in case you missed the event:
3 CTV Advertising Takeaways for Brands & Viewers:
1. They know about the frequency problem
We've all had the experience of watching a show on Netflix or Hulu and seeing the same commercial in every ad break. It's infuriating! Ad fatigue (and volume inconsistency) is a real thorn in the user's experience, potentially creating negative brand sentiments, rather than positive ones.
The overall quality of a viewer's ad experience must be considered in tandem with the quality of content programming. Language, maturity level, and volume of CTV ads should closely align with those of the movies and shows they're appearing within.
Fortunately, streaming advertisers are well aware of this problem and trying to fix it. It's just difficult when creative assets move from agencies, programmatic DSPs, and SSPs to individual platforms in such a fragmented fashion. Uniformity was much simpler with linear TV!
But a big solution is in the works...
2. IAB's Ad ID Creative Framework aims to standardize the industry
IAB Tech Lab has just announced the Ad ID Creative Framework (AICF), a grand plan to unify and standardize the fragmented CTV industry. Within the AICF, each creative asset will be registered with a code that can be tracked across digital video platforms so advertisers can see if a viewer has already seen that ad too many times in other places.
According to the IAB's announcement, the framework will improve:
Frequency Capping: Today, the same video ad often has different sources, identifiers, and labels. The framework calls for a unique ID that will make it easier for ad-decisioning algorithms to manage ad frequency.
Competitive Separation: The unique ID will make it easier to ensure that competitive ads are appropriately separated.
Cross-platform reporting: The current lack of unique creative IDs generates data inconsistencies that make accurate media reporting difficult. This is compounded by the inability to easily compare log data from one ad platform to another. Unique creative IDs will simplify reporting.
Campaign Reconciliation: The current reconciliation process is costly, clumsy, and ineffective. Unique IDs would greatly simplify advertisers' understanding of where ads were placed and how they were served, enabling advertisers to more easily tie performance to ad creative.
Campaign ROI: Understanding campaign performance for specific ad creatives enables advertisers to take action and vastly improve the overall campaign ROI.
As a media agency, Exverus plans to collaborate with the IAB, the 4As, and all other participants in the AICF to give our brands' audiences the best viewing experience possible.
3. Technology should work for people, not vice versa
We've talked before about the value of shoppable CTV ads and interactive elements like QR codes. Advertisers love them because they collect consumer data and measure CTV's impact on sales, turning CTV into a full performance marketing channel.
But not all viewers love them -- some TV watchers just want to watch and relax! And that's okay. The technology we build should be making data collection and ad targeting more seamless and effortless for the viewer, not always asking them to do more (unless it's something fun!)
CTV advertising should be considered in the context of other video platforms like paid social and video display. Where else does your ideal target buyer "hang out", or consume media? Meet them where they are while keeping frequency and data privacy across platforms in mind. If your ad messaging is memorable, the audience will remember what you said, not where you said it.
Omnichannel media planning is key to actualizing the full potential of CTV advertising. Your audience doesn't watch TV in a vacuum; don't build your media strategy in one, either.
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