3 Ways Marketers are Tapping into the Evolution of Data-Driven CTV

Author: Justin Gutschmidt, Head of National Sales, Premion.

In an era of fast-changing market dynamics and uncertainty, the ability for marketers to apply data-driven targeting across all channels has never been more important. One channel that’s top of mind for brands and agencies is Connected TV (CTV), the fastest-growing ad channel.

In just a few short years, we’ve witnessed a significant evolution in CTV targeting approaches, especially as traditional TV and digital media buying teams have both converged onto this channel. In the past, traditional TV buyers have often tried to mirror the same linear strategies with CTV targeting to focus on a broad audience and by content genres. But, more recently, TV buyers have expanded testing and adopting data-driven, digital-like targeting with their CTV buys.

With the continuing growth in streaming TV viewers, marketers are shifting even more budgets to the medium to reach the highly engaged CTV audience. In 2022, 84% of U.S. households are projected to be CTV households and the average time spent per day streaming on a connected device will be about 50% compared to the average time spent watching television, according to eMarketer*. Furthermore, a new May 2022 IAB report finds that three out of four buyers labeled CTV a “must buy” as CTV enables them to leverage first-party brand data, location data, and shopping data in ways they can’t with traditional linear TV. The report also finds that CTV is more effective in creating consumer activity and enhancing brand perception.

As CTV targeting and measurement capabilities have evolved, brands and agencies are taking a more focused approach to CTV targeting, whether it’s for brand building or performance marketing. Traditional TV buyers are leveraging behavioral targeting capabilities in CTV and they’re seeing the results of attribution that can prove outcomes. Furthermore, they’re measuring CTV effectiveness with brand lift studies and seeing positive results with ad recall, favorability and brand awareness.  

Here are three distinct targeting approaches for achieving desired brand goals with CTV advertising:

Driving Brand Awareness with Demographic and Genre Targeting

For top-of-the-funnel brand awareness campaigns, marketers tend to focus on trying to reach a large potential buying audience at scale. Thus, many focus on demographic and genre targeting. This has been a common approach that TV buyers have long used as a less specific form of targeting — and it’s how they’ve first approached CTV media buying. This generalized marketing approach works well for reaching the biggest audience possible with pricing efficiencies.

Reaching In-Market Audiences with Intender Targeting

New data-driven capabilities in CTV are empowering both television and digital marketers to augment their campaigns with precise, in-market audiences. Advertisers are blending mass reach with in-market intender targeting to reach viewers throughout the funnel and they’re using the most precise of data options to find their intended buying audience — or find relevant audiences by specific behaviors and interests. With this approach, advertisers are tapping the opportunity with third-party targeting to reach the most likely individuals that are ready to buy in their CTV campaigns.

Tap into an Audience-First Profile for Effective Targeting

A third approach is a more custom audience targeting strategy based on personalities and lifestyles that align with a brand. We’ve taken this approach with our ‘Audience-First’ targeting packages. Specifically, we’ve hand-picked audience segments to build advanced consumer audience personas based on — not only direct interests — but also adjacent interests and behaviors that align with those audience personas. Think outdoor adventurers, young professionals, or sports superfans. This can unlock additional, relevant layers of targeting that can capture potential customers missed by a narrower targeting approach.

With the evolution of CTV targeting, both linear and digital buyers can leverage a broader array of data-driven capabilities in CTV to drive full-funnel brand growth — from building brand awareness to driving business outcomes.

To learn more about Premion’s Audience-First offering, let’s have a conversation.

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*eMarketer, Connected TV Households, February 2022; eMarketer, Average Time Spent per Day with TV, January 2022; eMarketer, Average Time Spent per Day with Other Connected Devices, January 2022. Copyright © 2022 Insider Intelligence Inc. All Rights Reserved