CTV Advertising’s Growing Pains Will Also Be Its Gains

CTV advertising has come a long way in the last few years, evolving from a brand-new way to reach consumers into one of the fastest growing ad channels in the biz. So naturally, such explosive growth has come with some growing pains. To investigate some of the areas where Connected TV can improve, we worked with Marketing Brew to survey marketers and see how they feel about the CTV industry at large — and the results might surprise you.

The Main Connected TV Pain Points

The survey conducted with Marketing Brew found that there are many marketers who are already successfully advertising on Connected TV. Those marketers are using CTV in a multitude of ways: 34% use CTV advertising as a brand awareness tool, while 13% take advantage of measurement to tie revenue/traffic back to their campaigns.

But it looks like CTV advertising also has some room for improvement. Let’s break down some of the top pain points that marketers called out in the survey:

• Measurement and Attribution: 30% of marketers said they wanted to see some improvement in CTV measurement and CTV attribution capabilities. This makes sense — some CTV platforms have complicated attribution models that make it difficult to know whether it was really your CTV ad that caused a viewer to convert.

• Ad Targeting: Connected TV advertising is a powerful tool for reaching an engaged audience on the biggest screen in their house — if you know exactly how to reach them, that is. 25% of respondents to the survey said that audience targeting on Connected TV could use some improvement. 

• Ad Experience and Creativity: 15% of marketers responded that Connected TV could improve upon viewers’ ad experiences. Of course, many advertisers are already taking advantage of the creative capabilities Connected TV does have — 56% believe CTV is an opportunity to take more creative chances with their ads, and 63% say they typically adjust their existing CTV ads to create variations that speak to specific target audiences.

For the rest of the areas of CTV advertising that marketers think could see improvement, check out the graph below.

The Future of Connected TV

The survey also explored the areas that marketers see as the future of CTV advertising. The top feature that marketers expect will improve in the next one to three years is advanced audience targeting capabilities. 54% of respondents also called out interactive and shoppable ads, and then 46% deeper personalization and dynamic creative. 

You may notice that all of these features are variations on the exact pain points that marketers currently have when it comes to Connected TV — suggesting that they’re confident about CTV’s future growth as a channel. Below is a chart that maps out the rest of the areas marketers expect will improve. 

Pain Management: Where To Go From Here

The results of this survey show us that while CTV advertising satisfaction can vary greatly, this channel has the potential to grow even further once these main pain points are addressed. And marketers know it: 64% of respondents said they believe CTV will take a larger role in their media mixes in the future. Ultimately, ad tech solutions that solve these very pain points already exist, and as others iterate and evolve on their offerings, we can expect to see even more marketers finding satisfaction with their CTV advertising partners.