The Top 6 Features & Benefits of Advertising on Connected TV

Gone are the days of antennas and satellites dominating the television landscape. The emergence of connected TV has revolutionised how consumers enjoy their favourite programs, granting them unprecedented freedom and endless viewing options at their fingertips. Along with this wave of technological advancement, a plethora of new opportunities arose for marketers to advertise and connect with the rapidly expanding audience in a faster, more efficient, and cost-effective manner. Over the past decade, connected TV advertising has undergone its own evolution, emerging as one of the most powerful and impactful mediums for companies of all sizes.

If you're feeling overwhelmed about switching to connected TV advertising for your next digital marketing campaign, fear not. Our team of experts at Agility is here to lend a helping hand. In this comprehensive guide, we'll take you on a deep dive into the top features and endless benefits of connected TV advertising in Australia. Not only that, but we'll also equip you with practical tips to kick-start your own successful connected TV advertising journey to optimise ad spend, improve efficiencies, and increase ROI.

This article is part of a comprehensive three-part mini-guide series designed to help you navigate the world of connected TV advertising. At Adgility, we understand that this rapidly evolving form of advertising can be difficult to navigate, which is why we've crafted this series to provide you with valuable insights, strategies, and recommendations you need to succeed in the world of CTV advertising. From understanding the basics of connected TV to creating compelling TV ad campaigns, we'll equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to succeed.

This article will be covering the following features and benefits of connected TV advertising: 

• Offers lower costs with higher returns
• Leads to greater agility in ad campaign setup and execution
• Motivates audiences and supports higher engagement
• Offers advanced audience targeting capabilities 
• Includes a variety of ad formats to choose from
• Measures impact and performance
  

The Top 6 Benefits of Connected TV Advertising

In our last article on connected TV, we introduced CTV as an effective advertising medium and demonstrated how it can improve efficiencies and drive greater returns for any advertising team. Today, we're diving even deeper into the main features and benefits that CTV brings to the table and why it's now becoming a critical advertising channel to reach more diverse and engaged audiences.

1. Lower Cost, Higher Returns

Gone are the days when advertising on the telly required deep pockets and exclusive contracts. With CTV, you can say goodbye to sky-high production costs and exorbitant airtime rates. Many marketers are actually quite surprised to find out how affordable advertising through connected TV really can be. 

By utilising a programmatic demand side platform (DSP) to purchase connected TV ad inventory, advertisers gain the advantage of optimising their budgets based on high-performing strategies. This allows them to prioritise networks that not only reach a larger audience but also do so at a lower cost. With the power of programmatic advertising, advertisers can make data-driven decisions to ensure their CTV campaigns deliver maximum impact and efficiency. This cost-effective alternative to traditional linear TV advertising allows brands of all sizes to reach their target audience without breaking the bank.

2. Greater Agility

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, agility is the name of the game. CTV advertising brings a dash of flexibility and prowess to your campaigns. With real-time data and analytics, you can make swift optimizations to your CTV ad strategies, ensuring your message resonates with the right audience at the right time. This invaluable insight allows you to know exactly what’s going on with your campaigns, giving you the power to double down on what’s working and throwing out what isn’t. 

A few ways marketers gain greater agility with CTV advertising include:

• Real-time Adjustments to Campaigns: Advertisers can use real-time data to alter and adjust ad campaigns in a moment's notice to improve performance or visibility. For example, if an ad is not performing as originally predicted, advertisers can quickly reassess and modify the targeting parameters for better results. 
  
  
• Fast Campaign Launches: Unlike advertising through linear TV which can take weeks to set up, advertisers can program and launch their ad campaigns in just a matter of days.This means they can better respond to market trends, events, or seasonal demands as quickly as possible.
  
  
• Ad Scheduling Flexibility: Advertisers in Australia can adjust the timing and frequency of their ad placements when using connected TV platforms. This allows advertisers to push their ads during special aired events, specific seasons, or even peak viewing hours to better target their specific audience.
  
  
• Better Alignment With Digital Strategy: The beauty of CTV advertising is it seamlessly integrates with other digital marketing strategies. This allows marketers to align their messaging and story across multiple platforms, creating a more cohesive and holistic advertising campaign.
  

