2021, and marketing budgets have returned to normal. This is in part due to the launch and expansion of new ad-supported streaming services. CTV ad spend pricing has increased throughout the last year, which has in reaction, increased overall spend. CTV ad revenue growth will decrease slightly, following the huge spike, however, CTV ad spend will gain share of overall digital ad spending through 2025, passing 10% by 2024. The future of CTV ad spending is bright—more than doubling in 2025 to surpass $30b.1CTV viewership increased across all generations this year compared to 2020. Gen Z and Millennial users will continue to increase through 2025. YouTube is the number one OTT platform in the U.S. when it comes to penetration among OTT video service users, with market share of 95.5%. YouTube CTV viewers grew almost 63% last year and surpassed the 50% threshold for the share of viewers who watched YouTube content on CTVs.2 In addition, YouTube was found to be the number two streaming service when comparing total hours spent watching content on CTVs in the U.S.
Ad fraud detection and measurement will be extremely important because the demand for inventory will outweigh the high-quality supply. Most CTV inventory is bought and sold through private markets, which prevents fraudsters’ ability to fake ad impressions. However, the demand and price of CTV inventory is increasing which results in two scenarios:
1. Advertisers are attracted by the lower pricing in the open market
2. Fraudsters are attracted by the high demand and premium they can charge on fake inventory
Last year, Pixalate, a firm that monitors ad fraud, estimated that more than 20% of programmatic OTT and CTV ad impressions were served as invalid traffic.3 Given the significantly complex ad environment, fueled by ever-changing technologies, it’s nearly impossible to eliminate fraud completely. However, there are certain steps advertisers can take to protect their brand and their budget—ensuring exposure to fraud is minimal and ad spend is directed where it’s intended. As CTV fraud increases in scope and sophistication, it’s critical for marketers to work with trusted partners that have the experience, knowledge, scale, and ability to identify and block new threats as they emerge. Check out our recent report to learn more.
Models for marketing attribution have been used for many decades, but as the needs of customers have changed and companies have undergone digital transformations, marketing attribution has evolved. The roots of marketing mix models (MMMs) can be traced back to the 1950s. As campaigns become more complex in today’s multichannel world, accurate campaign measurement and attribution has become a major struggle for advertisers and agencies, and, unfortunately, many lack the time and resources to do so. Not to mention, a list of long-standing measurement and attribution problems that plague marketers, including a lack of standardized metrics and definitions across traditional and digital TV and video, issues with basic data accuracy and infrastructure, a lack of organizational alignment, and the difficulty of understanding and validating attribution models.
The truth is, attribution is evolving and advertisers need to reevaluate the methodologies they are leveraging to ensure they are assigning credit accurately. While innovations in attribution have brought the focus away from video completion rate (VCR) and toward return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost per action (CPA) metrics, those goals are merely scratching the surface of CTV measurement. Many performance marketers are looking to optimize their CTV campaign performance, but don’t know where to start. The ability to track a customer journey and measure ad impact is incredibly powerful, especially for today’s agile marketers that are laser-focused on managing and optimizing their spend with flexibility in a changing environment. Moving forward, advertisers who expand their attribution methodologies will help refine their budget strategy and ensure a lasting impact on future ad campaigns.
than that from external sources. Until opting out, these are your customers, and they have chosen to share their contact information and purchasing choices with your business. Third-party data regulations are preventing tracking, companies are needing to shift their efforts. 42% of U.S. data users will increase spending on the use of first-party data. This shift was forced due to changing regulations on third-party cookies that are being collected. With consumers increasing concern about how and what data is being collected, companies are going to need to shift how they obtain data. The highest-performing companies are taking note and starting to utilize first-party data, which will not only be a new buzzword but the foundation and future of the marketing world.While hindsight might be 20/20, forward thinking will allow brands to stay competitive and be prepared for the inevitable shifts in consumer preferences, media consumption, and more. One thing is certain, working with a partner that specializes in diversified digital ad strategies and offers innovative technology can be a lifesaver in today’s dynamic environment. To discover how Digital Remedy helps advertisers and agencies of all sizes navigate the ever-changing digital ad space, visit www.digitalremedy.com.
Digital Remedy recently hosted a Tech-Talk webinar “To Last Touch & Beyond: Measuring Performance CTV” through eMarketer, explaining why marketers should move beyond last-touch attribution methodology, focusing instead on more nuanced ways to drive bottom-line results via OTT/CTV—and why working with an experienced media partner is crucial in today’s complex ad space. If you missed it, here’s a recap:
As the duopoly becomes increasingly saturated, improvements in measurement have proved that lower-funnel media can have branding impacts, and upper-funnel media can have performance impacts—and this is most evident in the CTV space. CTV’s ability to merge the often separated performance and brand marketing worlds is redefining the digital ad space.
In the modern age of marketing, the typical consumer requires an average of 56 touchpoints before making a purchase. Very rarely does someone convert after a single ad exposure. Marketers need to take every touchpoint (across devices and platforms) into consideration and assign credit accordingly. While last-touch attribution has long been the status quo of the ad space, marketers can discover more insights by expanding their attribution methodology.
While innovations in attribution have brought the focus away from VCR and toward ROAS and CPA metrics, those goals are merely scratching the surface of CTV measurement. Many marketers are looking to optimize their CTV campaign performance, but don’t know where to start. Working with the right media partner will allow you to uncover valuable—previously unattainable—campaign performance insights.
You can watch the full presentation on-demand or view the slides. Interested in learning how you can start driving bottom-line results? Schedule a custom Flip demo to see our award-winning CTV performance platform in action.
For the latest industry trends and insights—including more on how to leverage multiple attribution methodologies and incrementality—check out our blog and sign up to receive our monthly Trends newsletter delivered right to your inbox.
Reaching nearly $20b in revenue worldwide this year, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) market is expected to continue growing, with no signs of slowing down. Driven by the surge in over-the-top (OTT) content consumption via streaming services in recent years, advertisers are increasingly shifting media budgets to this growing channel to deliver their brand messaging to the right consumers at the right times in an engaging ad environment—but many DTC brands have yet to make the move to OTT. DTC marketers who are not spending on CTV/OTT, run the risk of missing out on reaching valuable customers where they are consuming media. While social has long been the go-to media channel for DTC brands, roughly 70% of DTC consumers say they spend more time watching streaming TV each week than they spend on social media.
In July of 2021, Digital Remedy partnered with Dynata, the world’s largest first-party data platform for insights, activation, and measurement, to field a custom survey targeting U.S. DTC marketers—with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of the role that connected TV (CTV) and OTT play in their media mix, current practices, expected ad spending and top priorities for 1H 2022, and “must-haves” when choosing a media partner to execute OTT campaigns (including a full explanation of the streaming world).
For full insights from the study, download the 2022 DTC + CTV/OTT Advantage Report.
Whether you’re a DTC marketer just getting started in the CTV/OTT space or looking to take your campaigns to the next level, Digital Remedy is here to help. Flip, our Award-winning proprietary performance CTV platform, connects the dots between CTV ad views and real-world results, providing a full picture of the consumer journey and ensuring marketers get the most impact out of their budget. To find out more, visit www.digitalremedy.com/flip or schedule a free custom demo.
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