5 Ways CTV is Bringing Creativity to TV Advertising

Connected TV advertising, otherwise known as CTV ads, refers to buying digital advertising for video content and serving ads on connected TV (CTV) or over-the-top (OTT) devices. Simply put, you have the advantage of reaching consumers on any TV that is connected to the internet while they consume content on their apps or streaming service. 

But the most significant advantages of CTV advertising are that internet-connected TV ads are virtually 100% viewable, always non-skippable on streaming services, and allow for more precise and effective consumer targeting. It is an effective channel for serving programmatic ads, as seen at the height of the pandemic. Mixing the power of digital advertising and the visual impact of TV makes CTV stand out.  

But, if your CTV ads aren’t relevant, captivating, and creative enough, their impact will be watery. The good news is that CTV advertising campaigns provide plenty of opportunities to deliver highly creative ads to your audience. Here are 5 great ways CTV is bringing creativity to TV advertising. 

Marketers Are Creating Content That Resonates With People

The measurement and targeting capabilities of CTV drive advertisers to put much more creative efforts into creating compelling stories that capture the attention of consumers, and get them to take specific actions. Unlike linear TV, which caters to general awareness, CTV gives marketers greater opportunity to explore the interactive design elements that now move TV beyond just awareness. CTV ads bring the best of digital ad interactivity to the largest screen in the home, utilizing elements like eye-catching skins and interactive galleries to better engage audiences and move them further down the funnel.

CTV is Great for Personalized Creative

CTV is one channel that continues to drive increased creativity in the ad industry. Because connected TVs aren’t the traditional TV screens we used to have in our homes, they are literally a blank canvas for advertisers to unleash their creative genius. This makes it easier to capture the attention of your target audience. But most importantly, you can create even more powerful impressions through your creative and deliver personalized messages to your audience.

Dynamic creative optimization (DCO), which is inherent in the CTV environment, is the perfect ad tech for delivering creative personalization at scale and showing the most relevant ad to your target audience. DCO builds real-time campaign creative tailored to a specific individual automatically. Combining DCO with CTV has proven to be a super powerful personalization strategy for serving creative programmatic CTV ads. 

CTV is Highly Visual

CTV is already pretty attractive, but if your creative is not interesting, you risk losing your audience pretty quickly as well. As much as CTV allows you to play around with compelling imagery, colors, and other eye-catching visuals, the focus remains on “Quality” over “Quantity.” So, you also want to consider the fast shrinking attention span of consumers when creating CTV ads. The best practice is to keep it short and super engaging. Consider adding in elements like map functionality to drive engagement, or QR codes to allow for appointment bookings, sales transactions, and more.

Dynamic, Geo-based Targeting

CTV also allows brands to leverage a data-driven approach for serving programmatic ads, enabling them to deliver custom-targeted ads to individuals in real time. Consider leveraging real-time circumstances and geographic data to deliver CTV ads to your target consumers. The overall result here is that individual households get to see ads that are based on their location/environment, which helps to increase the engagement rate of the ads.

More Control Over Ads

Unlike linear TV, which gives you broad awareness but does not allow you to control who sees your ads, connected TV enables you to combine both the potential of digital media and linear TV with more specific controls. In other words, you can choose the audience that sees your ads, as well as the frequency with which they see the ads. This way, CTV advertising offers brands and advertisers a growth opportunity based on precise, contextual customer targeting. Also, this further embellishes the ad personalization experience of your audience. 

Final Words

As the performance of traditional TV ads continues to plummet, streaming services and the opportunity for creative CTV ads are becoming even more popular.

However, the very success of your CTV ad campaigns is hinged on the depth of creativity you employ - and thankfully, connected TVs provide ample opportunities to explore your creativity. Combined with advertising technology like DCO, brands can also deliver more personalized, contextual ads to their target audience and achieve their marketing goals.

Looking to deliver creative CTV ads that drive higher engagement and conversion rates? Contact us to learn more about our award-winning CTV strategy and creative solutions.