3. Motivate Your Audience & Support Higher Audience Engagement

Being able to craft impactful ads that tell compelling stories and prompts action is crucial in the world of advertising. In fact, the creative quality of a company’s work can play a significant role in a campaign’s overall effectiveness. For example, ads tailored to a specific demographic or target audience can receive triple the average attention compared to more general campaigns. That’s why it is absolutely essential to create TV ads that are relevant, effective, and tailored to your ideal audience.

Unlike linear TV, CTV thrives on interactivity and engagement. With its immersive ad format offering, interactive features, and personalised video content, CTV captivates TV viewers and keeps them hooked unlike any other medium. Whether it's a gripping story, an enticing offer, or a captivating call-to-action, CTV platforms provide a canvas for brands to paint vivid pictures in the minds of their audience.

4. Advanced Audience Targeting

Remember the days of casting a wide net and hoping for the best? Well, those days are long gone. CTV is the era of precise targeting. With CTV, you can slice and dice your target audience with complete precision. By leveraging data-driven insights and audience segmentation, CTV allows you to laser-focus your ads on the viewers who matter most.

An example of the CTV targeting options offered on our leading networks’ BVOD buying platform is 9Tribes, Channel Nine’s audience segmentation composed of 67 specific audience segsments, which uses billions of 1st party data signals to better understand the behaviours, motivations, and interests of 70% of adult Australians who interact with Channel 9. Want to reach tech-savvy millennials or health-conscious baby boomers? 9Tribes makes it easy for you to target your exact audience.

Here are just a few examples of the remarkable 1st party data signals that fuel their targeting capabilities:

• Demographic/Attributes: Through the registration of 11 million users, Channel Nine captures essential demographic information such as age, gender, and postcode. This data provides a solid foundation for precise audience segmentation and targeting.
  
  
• Content Consumption: Leveraging behavioural data collected from the consumption patterns across every website within Nine's content ecosystem, they gain a deep understanding of users' content preferences and interests. This knowledge enables them to deliver tailored ad experiences aligned with viewers' specific passions.
  
  
• TV Watch History: With Australia's number one BVOD service, Channel Nine captures valuable insights into TV show consumption and genre preferences. The watch history data from their service, viewed by three million people monthly, allows for refined targeting based on viewing habits.
  
  
• Ad Exposure: By collecting data from Nine's display and video ad servers, 9Tribes gains visibility into users' ad exposure. This information enhances their targeting precision, ensuring ads reach the intended audience effectively.

In addition to these data signals, Channel Nine's 9tribe offers a rich tapestry of interest categories, ranging from food and travel to auto, sport, lifestyle, entertainment, news, finance, property, and luxury. They also delve into specific program categories such as documentaries, comedy, drama, entertainment, family, kids, lifestyle, NRL, podcasts, reality, true crime, and special events sports. This comprehensive range of audience targeting capabilities empowers advertisers to connect with their desired audience segments with unparalleled accuracy and relevance.

Food for Thought: Let's explore an example to showcase just how granular we can go. Imagine you're seeking affluent homeowners in capital cities. With Nine Tribe's data signals, we can pinpoint individuals aged 40+, earning $150K+, and predominantly residing in the bustling central business districts of Sydney and Melbourne. Gone are the days of generic targeting - now you can connect directly with this coveted audience segment, ensuring your message resonates with those who matter most.

Whether you're targeting specific income brackets, gender groups, or age ranges within a particular vertical, CTV’s audience targeting capabilities allow you to focus your efforts and engage with accuracy.

5. More TV Ad Formats to Choose From

CTV on BVOD (Connected TV on Broadcaster Video on Demand) is a dynamic playground of advertising possibilities, offering a wide array of ad format options for advertisers. Within this realm of endless possibilities, Channel 9, a pioneer among many Australian networks, unveils an impressive selection of ad formats designed to unlock the full potential of brand messaging. These formats possess the power to not only captivate the target audience but also align seamlessly with the unique goals of each advertiser, helping to build connections that resonate deep within the hearts and minds of viewers.

While many neworks offer similar ad format capabilities, below we’ve highlighted a few of the most common options presented by Channel 9.

• Sequential Messaging: This ad format allows advertisers to tell a story and deliver a sequence of messages across multiple ad spots. By strategically arranging the ad placements, advertisers can create a narrative that engages the audience and enhances brand recall.
  
  
• Dynamic Ads: With dynamic ads, advertisers can personalise and tailor their messaging to individual viewers. These ads dynamically adapt their content based on factors like location, time of day, and user behaviour, resulting in a more relevant and engaging ad experience for the audience.
  
