Video is the key building block for omnichannel strategies

It looks increasingly likely that the key driver of advertiser success throughout the rest of this year will be the ability to pivot their media buying strategies to become truly omnichannel. By spreading their focus across all video formats in the coming months, advertisers will be able to better reap the benefits of digital advertising while engaging with consumers via sight, sound and motion.

The inclusion of an online video (OLV) strategy in advertisers’ media plans will allow them to expand their reach to include an audience that doesn’t consume media through more traditional channels, such as linear TV, and I expect to see advertisers harness the untapped potential of this medium in order to address the widest audience possible. If marketers are able to quickly embrace OLV media strategies this year, it will signal a move towards truly omnichannel experiences.

CTV’s unique position in a cookie-less world

One of the most significant disruptors that the advertising industry must prepare for in the coming months is the end of the third-party cookie as the basis of user identity. Although there is still over a year until third-party cookies are fully phased out, both publishers and the buy-side need to develop and test new identity solutions this year to ensure a smooth transition to a world without cookies.

I foresee publishers doubling down on building out their first-party data capabilities while the buy-side will work closely with their suppliers to more effectively utilise first party data. Here, CTV publishers have an advantage because cookies are not utilised in CTV and therefore the addressability paradigm is undisturbed. CTV publishers’ close relationships with their viewers means their first-party data is highly valuable and we will likely see this come to the forefront in 2022.

AVOD is it

According to research we conducted last year, connected TV viewership in the EU5 grew by 30%. In Europe, four out of five households are now reached by Internet-delivered television on the big screen. The pandemic accelerated this shift exponentially with audiences looking for more flexible, varied TV viewing. Throughout the rest of 2022, we expect this pace of change to continue, if not increase.

Supporting this audience shift is the increased adoption of AVOD services. After years of aggressive growth, SVOD adoption is slowing as viewers cap their paid subscriptions at two or three paid options before looking for free, ad-supported alternatives. This will leave room for broadcasters and native OTT platforms to increase their footprint and offer more options to advertisers.

Sustainability at the heart of the industry

I expect to see a shift in the sector’s priorities towards a greater level of sustainability. All parts of the advertising ecosystem will want to put this issue front and centre: brand owners will aim to position themselves as sustainable leaders and advertising companies will focus on cleaning up their supply chains in a bid to get the industry closer to its Net Zero ambitions. The advertising industry has the potential to adopt greener practices and hold each other accountable to do their part.

There’s a quiet upheaval underway in how the UK is watching media. With Britons at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, they’re streaming more content and turning to Connected TV for its quality and convenience. This has accelerated a trend of increased CTV usage and the result is that CTV has now outpaced linear broadcast.

According to Magnite’s ‘CTV: The Future Forward’ report, 51% of all time spent watching TV in the UK is on streaming channels. Meanwhile, more than half of UK viewers are watching more CTV content now versus a year ago. Notably, viewers are tuned into subscription (SVoD) and ad-supported (AVoD) streaming services almost equally, suggesting that advertising is not a barrier to CTV adoption.

As CTV continues to attract wider audiences in droves, there’s a unique opportunity for brands to target viewers in a highly actionable environment at scale. By understanding the growing power and influence of CTV, UK marketers stand to win greater campaign engagement, more conversions, and higher ROI from their messaging.
These actionable insights are ones every UK marketer should be aware of in order to best frame their CTV strategy:

# The people have spoken: they want relevance. UK consumers want ads that are relevant to them. When asked about what type of ads are acceptable, 75% of survey respondents said they want ads relevant to their interests and hobbies, and 58% are comfortable with ads related to something they searched for online. This presents a unique opportunity for advertisers looking to reach audiences by their interests and behaviours.

Here, CTV ads are truly addressable, going beyond basic demographic data to holistically enhance audience, contextual and behavioural criteria to drive campaign performance. By utilising first and third-party datasets, CTV campaigns can reach audiences in a highly customised, premium environment.

Meanwhile, most UK households have multiple devices for streaming over-the-top (OTT) content: 43% of respondents stream content on 3+ devices, and in affluent households, this rises to 58%. This presents opportunities for multiple 1:1 addressable campaigns by device within a household, and the ability for brands to run personalised, omnichannel campaigns.

# CTV audiences take action. Attention is a critical factor in driving impact and sales conversions. According to our report, CTV users are more active and engaged when consuming CTV content versus broadcast/linear, where passive consumption is more common. Across the board, UK broadcast TV viewers are more likely to multitask when compared with streaming viewers. Conversely, ads shown in streaming environments are more likely to keep eyes and ears focused on what they’re watching.

This high user engagement results in more attentive viewing, driving behavioural KPIs of search, recall and purchase. Looking at both brand and performance metrics, 78% of streaming viewers took an explicit, tangible action after watching an ad. Of the respondents surveyed, a majority took action in the path-to-purchase (search, buy etc.). This high percentage of consumer action signals the major potential of CTV to deliver on ROI.

# Greater reach for any size brand. With consumers adopting CTV in record numbers, brands of all sizes have much to gain from tapping into CTV’s addressable audiences as well as its sheer reach.

CTV is flexible and affordable to use for boutique brands as well as blue-chip companies. Ease-of-entry into CTV makes the transition from mobile and computer screens to the larger living room screen all the easier, even for smaller ad budgets. Meanwhile, primetime is all the time in CTV, allowing smaller brands to stand out within premium, low-clutter television programming.

In 2020, nearly 60 per cent of UK households reported owning a Smart TV. This indicates that CTV is not only a competitive, new alternative to linear, but is now a must if marketers want to reach a sizable part of the population.

While linear is not going anywhere (yet), advertisers can no longer run a truly comprehensive campaign without including CTV in their plans. This explains why major companies who have been buying linear TV for years are now investing in CTV to increase their overall reach and penetrate otherwise unreachable audiences.

So, for smaller brands looking to widen their reach and scale, consider diversifying budgets across streaming services. For more prominent brands looking to reach coveted audiences in a highly actionable environment, CTV is a must-add to the media mix.

# CTV is here to stay. Overall, the results of our study provide a solid case for making CTV a strategic imperative. CTV has significant pull with audiences— as well as staying power.

Looking at the bigger picture, increased CTV consumption offers the industry a reason to accelerate technological advancement to align linear TV buying and selling mechanisms with digital and programmatic. More investment from advertisers will drive programmatic automation into CTV, encourage innovation and growth and improve television buying practices as a whole.

Meanwhile, as more consumers tune into streaming video, it stands to reason that more CTV content will become ad-supported. Here, Magnite’s platform is built to fulfil the specialised needs of UK’s video advertisers with measurable results.

As more marketers learn to harness the available addressability opportunities through streaming TV, I am confident CTV will surely emerge as a premium, brand-safe, high performance marketing channel — and the go-to place to advertise.