Mindgruve attended AdWeek’s Convergent TV Summit West in October to explore all the ways TV is changing and what lies ahead. Convergent strategies that include both linear and CTV/OTT are giving brands the opportunity to increase audience reach and overall performance goals. Leaders at the forefront of the industry discussed the various ways they’re leveraging the agility, partnerships, and experimentation to gear up for the next shift and how to remain one step ahead in the competitive space.
TV is just TV
It’s time we all start thinking of linear TV and CTV as just plain TV now. It’s either live or it’s on-demand. However, it’s important to note that linear TV viewership is steadily declining while CTV streaming subscribers are growing with no signs of slowing down.
With this, linear and digital have historically been measured with very different metrics. Rating points should no longer be the “end all, be all” for TV planning and, instead, brands can look at impressions across these two channels equally.
Consumers stream…a lot
The average American household now streams content from four to five different providers. And that number has been growing year over year. In 2022, the percentage of TV consumers that subscribe to three or more of the five biggest streaming TV services nearly doubled in the past two years.
Emarketer reports that advertisers are still amping up spend on connected TV and, despite macroeconomic uncertainty and challenges in measurement, consumers have shown that they’re willing to pay for streaming entertainment even as the economy tightens. On average, about 70% of consumers every month choose to keep all of their streaming subscriptions active.
There’s still room for improvement with CTV
CTV lacks the custom and strategic media buying capabilities of linear TV. CTV publishers and distributors need to improve their platforms and sales process to allow for things like competitive separation, category exclusivity, and specific pods for advertisers.
The programmatic approach with CTV has allowed smaller advertisers and agencies to go live with media immediately. However, this savvy approach needs to allow for further customization for advertisers.
What can we expect from CTV in the future?
All streaming platforms will likely provide the option to choose between “premium” subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) or “free” advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD). Platforms committed to one model — e.g., Netflix (the original SVOD model) — are already starting to face uphill battles, as consumers want the option to choose their preferred viewing experience.
Conclusion
While linear TV and CTV are not fully equal yet in terms of detailed buying capabilities, measurement, and reporting, it is widely agreed upon by industry leaders that a convergent approach to TV and CTV will allow advertisers to make the greatest impact on their audience.
Mindgruve stays at the forefront of CTV/OTT opportunities for our clients. And we’ll continue to work with our publisher and supplier partners to improve buying capabilities and measurement.
