What Is CTV in Marketing, Its Features, and Advantages

Traditional television smoothly but irrevocably fades into the background or even third plan after the Internet and social media. The main contenders for its place are CTV and OTT, the functions of which are wider and more flexible than cable television. 

The number of cable TV subscribers has been decreasing in recent years. Firstly, the arsenal of TV programs is limited and no longer meets the needs of all segments of the audience, because 20 TV channels are not enough. Secondly, the tools and functions of traditional television are already obsolete. Thirdly, trust in television continues to decline: only 23% of the audience consider it a reliable source of information.

Amid the stagnation of cable TV, the CTV segment is gaining momentum, which is successfully used for marketing purposes described here https://www.bidmind.com/, and will become a leader in information and entertainment content by 2030.

What is CTV and how is it used?

Connected TV is an ecosystem of devices connected to the Internet:

• A smart TV is a TV with Internet access that provides an opportunity to watch video both from streaming services that are installed on it as applications on a phone and directly from a browser.
• Game consoles of the new generation with Internet access like XBox and PlayStation broadcast games on large screens.
• Set-Top-Box for connection of the television to the Internet.

As modern users live in a constantly changing and fast world, where changes take place in a minute and they need to adapt to them, strictly scheduled video content cannot fit into this reality. Therefore, the traditional format has long been outdated: in the era of targeting and personalization, users are forced to watch ads that cover all segments of the potential audience, from diapers to medicines.

In addition, cable TV and CTV differ in the choice of formats. TV has video, while CTV has video, banners, and interactive options.

CTV allows advertisers to create and target ads to only interested users, which is beneficial for companies of all sizes and formats. After all, the more specific and personalized the ad, the more it responds to the audience, and the more likely it is to work. It also divides the audience by genre and taste preferences, collecting more information.

Features and benefits of CTV advertising

Ads are delivered to specific audiences, no matter what TV program they are watching. This is an advanced ad that, instead of a large purchase of one ad for the whole audience, targets the appropriate segment, which increases the conversion.

Video ads are shown in content that is broadcast over the Internet on any type of device.

Variety of targeting

In CTV advertising, you can use all sorts of targeting types: geolocation, search histories, watched movies, and installed games. Detailed targeting does not burden users with unnecessary information and focuses only on what they are interested in.

A high percentage of ad visibility

Even though CTV ads can be skipped, it is not easy to do so. You have to press the cross with the TV remote, which takes longer than watching a 15-second commercial. In addition, with the use of targeted advertising, the user does not always want to miss it because the more catchy the ad, the greater its benefit and, consequently, the percentage of visibility.

Deep analytics capabilities

Due to detailed ad customization and more information, CTV analytics are also deeper. Advertisers have data about both users and current campaigns: the percentage of viewing the video, interaction with it, number of skips, and user action after viewing ads. This helps to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of advertising and optimize it.

So far, the advertising mechanism of CTV is not perfect, and there are drawbacks. For example, through it, advertisers lose part of the audience that regularly watches state channels, live sports matches, or regional news. In addition, because CTV works using the Internet, this type of content still cannot be called safe. However, such problems as fraud and the loss of some part of the audience exist due to novelty, so in the future, suitable solutions will be found.

It is time to say goodbye to traditional advertising and give way to CTV because it closes the shortcomings of cable TV and interacts with the entire audience.