There is simple comfort in returning home and relaxing in front of the TV. After a long day at work and the never-ending doom scroll on social media, escaping into your favorite TV show is the perfect remedy. In the days of old (i.e., the 90s), you may have found yourself aimlessly and hopelessly flipping through endless cable channels, but today, thankfully, we live in a world of instant gratification provided by on-demand television. This modern luxury means the comfort binge is just a few clicks away.
Nowadays, nights spent relaxing in front of the TV include entertainment from not just your chosen programming but also from the ads you are viewing – if you’re enjoying your favorite program on Connected TV, that is. In contrast to the unentertaining, often irrelevant, and frankly mundane ads on linear TV, CTV ads have the potential to be more captivating, highly entertaining, and most notably, they have the ability to meet the viewer where they are in both their location and their mindset. CTV ads have the power to make the entire TV viewing experience just more fun and more complete from start to finish. So your long day at work? Well, CTV can make it all much better.
Clearly, CTV offers more than a constantly growing audience, and with significantly more streaming services available with ever-expanding libraries of must-see content, 2023 is the year for brands to get on board and harness the power of CTV to reach millions of viewers across the globe in a powerful and relevant way. We had a chance to sit down with David Naffis, General Manager of CTV at Kargo, to learn more about this exciting new medium.
On-Target Advertising
The TV is the most influential screen in the house; we build rooms around it, and we may even enjoy our meals in front of it. However, linear TV has some serious disadvantages. We’ve all been there: the not-so-subtle roll of the eyes as we’re served another bland commercial that simply doesn’t bring value or relevance to anyone in the household: a pizza chain that doesn’t exist in your state, a car dealership too far to enjoy a seasonal sale and the list goes on and on.
CTV and devices like Smart TVs open the door to smarter, more effective, and more value-driven advertising. CTV ads utilize streaming data that tracks users across platforms and offer more data to strengthen targeting efforts. The ability to deliver marketers precise inventory allows CTV to do more with less compared to its linear TV counterparts, and as a result, marketers benefit from a lower cost of entry due to the accurate targeting and well-matched inventory that generates increased relevance and value among its consumers. In addition, personalized CTV ads can bring a big boost to brand awareness and brand lift for campaigns. According to the Hulu CTV Reports by The Trade Desk, these high-impact ads resulted in a 68% lift in brand favorability. With CTV, advertisers can bid adieu to wasted dollars on expensive TV ads that struggle to land with the right audience at the right time.
Creating Unique Experiences on Connected TV
“More and more people are cutting the cord,” stated Naffis. “Brands can no longer sit out when it comes to CTV.” As the trends demonstrate, CTV is the future of how we consume entertainment at home, so advertisers must shift their mindset and approach when navigating future campaigns, and the aforementioned boring ads won’t (hopefully) plague us much longer. While many brands recognize the importance of including CTV in their overall campaign strategy, many are not capitalizing on the advantages of its digital-like capabilities in terms of creative and therefore, not pushing the full actionability of CTV. To achieve the strong results that connected TV can deliver, advertisers need to prompt an action from the modern TV viewer, and flashing a telephone number or generic landing page just won’t cut it.
“Creating a differentiated and unique ad experience is always crucial to any ad campaign,” David Naffis explains. Focusing on unique ad formats that can dynamically layer features onto an ad, such as QR codes, swappable design elements like different backgrounds, and store locators, will be a necessity for brands looking to break away from the crowd, differentiate themselves and engage audiences. In fact, consumers want to see these types of ads more often! In a recent study from LG, nearly half (49%) of US consumers are more likely to interact with enhanced ads that include advanced capabilities vs. the alternatives that lack these key enhancements. These enhanced features prove to be even more valuable on CTV because they reach their intended audience, who value their message and are more inclined to act on their call to action.
CTV and Kargo: A Full-Funnel Experience
Kargo has expanded its video product suite to include CTV and now offers marketers a better solution to tackle their biggest campaign challenges and drive stronger results. “Kargo is already a leader in creating unique experiences, and our CTV solutions will be no different,” commented Naffis. Our mission is to deliver deeper and differentiated interactions to audiences as they move between mobile, desktop, and now, connected televisions. The result: a highly differentiated and robust experience that commands attention across multiple channels for Kargo’s valued brand partners.
Kargo can now offer advertisers the opportunity to create best-in-class digital creative experiences and deliver to audiences at scale across multiple channels. If you’re interested in learning more about our video and CTV offerings, please get in touch for more information.
