What Is Connected TV Advertising?

What Is Connected TV?

Let’s start with a definition…

Connected TV (CTV) is a television that connects to the internet to stream digital video, audio or apps. This includes smart TVs with built-in internet connectivity, as well as traditional televisions connected through streaming sticks, set-top boxes or games consoles. If you’re watching programmes through an internet-based streaming service on your television rather than receiving them solely through terrestrial, satellite or cable broadcasting, you’re watching connected TV.

Importantly, CTV describes the television and the way content reaches it, rather than a particular streaming service. Netflix on a smart TV is CTV. YouTube watched through a games console is CTV. The same YouTube video watched on your phone isn’t. It’s this combination of internet delivery and the traditional big-screen viewing experience that has made connected TV particularly interesting to advertisers.

You got all that? Let’s go.

What Is Connected TV Advertising?

Connected TV advertising is the delivery of video adverts to audiences watching internet-streamed content on a connected television. Unlike traditional broadcast advertising, where everyone watching the same channel or programme receives the same commercial break, CTV advertising can use digital targeting to determine which advert is shown to a particular audience or household.

In simple terms, it combines the big-screen impact of television advertising with the targeting and measurement of digital advertising. Advertisers can potentially target campaigns according to factors such as location, demographics, interests and viewing behaviour, depending on the platform and available data. Campaigns can also provide digital-style reporting around impressions and completed views, giving marketers considerably more information about how their advertising has been delivered than traditional television alone. On platforms such as Amazon Prime, viewers can even purchase advertised products during the advert itself.

How Does Connected TV Advertising Work?

Connected TV advertising works by combining traditional television advertising with digital ad targeting. Unfortunately, in this modern age, streamers and platforms know an awful lot about us as individuals. So when someone streams content on a connected TV, available advertising slots can be matched to advertisers based on factors such as the viewer’s location, demographics, interests or viewing behaviour. Rather than every household watching a programme seeing the same advert, different viewers will be served different ads during the same content based on their individual criteria. The result is advertising that still looks and feels like a traditional TV commercial, but can be bought, targeted and measured much more like a digital campaign.

How can I advertise on Connected TV?

Advertising on connected TV is surprisingly accessible. You don’t need to negotiate individual commercial breaks or commit to a national television campaign. Instead, you choose the audience you want to reach, decide where you want to reach them and buy advertising inventory through broadcasters, streaming platforms or programmatic advertising technology.

Let’s go through the process step-by-step:

1. Decide who you want to reach

Start with the audience rather than the channel. CTV campaigns can be targeted using a range of criteria such as location, age, gender, interests and viewing behaviour, depending on the platform and data available.

This is one of the fundamental differences from traditional television advertising. Rather than simply buying access to everyone watching a programme, you’re buying access to particular audiences watching television.

To begin, create a spec outline of your target audience or customer based on the available criteria.

2. Choose where you want your adverts to appear

When people first consider connected TV advertising, the obvious names tend to be Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+. But CTV isn’t a single advertising platform, it’s an ecosystem, and there are considerably more places to advertise than the big subscription streamers. Take a look at our handy table below for all of your connected tv advertising platform options:

So the question isn’t really “Should we advertise on Netflix?” It’s “Where is the audience we want to reach, and which combination of CTV inventory gives us the best way of reaching them?”

3. Choose how you’re going to buy it

There are two broad routes.

Direct or managed buying means buying inventory from a broadcaster, streaming platform or its advertising partner. This is generally the simpler route if you already know where you want your campaign to appear.

If you know where you want to advertise (perhaps based on a particular film or TV show) then you can go direct to the streamers; Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Peacock & Paramount+. For UK advertisers, you can reach a range of broadcasters via Universal Ads from Comcast.

Programmatic CTV advertising uses a demand-side platform (DSP) to buy advertising impressions across multiple publishers. Your targeting, budget and bidding criteria are established beforehand, then the technology determines which available impressions are appropriate for your campaign.

If you’re looking to advertise across a range of platforms and broadcasters, then these DSPs are can help; StackAdapt & The Trade Desk. For Uk advertisers, tvadvertising.co.uk can help you through the whole process.

4. Set your budget and campaign parameters

Next, you’ll establish your campaign dates, geographical coverage, audience targeting, budget and frequency.

CTV doesn’t necessarily require the same upfront commitment as traditional broadcast television, so campaigns can potentially be much more targeted. A business could, for example, concentrate its budget on reaching a particular audience within specific UK regions rather than paying for national coverage it doesn’t need.

5. Create and approve your advert

You’ll need a finished video advert that meets the technical requirements of the platforms you’re advertising on. If you’re starting from scratch, then work with a commercial video production company to create your ad, and produce the necessary formats for CTV platforms.

This is also where CTV starts to feel rather more like television than social media. Your advert could be appearing on a 65-inch television alongside professionally produced programmes, so creative developed for a mobile feed won’t necessarily translate well to the living-room screen.

Depending on where the campaign is running, your advert may also require regulatory or broadcaster approval. ⁠Clearcast handles the clearance of television advertising for many major UK broadcasters and platforms.

6. Launch, measure and optimise

Once approved and uploaded, your advert can be served when eligible viewers stream content containing advertising inventory.

You’ll then receive campaign reporting covering measures such as impressions, reach, frequency and completed views. Unlike a traditional television campaign, targeting and spend can potentially be adjusted while the campaign is running.

How to Build Content for Connected TV Advertising

Connected TV might use digital targeting technology, but that doesn’t mean the creative should look like a digital ad. Your advert is appearing full-screen on a television, potentially in the middle of a professionally produced drama, film or entertainment programme. A hastily repurposed social video can suddenly look very poor when it’s blown up to 55 inches.

The starting point should therefore be to treat CTV creative much more like a TV commercial. Work with a professional video production company to develop an idea specifically for the environment in which it will be watched, rather than simply resizing an existing campaign asset. That means strong creative, high production values, considered cinematography, professional sound and, crucially, an idea that earns the viewer’s attention quickly.

There are some characteristics worth designing around:

• Get to the idea quickly. You may have 15, 20 or 30 seconds, so the premise needs to be understood almost immediately.
• Design for the big screen. Fine text, cluttered graphics and social-media-style layouts don’t translate particularly well to a television several metres away.
• Use sound properly. Unlike much social advertising, CTV is generally consumed with sound on. Music, dialogue and sound design can therefore do a lot of the storytelling.
• Make the brand memorable. Don’t save the logo and product reveal exclusively for the final second. The viewer should know who is talking to them.
• Create variations. One of CTV’s biggest advantages is targeting, so take advantage of it. A single shoot can produce different edits, openings, offers or messages for different audiences and locations.
• Think beyond one advert. If you’re investing in a proper production, plan the campaign architecture before filming. A good production company can design the shoot around a master CTV commercial while simultaneously capturing shorter edits, alternative versions and assets for your wider digital campaign.

This last point is particularly important. CTV gives marketers sophisticated ways to reach different audiences, but targeting can’t rescue weak creative. The strongest campaigns combine the precision of digital media buying with the craft and production values audiences still expect when they’re watching television.