  
• Premium Slate: The premium slate ad format provides advertisers with exclusive ownership of a dedicated ad space during a particular show or program. This high-impact format ensures that the brand message receives maximum visibility and stands out from other ads, capturing the attention of the audience.
  
  
• Engage Now: Engage Now is an interactive ad format that encourages viewers to actively engage with the brand's content. It offers interactive elements like polls, quizzes, and games, enabling advertisers to create immersive experiences that drive audience participation and deepen brand engagement.
  
  
• Digital Billboards: Digital billboards are modern, electronic display boards that use advanced technology to showcase dynamic and interactive advertisements. They provide a visually striking and attention-grabbing platform for advertisers to display their messages in high-traffic locations.
  
  
• Primetime Takeover: Primetime takeover refers to the exclusive domination of advertising during prime time television slots. Advertisers can secure all available ad spots during the most popular and highly-watched TV shows or programs, ensuring maximum visibility and exposure to the target audience during the peak viewing hours.
  

By leveraging these various ad formats, Channel 9 and other leading Australian broadcasters empower advertisers to reach their desired target audience effectively. Whether it's through sequential messaging, dynamic ads, premium slate placements, or interactive experiences, brands can maximise their advertising efforts and deliver compelling messages that resonate with viewers.

6. Measuring Impact

Having valuable insights from a CTV campaign is one thing, but utilising that information effectively to adjust and propel your strategy forward is a whole different ball game. Connected TV (CTV) comes to the rescue by providing you with the means to analyse the results of each campaign, measure its impact, and weave a compelling story through the data. This granular level of impact measurement empowers advertisers to navigate your strategy, seize opportunities to outshine your competitors, and ultimately increase your market share. With CTV by your side, you'll have the tools to make informed decisions and propel your business to new heights.

Below are some of the top ways to measure your CTV Campaigns through BVOD:

• Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): To measure the success of your CTV campaigns, it's crucial to identify and track the right key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your digital advertising goals. For instance, you might monitor metrics like viewability rates, completion rates, click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost per acquisition (CPA). By tracking these specific metrics, you'll gain insights into how well your campaigns are performing in order to be able to make data-driven decisions.
  
  
• Leverage Advanced Analytics Tools: When using programmatic advertising platforms, such as Google’s Display & Video 360, utilise advanced analytics tools that are tailored to the Australian market to gather in-depth insights into your CTV advertising efforts. This tool can provide detailed reports on viewer demographics, viewing habits, engagement levels, and even geographic data.
  
  
• Conduct A/B Testing: Testing different variations of your connected TV ads is an effective way to measure their impact and optimise your strategies. Split your target audience into segments and serve them different versions of your ad creatives or messaging. By comparing the performance of each variant, you can identify what resonates best with your audience and refine your campaigns accordingly.
  
  
• Track Conversions and Attribution: Implement conversion tracking to measure the effectiveness of your CTV campaigns in driving desired actions. Connect your DSP with your conversion tracking system or utilise the DSP's built-in tracking capabilities. This will allow you to measure metrics like conversions, cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on ad spend (ROAS).

Work With Trusted TV Advertising Experts:

As a busy and ambitious marketer, we understand you may not have the time to prioritise learning the CTV landscape, consider working with an experienced CTV advertising agency. Adgility helps clients both large and small navigate CTV advertising and can advise you on the best strategies, platforms, and approaches when it comes to establishing your connected TV marketing game plan.

Remember, measuring the impact of your CTV advertising in Australia requires a combination of data analysis, experimentation, and an understanding of the ever-changing industry landscape. By leveraging the right tools, tracking relevant KPIs, and working with CTV advertising experts, you'll gain valuable insights to optimise your CTV campaigns, engage your target audience, and achieve your advertising goals.

If you’re ready to unleash the full potential of CTV and skyrocket your advertising game, Adgility is ready to help. As one of Australia's most trusted performance advertising partners, we're here to ignite your brand's success through captivating, cost-effective, and data-driven connected TV ads. Our dedicated team is committed to helping you not only boost brand awareness but also achieve remarkable ROI. With Adgility, we will help you tap into a world of possibilities where your message reaches the right audience, resonates deeply, and drives action. 

Like what you see? Keep on the lookout for our 3rd guide in our 3-part mini series as we cover everything you need to know about how to actually get on board with connected TV in Australia as well as discuss how we think the CTV advertising landscape is going to continue to evolve in the foreseeable future.