CTV: everything you need to know

In our previous blog post, we told you everything about OTT services and OTT ads, slightly touching upon CTV – a closely related yet completely different topic. The time has come to dive in and figure out what CTV is, how you can reach your audience through this channel, and why you should be using CTV advertising.

CTV vs. OTT: what’s the difference?

While OTT, as we’ve already established, are services that provide personalized TV and film content via the Internet, CTV is the hardware (smart TVs, sticks, and streaming boxes) used to watch OTT and other types of content. Devices like Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox, and various smart TVs are prime examples of CTV (which stands for Connected TV). 

How big is the CTV market? 

The CTV market is huge. Since the COVID-19 lockdown, its growth went sky high as homebound users reevaluated their needs in entertainment. In 2022, according to the research from Leichtman Research Group, 87% of US TV households have at least one Internet-connected TV device. Along with the increase in the number of devices, more people are using them every day as well: during the past 5 years, their share went up from 25% to 46%.

How effective is CTV advertising? 

By 2025, CTV ad spending is forecasted to reach $34.49 billion, which is over two times more than the 2021 total of $14.44 billion. Such an incredible demand clearly shows the effectiveness of CTV ads, due to several factors: 

• high engagement rate: personalization options and creative formats generate lots of engagement with the audience;
• precise targeting allows for efficient budgeting; 
• far less fraud compared to other digital advertising platforms – with great improvements presented each year. Thanks to those, CTV ad fraud in 2021 dropped from 12% to 0.4%. 

Connected TV advertising is well received by the viewers due to being programmatically attuned to the audience and thus highly relevant to people’s interests or whatever they are watching at the moment. According to the data from DeepIntent and LG Ads Solutions, 54% of users welcome relevant ads, 35% are neutral about them, and only 11% respond negatively. At the same time, as much as 64% of users prefer watching ads to paying for access to the content.

What types of CTV advertising exist?

There are various ways to reach your audience with the help of CTV advertising. Some of the most promising formats include: 

• In-Stream Ads, which are relevant to the content that the person is watching at the moment. Can be a survey about the latest plot twist, favorite characters, or something of sorts;
• Pre-, Mid, and Post-rolls. Most often unskippable, they offer high viewability and lead generation; 
• Dynamic overlay ads, a data-driven format that brings timely and highly relevant offers; 
• Shoppable QR codes, which allow users to continue their journey to your website without breaking away from their watch time; 
• Carousels, galleries that feature several products or services to grow users’ brand awareness; 
• and many, many more. 

Discover a full inventory of CTV advertising at DecenterAds DSP, which gives access to all top ad formats, including ОТТ/CTV, audio, video, native, banners, etc. And make sure to check our blog for future updates and more materials aimed to improve your advertiser experience! 

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