What is Connected TV?

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What is Connected TV?

If we talk about a successful, fast-growing channel in advertising, Connected TV platforms have been a game changer in recent years. CTV Advertising is a highly targeted, trackable, and brand-safe ad campaign platform with higher impact rates than any other digital marketing form.

In the United States alone, 83% of households have Connected TVs. Connected TV network platforms currently have 56.8 million users, which is estimated to hit 62.6 million by 2025. There’s no doubt that the growth in this industry has been exponential.

With the audience expanding, Connected TV advertising statistics have risen as well. If you want to stay up-to-date with the right advertising tactics to target a more adaptable audience, you need to keep up with the ins and outs of what is connected TV. With Keynes’s guide in hand, you’ll have everything you need to know about “what is Connected TV as well as its advertising options”.

What is CTV?

Gone are the days of streaming content that’s just available on cable! The Connected TV definition is a device that connects to a television to allow video content streaming via the Internet. Connected TV (CTV) enables you to access content beyond what a cable provider offers. In simpler words, it lets your television be connected to the Internet.

Examples of CTV Devices
  • Xbox: It is a gaming console capable of connecting to television to provide realistic graphics to a game.
  • Apple TV: It is a digital media player as well as a micro-console. Once this small palm-sized device is connected to your TV, it converts it into a smart home hub with a wide range of content to stream.
  • Roku: Also a digital media player that streams graphical content from the Internet and onto your television screens. It is one of the most popular examples of CTV devices.

What is Connected TV vs OTT?

Over-the-top or OTT streaming is the type of video streaming delivered directly through the Internet. It is a media service offered to viewers in terms of direct Online Video (OLV) and does not necessarily require a television set to run.

This is the difference between CTV and OTT. While the purpose of both devices is to stream video content, OTT features streaming on any digital device – including your computers, laptops, tablets, and even mobile phones. As for the CTV, having a television set is necessary to access internet-based content.

Examples of OTTs Streaming Platforms
  • Netflix: It is a subscription-based streaming software that allows members to stream content on any internet-connected device.
  • Hulu: It is another type of streaming platform featuring recently-aired, on-demand content from the entertainment industry.
  • Disney Plus: It is also an OTT on-demand streaming service allowing subscribers to have access to Disney movies and shows.

A CTV can be used to watch over-the-top content as these services are available on all Internet-connected devices, including televisions. However, the two terms are not interchangeable. Check Keynes’s complete guide about OTT platforms to know more.

What is CTV Advertising & OTT Advertising?

Digital advertising comes in many forms. One of these forms includes Connected TV advertising. This section is for you if you don’t know what CTV advertising is and how it differs from OTT advertising.

CTV advertising is advertising that runs on an internet-connected television. You must have noticed some ads running alongside your streaming. At other times, more interactive ads are meant for specific audiences and come with different call-to-actions. These are examples of Connected TV advertising.

On the other hand, OTT advertising is a more inclusive term that includes the CTV ads that run on television sets and also the advertising on different non-TV screens. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that CTV advertising is a subset of a much larger OTT advertising sector.

Benefits of Connected TV Advertising & OTT Advertising
  • As the viewing experience is user-controlled, advertisers are always able to target just the right audience at the perfect time.
  • As CTVs and OTT streaming are less saturated, they allow the brands to have much more extensive exposure.
  • These advertisements have a higher completion rate as they cannot be skipped – thus letting the advertisers get the message across. At the same time, they are non-intrusive as they last for about 15-30 seconds.

What is Linear TV?

Linear TV is the traditional broadcasting system where the viewer tunes into the original channel to watch the scheduled TV show when it airs at that specific time. It follows a schedule for the shows it telecasts, and this system has been with us for decades. Let’s look at how Linear TV differs from connected TV and OTT.

Differences Between Connected TV vs Linear TV

Unlike Linear TV, Connected TV allows viewers to watch their favorite shows anytime per their wish and comfort. Connected TV is any television set connected to the internet, while Linear TV relies on the medium of cable or satellite for the broadcasters to stream their shows and movies.

