Connected TV Advertising

Connected TV (CTV) is the delivery of digital video to televisions via internet-connected streaming devices (like Roku, Fire, Apple TV, Chromecast or gaming consoles) or internet-connected Smart TVs. Audiences watching ad-supported programming represent almost half of these viewers and are growing steadily as more free and low-cost subscriptions have become available.

OTT is an alternative term that stands for “over-the-top” and refers to streaming video content that is provided over the internet and bypasses traditional distribution of a cable set-top box. While CTV and OTT don’t mean exactly the same thing, there is enough overlap to use the terms interchangeably.

Advertisers can purchase CTV advertising directly from publishers, which include broadcasters such as NBC or A&E, streaming services such as Amazon Video or Hulu, or TV or device manufacturers such as Apple, Roku, or Samsung, just like they do with linear TV. There are typically minimum spending requirements for direct buys. In addition, CTV advertising can be purchased programmatically through public and private marketplaces.

CTV ads mainly appear on regular TV screens. Since we want to reach streaming TV audiences wherever they are, advertisers can place streaming ads on mobile phones, tablets, and laptops too. Today, less than 15% of viewers watch TV shows and full-length movies on these other devices. With JamLoop, you can choose to block smaller screens if you prefer when you set up campaigns.

A demand side platform (DSP) is software designed for advertisers and agencies to manage their programmatic ad campaigns from a centralized platform. The ads are bought using data-driven techniques via a real-time auction between buyers (advertisers/ agencies) and sellers (publishers/ content owners). In CTV, the sellers of ad inventory are streaming app publishers, like Hulu, Disney+, FOX Sports, Samsung TV Plus.

Buying directly from individual publishers has significant limitations, especially if you’re not a very large brand. First, each publisher has limited scale. For example, Hulu only reaches 16% of U.S. audiences. Second, you cannot manage reach and frequency holistically across multiple publishers when each campaign is set up and managed separately. Third, it’s a lot of work to aggregate reports from each publisher into a single report, making it harder to quickly optimize across all publishers. Finally, there are usually minimum spending requirements.

The benefit of working with a CTV DSP like JamLoop are:

• Access to many streaming app publishers in one place
• Centralized control over your ads’ reach and frequency
• Real-time reporting across all publishers at the same time.

With centralized insight and management, you can optimize campaigns more effectively and more holistically, leading to better results at greater scale.

CTV provides for multiple targeting methods: by geography, by demographic, by behaviors & interests, purchase history, political leanings, and more. Targeting in CTV uses IP addresses and device IDs to target at the household level rather than relying on third-party cookies.

Different CTV ad vendors may offer different capabilities with respect to geo-targeting, audience segmentation, and first-party data onboarding.

Because CTV allows you to target viewers very precisely, it’s actually a lot more cost-effective than linear TV since you’re not wasting ad dollars on viewers who are not likely customers. Also, JamLoop allows you to try CTV advertising at any spending level. We don’t require a minimum spend or long-term contract.

CTV is the fastest-growing digital advertising segment, so it makes sense that vendors want to fill this need. CTV is now a “must-buy” for brands, surpassing all other video ad formats including social video. However, not all vendors focus on CTV the way JamLoop does. It’s worth shopping around and understanding the tech and relationships beneath every offering.