Dec 7, 2022

Ben Brenner

Performance TV and CTV: What You Need to Know

Both the wide-ranging brand awareness benefits of traditional broadcast TV advertising and the precise targeting capabilities of digital marketing are known for their mass ability to draw in potential customers. Performance TV advertising combines the benefits of these two unique marketing tools—creating what many see as the advertising channel of the future. What Is Performance…

Performance-TV-and-CTV_-What-You-Need-to-Know

Both the wide-ranging brand awareness benefits of traditional broadcast TV advertising and the precise targeting capabilities of digital marketing are known for their mass ability to draw in potential customers.

Performance TV advertising combines the benefits of these two unique marketing tools—creating what many see as the advertising channel of the future.

What Is Performance TV Advertising?

Performance TV is streamed on a connected TV (CTV) and gives marketers the capability to deliver targeted, measurable television ads.

In years past, it was nearly impossible to measure the performance of television ads. Performance TV brings TV ad buying into the future by allowing campaign managers to definitively track campaign conversions and optimize their campaigns away from what doesn’t work to what does.

How Does Performance TV Differ From Traditional TV Advertising?

One difference between performance TV and traditional TV advertising is that traditional TV is programmed, watched, and scheduled through cable or satellite, and performance TV is powered by an Internet connection. This key difference gives performance TV the capability to target and measure audiences. Advertising on traditional TV can sometimes feel like a shot in the dark because there is no definitive way to measure results—so advertisers must rely on broad reach and frequency measures and post-campaign lift studies.

Additionally, traditional TV program viewing is predetermined by the scheduled lineup of shows. Performance TV, on the other hand, allows users to pick and choose what shows they want to watch, when, and where. Performance TV allows marketers to show viewers advertisements specific to their buying behavior and sensibilities. In contrast, traditional TV advertisements are scheduled in advance, much like the programs offered on traditional TV.

Performance TV Examples

Performance TV advertising combines the creative punch of traditional television advertising with the in-depth analysis and measurement of digital marketing. A real-world example of performance TV is Amazon’s latest deal with the NFL to exclusively broadcast Thursday Night Football for the next ten years.

On Amazon’s Prime Video platform, brands can see how their commercials impact buyer habits in the Amazon store.

For example, when an Old Spice commercial plays during Thursday Night Football—Amazon can tell Old Spice how many people saw their ad, the exact demographics of viewership, and how many people searched for Old Spice products in the Amazon store after the commercial aired.

These insights into television commercials give brands a great advantage—allowing them to learn how their creatives are performing in real time.

Advantages of Performance TV

Performance TV is the future of performance marketing. The two main advantages of performance TV advertising are the ability to:

  • Deterministically or definitively track conversions from your campaign
  • Optimize those campaigns away from what doesn’t work towards what does to drive better performance

What Is Connected TV?

Performance TV advertising is done through connected TV, which allows marketers to report on their performance in TV campaigns. These devices connect directly to the Internet and support television streaming. CTV is a form of OTT, the delivery method of video/TV content online—typically through on-demand streaming that is “over the top of” traditional television providers.

Connected TV device examples include:

  • Smart TVs
  • Connected Game Consoles (e.g. Xbox, Playstation)
  • Roku
  • Amazon Fire TV
  • Apple TV
  • Google Chromecast

Television is evolving, and one of the catalysts for its evolution is connected TV. Connected TV combines the high-impact brand storytelling of traditional TV with the targeting and analytics capabilities of traditional digital marketing channels.

According to Insider Intelligence, 86% of U.S. households will own a connected TV by 2023, and 88.5% will own one by 2026. This jump in connected TV purchasing proves that streaming isn’t just for younger, cord-cutting viewers.

Advantages of Connected TV Advertising

CTV advertising is on the rise. Connected TV advertising ad spend is expected to increase to $31.77b by 2024, according to Insider Intelligence. This increase in CTV ad spending can be attributed to the many advantages of CTV advertising, including:

  • The scalability of CTV campaigns
  • Precision targeting capabilities
  • Attribution and measurement capabilities

Utilizing CTV as a Performance Channel

In recent years, CTV has come into its own as a performance channel because of its ability to engage users, its interactive ad formats, and its effectiveness in measuring campaign performance in near real time.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) can vary depending on your CTV strategy. Performance CTV gives marketers the ability to deliver messaging to targeted TV audiences and measure lower-funnel metrics—attributing the results of their campaigns—such as:

  • Website visits & purchases
  • Revenue driven
  • In-store visits/foot traffic
  • New account/subscription sign-ups
  • Form fills/downloads
  • App installs/downloads
  • and more

Performance TV FAQ

Who Benefits From Performance TV?

Growth-focused advertisers benefit most from performance TV because it gives them freedom and more capabilities in their marketing campaigns. While it might come as a surprise to some, customers benefit from performance TV as well. Being shown ads that are specifically marketed to their interests makes it easier for customers to purchase products or services that are actually useful to them—instead of sitting through ads they don’t care about.

How Effective Is Performance TV Advertising?

Performance TV advertising’s data-driven results have proven to be effective. According to Insider Intelligence, CTV ad spending is expected to reach $43.59b by 2026. If the money spent is any indicator of the platform’s success, then this is proof it’s thriving. According to a study by The Trade Desk, 87% of marketers believe that CTV advertising is at least as effective, if not more effective, than traditional TV advertising.

Digital Remedy Is Your CTV Partner

Performance TV can be a powerful tool if used correctly. However, it is not the best option for every brand. Digital Remedy works with growth-focused marketers to leverage performance TV to effectively drive real-world results and maximize ad spend/campaign performance.

Our digital marketing platforms centralize each aspect of the media management and activation process—allowing you to track all of your metrics with ease.

With Digital Remedy, marketers can take advantage of:

  • Full-Service Account Management – Our dedicated Account Team provides 24/7 strategic support, managing all publisher relationships for you, so you can focus on the bigger things.
  • Increased Scale/Highly-Engaged Audiences – Gain access to our inventory library of premium OTT publishers, allowing you to deliver brand messaging to the right audiences within relevant content, at the right time, in the right mindset.
  • Multiple Methodology Attribution – Our Flip platform allows users to toggle between four different attribution methodologies (last touch, first touch, linear, or time decay) in real time to see exactly which touchpoints of your campaign are driving the most conversions among consumers. By measuring and assigning credit to different variables in your campaign, Flip determines the true impact of each one of them on any KPI—providing a new standard in tracking, transparency, and results via comprehensive attribution insights.
  • Full-Funnel Attribution – Every impression of your OTT campaign is traceable to a real-world action—whether it’s a store visit or an online purchase—providing you with definitive matches and full transparency to every touchpoint along the consumer journey.
  • Real-Time Campaign Performance Reporting – Leveraging real-time, machine learning optimization towards the KPIs that matter most, our fully customizable, comprehensive dashboards provide a unified view of campaign insights—no waiting for results.
  • Real-Time Brand Lift Results – Every Flip campaign includes Lucid survey-based brand lift insights, as a default, right in your real-time Flip dashboard.

How to Get Started

Check out our presentation at GROW NY or speak to a member of our team to learn more.