CTV Ad Buyers Think They Want Show Title Data, But They Don’t
As CTV advertising grows in popularity, advertisers are eagerly embracing the explosion in programming options and the growing programmatic market. This has led to many seeking data signals that will help them better reach their desired audience. Yet in that search, brands are clamoring for one signal above all else: show title data.
CTV represents the merging of digital-era granular targeting and TV programming’s deep engagement. It’s no surprise that ad buyers would want to mimic the TV advertising practice of going after specific programs that draw big audiences. Yet when it comes to CTV, show-title data isn’t the answer that advertisers want it to be.
There are now more than 1 million shows available for viewers to stream, across nearly 50,000 channels. This has become the same issue that marketers experienced on the open web, where the long tail led to millions of websites with engaged audiences.
Some brands may want their DSP to allow for show title targeting, so they can upload a show list the same way they would a keyword list. Meanwhile, publishers are protecting show title data because they fear cherry-picking. But a top-notch show-level buyer would need to be an expert on 1 million shows. Thoroughly evaluating the entire world of available shows is impossible, and if it weren’t, it would hinder scale. This would be similar to programmatic buyers knowing every single URL, which is impossible.
Then we have to factor in brands’ media buying goals. The “show title” list likely has a lot of well-known streaming programming that brands of all sizes may think will get them a scaled audience. There are a few flaws in this thinking. One is that a lot of the premium CTV inventory is scooped up in direct deals made with streaming platforms. Scaled and performance brands with different buying strategies often avoid those types of upfront commitments.
There’s also the issue of what kind of programming and scale are available via CTV. Some weeks, the most-watched streaming program is only seen in a few million households. It’s safe to say that the majority of the viewers for those bid-draw programs were watching via an ad-free subscription, as only 20% of Netflix viewers see ads. So even the most-viewed, widely-considered “premium” content isn’t going to really give advertisers the reach they might assume they’d get from a channel that resembles TV.
All this boils down to a central idea that advertisers have had a hard time swallowing: streaming has killed the idea of the title as the only proxy to trade or buy on.
That sounds blasphemous, but in the rapidly expanding CTV landscape fueled by a surging number of FAST channels, premium shows aren’t the only tactic to base your CTV foundation on. Rather than chase individual-specific show titles, brands need to pursue other signals that can help them find responsive consumers. This includes uncovering the content types that an audience engages with and finding them across channels.
In doing so, they need a strategy that takes advantage of both audience and contextual elements. This means understanding not the show that your audience watches, but what kind of show it is. Content-level targeting is increasingly becoming available and can be a massive aid to brands of all sizes that can’t access premium-level shows on the small amount of direct-sold ad inventory that is available.
There are also opportunities to deliver relevant advertising within a content category, ensuring a harmonious relationship between ad and content, similar to traditional TV. After all, new parents may be up watching Netflix, but it doesn’t make sense to serve a diaper ad alongside content about the Menendez brothers. Content-level targeting helps move ads away from this kind of content and find a better match, without the media buyer needing to do their research into every single title and just choose the relevant matches.
By moving away from a focus on individual show titles and instead leveraging advanced signals about genres, ratings, and content, programmatic CTV buyers can find clarity around the quality of their investments, taking advantage of the evolving consumer viewership trend. They can also target, measure, and optimize, without having to become experts on 1 million programs or spend outside their budget level. The faster brands realize that there’s more out there than individual show-title data, the faster they can use CTV to its full potential.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from Peer39. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
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