Gaining a Sustainable Edge in the CTV Conversion Race

Market growth is not always a compelling input for ad planners and marketers. Though connected television (CTV) ad spending is growing by nearly 35% this year, according to Insider Intelligence, this burgeoning channel is becoming more cluttered, fragmented and complicated to track.

The CTV ad growth rate is impressive, though it is declining year-over-year (59.9% vs. 32.3%), according to Insider Intelligence, and analysts attribute more than half of the outlays to programmatic spend. Competition is also expanding. Consider the rising number of SVOD (subscription video on demand), AVOD (advertising video on demand) and FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) services available to consumers. Netflix’s announcement of a more affordable ad-supported tier will inject another competitive wrinkle — at some point.

Many believe that the streaming marketplace is oversaturated in the U.S., with 85% of households already streaming and subscribing to 4.7 services, according to Kantar.

The stakes are rising for streaming services because they are vying for the same viewers, and uncertainty complicates planning. Becoming more strategic, informed and efficient about reaching prospective viewers creates an edge in converting them to paid subscribers. In a volatile economic climate, streamers can not just pour endless resources and money into advertising to “buy” subscribers.

What is the best way to reach potential subscribers while meeting ROAS (return on ad spend) objectives? Ad planners tell us they prioritize solving inefficiencies around reach and frequency. Running media buys through a central platform, such as through Viant’s DSP, elevates reach and frequency management and provides comprehensive measurement across disparate channels.

Here are three ways we believe Viant’s DSP can help ad planners to successfully navigate this hyper-competitive streaming environment:

Challenges of today and tomorrow

People do not want to be tracked but want to be understood. That is getting more complicated, of course. With legacy identifiers such as cookies in decline, what matters now is how you retain or extend your ability to control media across omnichannel campaigns in this new privacy-focused environment. It is not just Apple iOS updates creating hurdles for marketers. Google will establish a privacy sandbox in 2024, creating more challenges in the Android mobile space.

Viant’s DSP is a people-based data infrastructure that can help ad planners to enhance addressability and measurability at scale. By utilizing Viant’s people-based data through our DSP, marketers can activate against a consistent identifier, increasing control around reach and frequency management while still allowing for accurate targeting and measurement.

Media consolidation is highly efficient

Advertisers can consolidate media in a single platform, such as through Viant’s DSP, while still having exposure in various digital channels, including CTV, Cross-device Display and Video, Native, Streaming Audio, DOOH and even Programmatic Linear TV. Consolidation enables ad planners to leverage unified measurement for Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) and Incrementality to illuminate the path to conversion and the impact of media across channels and formats.

Consolidation using Viant’s DSP will enable more accurate reach and frequency management across channels and formats, generating greater cost efficiencies and ROAS. For example, the DSP can tap ad inventory from streaming partners but serve individuals or households — enabling better reach and frequency management across different channels and partners.  

Tapping the potential of first-party data

Individuals who show interest in your brand are worthy of time and investment. But how do you reach them efficiently? Or, if you are looking for new subscribers, how can you ensure that you do not waste money targeting existing customers? Viant’s people-based data infrastructure allows for seamless utilization of customer relationship management (CRM) data. By deterministically matching CRM against Viant’s database of over 250 million matched users and 115 million households, advertisers can save money by suppressing existing subscribers and build lookalike audiences to drive subscriber growth.

Advertisers can also use CRM to target existing subscribers based on their viewership behavior to message them about content such as an original series that may interest them. With access to Viant’s Data Lake, available in the DSP, advertisers can import custom CRM audiences and export raw exposure files for their internal attribution and analytics to better understand the full scope of their media to drive tune-in viewership. Viant’s Household ID, available in the DSP, helps ad planners maximize the value of first-party data by targeting and measuring at scale. 

Competition within the streaming landscape remains fierce, with brands fighting over the same, possibly diminishing pool of subscribers. As more streaming options appear, the marketplace will continue to fragment — requiring deeper levels of analysis. How can ad planners build a sustainable edge in a market like this? Consolidating media and applying household identifiers, such as through Viant’s DSP and Household ID, enables brands to achieve more accurate reach and frequency management, generating compelling cost efficiencies and ROAS while offering greater control and transparency.