A brief insight into CTV measurement and attribution
CTV measurement and ads performance across streaming platforms is big business and is a topic, which shouldn’t be overlooked if you are working in the marketing industry …but first, let’s quickly explain what CTV is.
Connected TV (CTV) is basically any television or device, which is equipped to stream video via the Internet, for example, a Smart TV. Various platforms can be downloaded in the form of an app, allowing the viewer to watch countless hours of TV, film, and independent video.
CTV Popularity
This ease of access is why CTV has become the most popular method of watching media across the globe, with over 200 million people in the US alone using the technology (70% of the population!) CTV ad spend volume in the US amounted to a staggering $11.3bn during 2020, proving what a lucrative medium the platform has become.
Youtube and Netflix are the most popular platforms, holding over 50% of the market between them, based on daily viewers in the US. Youtube, in particular, is expected to generate over $5.5bn in ad revenue by 2022, according to market research, with COVID lockdowns playing a major part in the growth of ‘advanced TV’ over the past year.
But how can the effectiveness of CTV be measured from an advertising and marketing point of view?
Measure CTV ads performance
CTV measurement and attribution have become a vital weapon for marketers and publishers who want to see the highest return on investment (ROI) for their advertising campaigns. Access to CTV analytics tools allows marketers to plan highly targeted campaigns, which can be easily managed to provide an extremely cost-effective advertising solution.
Engagement can be monitored almost instantaneously, with every click and interaction reported on to provide an in-depth overview of the campaign. Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) is obviously one of the main metrics, which marketers pay close attention to – giving a broad overview of how a campaign has performed.
However, one downfall of monitoring the campaign in this way is that it only reports on the overall account and not the individual users, with an entire family commonly using just one Netflix account. This is why it is important to invest in a tool, which reports on a wide range of data to help drill down and closely inspect the available metrics.
Other popular metrics for measurement & attribution include Conversions and Completion Rates, with the former focusing on sales, which have been driven by ad impressions. Meanwhile, Completion Rates relate to whether an ad has been watched in its entirety, giving an indication of how engaging the campaign is.
Possible drawbacks of CTV measurement and attribution
As mentioned above, CTV measurement is not completely precise, and there are numerous factors, which could skew the data. This is why it is important to use a range of metrics and to produce detailed reports, which limit the chance of distorted data that could hinder the effectiveness of future campaigns.
However, the good news is, things are set to improve…
As we saw during the development of the Internet, practices, and legislation can quickly evolve, which will almost certainly benefit CTV marketers. These changes are already in motion, as the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is looking to implement a standardized approach for advertising on the platform. This will ultimately result in improved reporting and the sharing of data, which will boost the accuracy of CTV measurement in the years to come.
In Summary
- CTV is big business, with over 70% of people in the US streaming video using a Smart TV or other enabled devices, making it a powerful advertising platform.
- Marketers can measure CTV ad performance using metrics such as ROI, ROAS, Conversions, and Completion rates, amongst others.
- CTV analytics currently face some limitations, but this is expected to improve in the future thanks to the implementation of new standards set by the IAB.
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