Unlock Profitable Scale With Performance Optimized CTV Creative

We’ve answered the “whys” and “hows” of creative variation. But what is the business impact of creative variation on performance? And what combination(s) work best for CTV advertisers? In this research digest, we break down the key components of a winning creative strategy for all seasons.

Start Your (Creative) Engines

Connected TV creative is the glue that holds the growth cycle together, and building a strong creative pipeline is the first step to keeping the cycle moving.

To build a creative pipeline, brands need to take an innovative approach to the production process—one that allows for flexibility with creative updates and variations. One proven way to do that is to rethink the media buying and creative production model. While these two functions have traditionally been treated separately, combining the two makes it easier to reroute ad dollars towards building more performance-optimized creative—without sacrificing any additional media spend.

This philosophy inspired MNTN’s Creative-as-a-Subscription™ (CaaS) model, which has helped countless brands drive growth. Without CaaS, Rumpl, a leading outdoor retailer, would have spent $52,000 per quarter on creative production. But in their first year with CaaS, they drove over $500,000 in additional revenue—and far exceeded their ROAS goals in the process.

The Key Is Three (Creatives)

This new creative pipeline arms advertisers with not only more creative assets but intel that can fuel their overall marketing strategy—a benefit that can have a compounding effect over time. 

But what is that creative “sweet spot”? It’s an easy one to remember: the key is three. We analyzed the 90-day campaigns of the top 25% of advertisers on MNTN’s platform over the last year, and found that those who activated 3+ creative variations delivered 31% lower Cost Per Visits and 63% higher ROAS than those who only had one creative running.

This same performance data also revealed the optimal “shelf life” of a creative asset: roughly 59-64 days for evergreen campaigns. This means that advertisers should aim to refresh their creative about once a quarter. A campaign designed to maximize ROAS and conversion rates however (like during seasonal holidays like Q4), will need a lot more—a new creative asset every 10 days, on average.

CTV Creative = The Pipeline to Performance

Building a foundation of ongoing creative production pays dividends. It minimizes ad fatigue, but also provides valuable intel that can be applied to the rest of your marketing mix. Rethink the creative pipeline by bundling media and CTV creative production to unlock better performance, more creative assets, and ultimately, more revenue.