Linear TV examples include viewers who can only watch their favorite shows when aired live because they are not digitally recorded to be viewed later. While on Connected TV, they can also pause the content wherever they want to, and replay it anytime.

Difference Between Linear TV vs OTT Content

Over-the-top (OTT) content is all television and film content on the internet that a user can choose and watch according to their interests – on any device! On the other hand, Linear TV content is scheduled content that is telecasted once. You have to subscribe to a cable or satellite provider to let it run on your television set.

What is Linear TV Advertising?

Linear TV advertising is a planned schedule in which advertisements are designed to run for a given amount of time on a particular media. The users must tune into a particular channel at a specific time to view the advertisements.

Marketers would use linear TV advertising because it allows brands to reach a vast market with a single campaign and maximize their exposure to millions of potential customers without exceeding their budget. Blue Bloods, aired on CBS every Friday at 10 p.m., is a Linear TV example.

For some time, marketers have “cut the cord” and shifted from linear TV to CTV advertising because they can get better engagement as ads are more relevant to the targeted audience and spend their ad budgets more efficiently.

Connected TV Companies

With more people favoring internet streaming over traditional cable, the ads that run on these standard televisions are getting older and losing their viewership as well.

That’s precisely why connected TV advertising has been getting all the attention in recent days. As a marketer, you need to work with a Connected TV company that can specialize in targeting the audience to reach the best prospects.

The CTV experience with Keynes

At Keynes, we aim to help advisors reach the maximum viewership on their CTV advertising with our full-funnel solutions. Our advertising campaigns are simple, pocket-friendly, and always precise!

We know how to gather the right digital audience for your brand. Thanks to our team of seasoned experts, we provide full support for effortless campaign management, digestible detailed reporting, and transparent insights and recommendations. Here’s how we help set up a CTV campaign for marketers:

  1. Develop a strategy for your brand and plan accordingly.
  2. Set the campaign and launch it on CTV platforms.
  3. Maintain ongoing optimization and campaign updates.
  4. Provide weekly reporting and insights regarding campaign performance.
  5. Conclude with a post-campaign analysis.

What is CTV Channel or OTT Network?

As mentioned earlier, OTT platforms can be accessed on a Connected TV as well as non-TV screens. Connected TV channels or OTT networks are platforms where online streaming is made accessible. These include the following:

Connected TV CPM

Previously, a large part of advertising was based on direct buys. It is a manual process based just on human negotiations and no analytics. Naturally, this calls for more time, investment, and human errors.

On the other hand, programmatic sales use algorithms to determine the price. An example of this is the CPM. It implies that if you are getting Keynes services to run a campaign ad on Connected TV, you will pay in terms of 1000 impressions the ad receives while streaming.

This is important for a marketer’s budget as they will only have to pay for the impressions they are getting on a particular ad stream. It is a much more programmatic approach where the advertisers only bid for a target audience. Thus, this saves time, money, and room for human error.

OTT & Connected TV Advertising Commercials

OTT and CTV advertising can reach viewers and potential customers beyond the reach of traditional Linear TV. With these advertising commercials, marketers can have a new audience full of a growing number of cord-cutters and people they can engage with at the right time.

Connected TV advertising allows brands to reach their audience on smart TVs and OTT devices. Some famous connected TV examples are Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, and Apple TV. With the help of Connected TV marketing, marketers can narrow their market focus with efficient targeting techniques so they select the audience of the ads they will be shown.

In this way, they can enhance their campaigns accordingly to connect with consumers. Hence, marketers should nail their CTV advertisements because it has tremendous potential to reach a vast audience and get highly engaged views quickly. Connected TV advertising examples include ThredUP as the high-ranked branding and Fanatics as the high-ranked direct response.

No wonder, CTV advertising is rapidly growing as an opportunity to engage and expand users by blending the benefits of online advertising with the accessibility of TV.

At Keynes, we have a dedicated team with the expertise to generate the perfect ad campaign for you. Contact us now!

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