5 Things to Know About СТV Traffic in 2021
The digital advertising market is ever-evolving. Thus, it is a subject of evolution and numerous changes brought by the real-world situation. The world pandemics of COVID-19 has brought its changes to programmatic as well.
Recently, the US market of CTV experiences enormous growth. The demand for video impression far exceeds the position. According to a November 2020 poll from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) research, the advertisers are expected to spend an additional $1.16 billion on programmatic CTV video ads in 2020 compared with 2019. Incremental spending in 2021 will increase to $2.37 billion, and that is almost 29% of all total spending on programmatic video ads this year.
The pandemics have dramatically changed the consumer’s attitude and behavior, which resulted in new trends and directions within the industry. Let’s consider five key trends that will influence the advertising strategies of major market players during 2021.
OTT and CTV ad spend on the rise
Over the last year, connected TV and over-the-top has taken over linear TV. This fact may be explained by the fact that people have moved from video-on-demand to everyday lifestreams, movies, and programming.
There is nothing strange that the advertising sphere follows this shift to its benefit. According to eMarketer’s Q3 2020 Digital Video Trends report, CTV advertising in the US increased 25% in 2020, with ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) revenue up 31%.
Advertisers eagerly follow new consumer preferences. Thus they strive to pump ad spend into OTT and CTV faster. Global AVOD revenue is projected to double by 2025, outpacing paid subscription growth.
In simple words, as the use of big and small mobile screens has increased, the advertisers doubled their efforts to reach various users within one household. CTV and OTT publishers are quick to adapt.
Post-cookie world
A considerable increase in consuming media at home at the beginning of COVID 19 provoked the rise of OTT content on CTV devices. In turn, CTV has become a virtual channel in the post-third-party cookie world, as the advertiser strives to achieve better accessibility across various devices.
Advertisers now have less than two years left to use third-party cookies to target users. Connected TV was always a step ahead, mitigating any cookie issues as it targets based on IP address. The advertisers will take advantage of the CTV opportunity to create strategies for all formats. Thus, they will get access to a wide range of audience segments across the household.
Premium Inventory and Publishers
Connected TV advertisement has some peculiarities, which affect its efficiency. One of such exceptions is the audience engagement rate.
Major networks practice running CTV ads in moments when the audience is highly engaged. Such an opportunity usually occurs in live events like live concerts, sports matches, or season finals. Placing ads at such moments allows reaching a considerably more comprehensive range of audiences having enormous potential.
Premium audiences and smart TV users become available via the most significant networks, including NBC, ESPN, Fox, and more. These audiences and users have more control over ad consumption and interaction. As a result, you can get more satisfied customers with a positive attitude and feelings towards the advertisement.
Moreover, CTV ads are available via premium publishers like Hulu, Vevo, Fire TV, Tubitv, and Vudu, to name a few.
Ad Inventory & Creatives
As there arises a need for the defined premium audience, the best solution is ad inventory. The choice audience among the CTV users proves to be more beneficial as a result. For example, world-famous providers of connected TV streams like Apple TV, Roku, or Chromecast prove to be an excellent choice compared to a smart TV.
Thus, 86% of viewers who saw the ad on Roku did not see the advertisement on linear TV. This lead to a 10.6% incremental reach. It means that the inventory opportunities are enormous. Major networks clearly understand that CTV is on its rise. Thus investing in this growing trend is the best market option.
Once ad inventory is decided, it is high time to select which engaging and eye-catching ad creative. Reviewing your past paid media might help define the new creatives that will resonate best with your target audience.
Sports-related streaming is on the rise
Strangely enough, statistics show that sports-related streaming is on the rise. It appears that sports fans are ready to spend more on live sports streaming, yet in return, they want to get access only to favorite spots, teams, and leagues. Thus, most US fans who use a streaming service to watch sports do it to gain access to games that aren’t available through cable.
Furthermore, as COVID-19 made corrections to the scheduled live games worldwide, sports fans and viewers are currently consuming more sports-related news than before to get at least some comfort.
Here opens the field of marvelous opportunities for CTV advertising through OTT providers and smart TVs. Just give it a thought. If sport-related streaming increases even when there is almost nothing to stream, imagine the rise in demand when live games eventually come back.
Summary
Considering the rising trends and CTV, OTT, and TV viewership shifting, advertisers change and adapt their strategies to reach audiences effectively. eMarketer suggests that US advertisers will spend $6.94 billion on CTV ads this year and grow to $14.12 billion by 2023.
Thus, we are to face rapid growth and reinforcement of the leading positions for programmatic ads. There is still much work to and much change to make to continue to successfully navigate the world of ads. Believe it or not, there might not be a better time to invest in connected TV ever again.