Connected TV Holds the Keys to the Data Engine

4 Min Read

Alexa Guttroff joined Advertising Week to talk about Connected TV reporting and how the insights the data-rich platform provides can be carried beyond the TV screen. She walked through various reporting that premium CTV platforms such as MNTN Performance TV include in their dashboards, and how these results can be applied to advertisers’ paid search or social campaigns. 

How CTV offers more insights than linear ever could

“With the holidays fast approaching, this topic could not come at a better time as we see a lot of our advertisers testing their strategies now so they can be prepared for their top-performing months,” Guttfoff started off. She began by discussing how CTV advertising provides more value than its linear counterpart. Not only does it offer real-time reporting, but it also can also provide performance attribution. “CTV uses cross-device validation to verify that the user who viewed your ad was the same user who then took an action on your site.” 

With this technology, Connected TV can also offer auto-optimizations for an advertiser’s main marketing KPIs, optimizing thousands of times throughout the campaign. And these are just some of the insights that CTV’s data-rich digital roots provide. “This is especially useful in instances where you might not receive the same level of granularity from reporting that you may with CTV,” Guttroff highlighted.

Audience segment reporting provides nuanced information about top-performing targets

Guttroff then got into the details of some of the insights that CTV can provide. First up was audience segment reporting. “With audience segment reporting, you actually compare the performance tied to each of your audience’s individual interests, behaviors, intents, and other more nuanced attributes, informing more effective ways for you to test, learn, and optimize your CTV campaigns,” she explained. 

These insights don’t just stop at CTV however. Guttroff advised that as advertisers start to see which audiences are top-performing on CTV, these same targets can be applied to other platforms. This way, advertisers can reach those most likely to convert, even if those other platforms don’t offer the deep insights into performance that CTV offers.

A/B testing results apply across channels, especially when paired with audience insights

She then moved on to discuss A/B testing to determine what creative is most effective for a brand’s advertising goals. “Refreshing and testing your creative is extremely important for driving continued growth. A/B test results can steer your overall creative direction by helping you understand which creative spots align better with your target audience.”

Not only do these insights help determine what to run on other platforms, but they can also help with future creative development. Guttroff noted that since the reporting offers near real-time results, advertisers would be able to see what was and wasn’t working with enough time to make changes before their next rounds of creative development.

These learnings work even better when paired with audience segment reporting data. She highlighted that when combined, these metrics provide insight into what creative works best for which audience. Advertisers can use these learnings to make high-impact, targeted creative for each of their audiences and also make use of the appropriate creatives on their other ad channels.

CTV can also provide insights into linear TV strategies

Not only does CTV offer data and insights that linear never could, but for advertisers still interested in linear, CTV can help its predecessor. Previously, advertisers spent hours researching what content their audience was watching and on which networks so they could make network buys that align with their target. This contextual alignment was often presumed. 

Guttroff explains that CTV can remove the ambiguity about what networks perform best for an advertiser. “With CTV, you can take an audience-first approach, allowing you to use third-party, first-party, and CRM data to build an audience with a propensity to purchase from your brand. You then have the ability to report on which networks are driving the best performance within that target audience.” From there, she advises that advertisers make targeted linear TV buys; no more guessing if the content aligns with the target audience required.

Watch the Full Webinar

To learn more about how the insights from your CTV campaigns can extend beyond the TV screen, check out the full webinar here.